Everyone: check your PGM boards!

[sven666]

This is a friendly reminder to everyone that owns a PGM based arcade board to check their batteries!

I recently got some stuff out of storage and was harshly reminded that I had forgotten to remove the batteries on my DDP DOJ and PGM mobo (see picture).
PGM mobo is dead and has so much acid damage i dont think its salvageable, DOJ luckily was saveable.



acid damage is one of the hardest things to repair on a PCB and with prices skyrocketing I urge everyone to please remove these horrible batteries from your boards.

The boards will all work fine without the battery only the settings will not be saved between powering off.
The only exception to this is DDP DOJ BL which will need to be desuicided when you remove the battery.

[Plasmo]

Desuiciding is a way of life.

[Sumez]

Hell this goes for almost every PCB with batteries. If you never replaced the battery on your Neo Geo mobo, now might be a good time. (remember those are rechargable batteries though, don't know if the PGM ones are)

[Mrhide]

ouch.

if you must have the battery, simply add wires to make it a remote battery that won't leak on the board.

like this:

[Kiken]

If you never replaced the battery on your Neo Geo mobo, now might be a good time. (remember those are rechargable batteries though, don't know if the PGM ones are)

You just have to remove one resistor from the board and you'll be able to use a non-rechargeable battery instead.

[STG]

That's actually a pretty good idea Mrhide! Actually just replaced a couple Varta's a few weeks ago myself. What I do is I keep a log of every pcb I need to change batteries on. Thankfully it's not a lot, but writing the dates down (when I changed it, when I need to change it next) does help.

[emphatic]

That's actually a pretty good idea Mrhide! Actually just replaced a couple Varta's a few weeks ago myself. What I do is I keep a log of every pcb I need to change batteries on. Thankfully it's not a lot, but writing the dates down (when I changed it, when I need to change it next) does help.

+1, safety first!

[SePh1r0tH]

Does the battery need to be desoldered or can it be cut? I'm having an issue with my daioujou pcb though there is no leaking. I just posted in the hardware section. (Didn't see this thread for some reason).

I just get a blurry distorted scrolling image whenever it boots. Not sure what the deal is. Appreciate any help and thanks for the info.

[Sumez]

You can just cut it off, mechanically it makes absolutely no difference. But if you want to solder in a new battery, you'd of course have to desolder the old legs eventually.

[cvaniafan]

Funny to see this thread, because yesterday I suddenly thought to check my Demon Front cart with mobo: I immediately noticed that shitty battery has leaked and corroded around it So I immediately took my soldering iron to remove it. When testing it, I had strange graphical glitches and I thought it was dead, but for some reason there is no issue this morning, unplugged and tested it many times, all is working fine 100%

[Dave_K.]

Here was my reminder thread in 2009:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25866

I removed the battery and everything was fine for the next 7 years, then bam it was corrosive city and stopped working. I'm still slowly repairing it but once the battery leaks, no amount of cleaning will prevent the inevitable.

Just my opinion, but I think keeping doj in that blue metal case promoted the corrosion after battery leaked. Best to clip the battery and keep the pcb stored outside the case.