Saturn - short battery life?

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azmun
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Saturn - short battery life?

Post by azmun »

I have few Saturn consoles and notice one particular revision seems to drain a newly installed CR2032 battery within few days/weeks. Wondering if any of you guys have this same issue? I'm inclined to believe the earlier versions (original model 1s) tend to have longer battery life while newer ones cause an accelerated depletion? I say this since the unit which I frequently need to replace my battery is the This is Cool skeleton model and I don't recall having to do this with my earlier model one variant.
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Lawfer
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Lawfer »

Batteries should last for a year before needing to be replaced.
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azmun
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by azmun »

Yes, at the bare minimum I expect at least a year of life. Hmm, I think there must be some other issue going on since I just replaced it with a new one and it won't save more than few seconds. Had this same problem years ago and I thought it had gone away only to come back :( Don't know if it's some kind of loose connection or faulty component.
Last edited by azmun on Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Arthrimus
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Arthrimus »

azmun wrote:Yes, at the bare minimum I expect at least a year of life. Hmm, I think there must be some other issue going on since I just replaced it with a new one and it won't save more then few seconds. Had this same problem years ago and I thought it had gone away only to come back :( Don't know if it's some kind of loose connection or faulty component.
Have you checked the voltage level of the CR2032s? I've had a few supposedly new packs of CR2032 batteries that read under 3v right out of the package. Those did not reliably keep save data stored.
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azmun
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by azmun »

I don't have a battery tester but I did use the same battery on my other Saturn (model 1) console and it worked. Also, I just lucked out. Was guided and succeeded in troubleshooting the problem. Turns out it was a loose connection pin! I used a cotton swab/bud to slightly extend the metal contact points and it now works.
milo22
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by milo22 »

I thought it was common knowledge that the Saturn eats through those batteries very quickly. Have you considered a FRAM chip installation?
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Bratwurst
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Bratwurst »

milo22 wrote:I thought it was common knowledge that the Saturn eats through those batteries very quickly. Have you considered a FRAM chip installation?
I know I put a new coin cell in my North American model 1 a few years ago; it still hasn't prompted me to set the time and date when I fired it up to play over Christmas holiday.
Spacemonkey
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Spacemonkey »

I think the issue is people are putting cheap batteries in their systems.

My Saturn has been going on over a year with a good battery I purchased from a reputable store.
I've bought batteries in name brand packaging from some shady stores that died pretty quickly.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Konsolkongen »

Good batteries will last at least two years. But do consider the FRAM mod especially if you don’t have a memory card.
ldeveraux
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by ldeveraux »

Konsolkongen wrote:Good batteries will last at least two years. But do consider the FRAM mod especially if you don’t have a memory card.
The FRAM mod involves desoldering an entire surface mounted chip and replacing with another. Not exactly the easiest mod.
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Konsolkongen
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Konsolkongen »

Sure, I wasn’t necessarily suggesting that he’d do it himself :)
Galgomite
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Galgomite »

In my experience my Saturn battery lasts a very long time while the console is plugged in. If I unplug it and wait a few months, it will be dead.
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Lawfer
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Lawfer »

The Sega Saturn manual says that batteries should be changed once a year, you can leave it more, but I am thinking that Sega is saying to change it once a year as a preventive measure to avoid potential leakages, which is bad. I have CR3032 batteries from Panasonic and Made in Japan (now they are made in Indonesia) which were purchased back in 1996, that have mostly been unused and they still work!
Taiyaki
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Re: Saturn - short battery life?

Post by Taiyaki »

Yeah I have found that the batteries rarely ever reach 2 years. If it's been there for over a year, it's probably a good idea to replace it if you're about to save on it. This problem of them lasting three days sounds like faulty batteries in principle.
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