The Timebomb of the Varta: Pics

[TonK]

I recently had a brand new Varta installed in my Ketsui (thanks Jeff) because I wasnt so sure about the battery that was on there (plus it read less than 1 volt)

So I received the board witht he battery installed and the old battery.

I decided to cut it open to see what the status was.

On the outside, the battery looked fine - the negative side was showing signs of "its time to replace" and the positive side was shiny.

Upon removing the plastic, I found that all 3 coins were leaking:





I play and see my games enough, so I would have caught it in time before anything leaked.

But its difficult to see under the battery, and the plastic can melt and you can have acid drip without even knowing it.

The new ones from Mouser have taller terminals that actually sit on the PCB at a slightly higher height which allows you to see under the battery.

Basically - just keep an eye on your batteries!

So my Ketsui will be working flawlessly, unless I decide to toss 6v at it

[Dave_K.]

Great pics! That battery is only required for saving freeplay settings. I say leave them off your Ketsui/DOJ/Espgaluda and don't worry about your board getting an unexpected acid bath.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yeah, I had my Varta battery replaced a couple of years back on my plain-vanilla DDP-DOJ PCB,,,it does have the "Free Play" mode setting selected as I really don't feel like "coining it up" just to play a credit.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Dave_K.]

If you play on a supergun, the credit button is typically right near the start button, so no biggie. And if you play on a cab, then the credit button is right next to the power switch inside the cab when you first turn on the PCB, again no biggie. Otherwise if you own a cab, its worth learning how to setup your coin mech and slot to accept quarters, if only for Ketsui, to revel in that true arcade experience. (I'm only half joking, I know you all are lazy bastards )

[emphatic]

If you play on a supergun, the credit button is typically right near the start button, so no biggie. And if you play on a cab, then the credit button is right next to the power switch inside the cab when you first turn on the PCB, again no biggie. Otherwise if you own a cab, its worth learning how to setup your coin mech and slot to accept quarters, if only for Ketsui, to revel in that true arcade experience. (I'm only half joking, I know you all are lazy bastards )

Never mind free play, DEMO SOUND OFF is where it's at.

[Dave_K.]

Got me there.

[kernow]

Whats wrong with demo sound damnit, its like a proper arcade o//

[TonK]

Whats wrong with demo sound damnit, its like a proper arcade o//

Since I leave both Astros on when I'm playing, the less distraction the better.

Freeplay is great as well.

Can you freeplay DonPachi?

[Dave_K.]

Well you can still go into the settings menu to set freeplay and demo sound off even without the battery installed if it becomes that much of a distraction and you plan to leave the cab on all day. It all comes down to how lazy do you want to be about things, battery leaking or settings.

And no, DonPachi does not have any freeplay setting.

[kernow]

I only turn a cab on at a time especially if I'm not going to be playing the other one

[TonK]

I only turn a cab on at a time especially if I'm not going to be playing the other one

You got yours on 2 different strips?

PITA for me to do that - or I can just leave the hori off on the PSU until I decide to play it, duhh.

But then it doesnt look cool.

[kernow]

No they are on the same strip, just one is turned off Both running on stepdowns too of course.

I need to check my galuda battery soon or just remove it.

[cools]

What was the method for changing the battery for an easily replaceable one?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Cave's Dodonpachi PCB doesn't have Free Play mode either. It's with both ESP.Ra.De. and Dangun Feveron/Fever SOS PCBs that have the cool "Free Play" option selectable at the Operator's Menu prompt. Yeah, some folks can be lazy enough not to want to drop a real coin and rather hit "Start" button to jump the gun and get to playing pronto.

It's nice to use real coins such as Japanese 100 yen coins on a candy cab for that authentic "game center experience" that American quarters can't match in terms of weight and size denomination-wise. Of course, if you're shrewd at a local Japanese game center hangout, there're some old-school candy cabs that charge 50 yen instead of the usual 100 yen asking price. Paying 50 yen per credit is an even better deal if you were to ask me.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[kernow]

Bananas are Yellow, ^_~ They also have a curved banana shape and taste like bananas. ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Those tasty bananas are quite high in potassium as well.

Back to the Varta battery topic at hand.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[TonK]

What was the method for changing the battery for an easily replaceable one?

WDYM? A coin-cell holder?

[brentsg]

Cave's Dodonpachi PCB doesn't have Free Play mode either. It's with both ESP.Ra.De. and Dangun Feveron/Fever SOS PCBs that have the cool "Free Play" option selectable at the Operator's Menu prompt. Yeah, some folks can be lazy enough not to want to drop a real coin and rather hit "Start" button to jump the gun and get to playing pronto.

It's nice to use real coins such as Japanese 100 yen coins on a candy cab for that authentic "game center experience" that American quarters can't match in terms of weight and size denomination-wise. Of course, if you're shrewd at a local Japanese game center hangout, there're some old-school candy cabs that charge 50 yen instead of the usual 100 yen asking price. Paying 50 yen per credit is an even better deal if you were to ask me.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Probably a dumb question, but where could I score a bunch of 100yen coins?

[cools]

What was the method for changing the battery for an easily replaceable one?

WDYM? A coin-cell holder?

Yeah.

[twalden]

I replaced all my Vartas last year. All of them were starting to show signs of leakage.

What I don't get is why they were still using batteries to save settings at this point. Must have been to reduce costs. I have 25+ year old Atari PCBs that save settings to NVRAM and they still work fine.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Cave's Dodonpachi PCB doesn't have Free Play mode either. It's with both ESP.Ra.De. and Dangun Feveron/Fever SOS PCBs that have the cool "Free Play" option selectable at the Operator's Menu prompt. Yeah, some folks can be lazy enough not to want to drop a real coin and rather hit "Start" button to jump the gun and get to playing pronto.

It's nice to use real coins such as Japanese 100 yen coins on a candy cab for that authentic "game center experience" that American quarters can't match in terms of weight and size denomination-wise. Of course, if you're shrewd at a local Japanese game center hangout, there're some old-school candy cabs that charge 50 yen instead of the usual 100 yen asking price. Paying 50 yen per credit is an even better deal if you were to ask me.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Probably a dumb question, but where could I score a bunch of 100yen coins?

ProTip: If you head on down to a larger airport that has international flights, just head on down to the international currency exchange center and convert your said original currency into Japanese 100 yen coins. Easy as pie. I've got to admit that those Japanese 10,000 yen bills look like play money but they aren't.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[undamned]

The Timebomb of the Varta: Pics

Aww, when I read the title I got all excited about pics of 'splosions
-ud

[Ex-Cyber]

What I don't get is why they were still using batteries to save settings at this point. Must have been to reduce costs. I have 25+ year old Atari PCBs that save settings to NVRAM and they still work fine.

They probably want to run an RTC when the power is off (for accounting/statistics/service purposes? not sure), and then given that they're already buying and powering an RTC chip, they use its internal RAM to store settings instead of buying another chip (many RTC chips include a few extra bytes of RAM for this kind of use).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've got an 1990 Atari Games Klax PCB that saves high scores, high score intials & game settings without the need for a backup battery. Over 4,000+ games of Klax individually played on it as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[twalden]

They probably want to run an RTC when the power is off (for accounting/statistics/service purposes? not sure), and then given that they're already buying and powering an RTC chip, they use its internal RAM to store settings instead of buying another chip (many RTC chips include a few extra bytes of RAM for this kind of use).

That makes sense, since the PGM cart version of the PCB uses time and date settings. Cave just chose not to use them with their PGM games.