Dreamcast advanced controller board - New rechargeable battery mod for Dreamcast

[Konsolkongen]

Maybe change the name to Advanced Battery Board?

[VEGETA]

Maybe change the name to Advanced Battery Board?

well, i admit the name i choose is bad. i just named the new pcb project like this on a rush in my pc then went with it.

but if i did the v2 upgraded version as mentioned in previous reply, what is the best name do you think i should put? plus, what do you think of this upgrade?

[Deubeul]

The NLYD for Dreamcast.

Never Loose Your Dreams.

[ldeveraux]

Got my rechargeable mod board in, and got it installed. Don't know if it's working well yet or not, because my battery showed up with 3.5V charge, and I didn't buy a charger with it. The charger has now been ordered, and should be here tonight. I'm assuming the lower-than-3.7v charge is the reason settings aren't being retained (to confirm - they are not being retained currently with the mod in place an Li-Ion batter installed).

As to the install, I'd say it's a medium level soldering job. The pins are not exactly easy to solder to the original controller board. Even using helping hands, it was a bit awkward holding the pin in place with tweezers or other tool, and getting them to sit flat and perpendicular while not applying heat for too long (cuz the plastic on the pin will heat up and the pin will start sliding through it). And of course you can't just hold the pins with your bare hands because they do get very hot. Despite my best efforts, I ended up with 3 lifted pads on my original controller board. Not ideal, given that the connections also create the structural integrity supporting the mod board. But, the 3 non-lifted pads seem to be holding everything together fine.

Soldering the mod board to the pins isn't too bad, but because of the oversized holes, it takes a lot of solder, which then requires heat to be applied for longer. I couldn't see the plastic on the pin at this point because it's sandwiched between the original controller board and mod board, but I guess out of sight, out of mind.

The routing of the ribbon cable that connects controller board to motherboard, through the mod board, is a bit awkward too. Had to use some small hobby pliers to apply enough force to get it reseated in the controller board connector. The ribbon cable is now creased...but seems to still work fine.

I did run it for a couple hours after initial install, hoping it would charge the battery to an acceptable level, but it's now only measuring at 3.51V. At that rate, it would take a couple days to get up to the 3.7V range, so as mentioned, I just went ahead and bought a $6 charger off amazon. I'll report back once the batter is charged and the mod is working as intended.

Did you use flux or tin your leads? Are there leads to tin? Haha, I haven't gotten mine yet and haven't seen the install instructions yet.

[VEGETA]

Got my rechargeable mod board in, and got it installed. Don't know if it's working well yet or not, because my battery showed up with 3.5V charge, and I didn't buy a charger with it. The charger has now been ordered, and should be here tonight. I'm assuming the lower-than-3.7v charge is the reason settings aren't being retained (to confirm - they are not being retained currently with the mod in place an Li-Ion batter installed).

As to the install, I'd say it's a medium level soldering job. The pins are not exactly easy to solder to the original controller board. Even using helping hands, it was a bit awkward holding the pin in place with tweezers or other tool, and getting them to sit flat and perpendicular while not applying heat for too long (cuz the plastic on the pin will heat up and the pin will start sliding through it). And of course you can't just hold the pins with your bare hands because they do get very hot. Despite my best efforts, I ended up with 3 lifted pads on my original controller board. Not ideal, given that the connections also create the structural integrity supporting the mod board. But, the 3 non-lifted pads seem to be holding everything together fine.

Soldering the mod board to the pins isn't too bad, but because of the oversized holes, it takes a lot of solder, which then requires heat to be applied for longer. I couldn't see the plastic on the pin at this point because it's sandwiched between the original controller board and mod board, but I guess out of sight, out of mind.

The routing of the ribbon cable that connects controller board to motherboard, through the mod board, is a bit awkward too. Had to use some small hobby pliers to apply enough force to get it reseated in the controller board connector. The ribbon cable is now creased...but seems to still work fine.

I did run it for a couple hours after initial install, hoping it would charge the battery to an acceptable level, but it's now only measuring at 3.51V. At that rate, it would take a couple days to get up to the 3.7V range, so as mentioned, I just went ahead and bought a $6 charger off amazon. I'll report back once the batter is charged and the mod is working as intended.

Did you use flux or tin your leads? Are there leads to tin? Haha, I haven't gotten mine yet and haven't seen the install instructions yet.

I send tracking data to all orders, you can check.

as for instructions please refer to the video, all you need is there. I will write something as a pdf soon though.

[VEGETA]

Hello,

for customer with order number 185, I have issued a refund.

the warehouse lost the remaining product quantity and could not find it.

However, www.stoneagegamer.com will have some quantity in stock very soon... so you can get it from them. will inform you all here on undates.

i am terribly sorry about this, wasn't expected since all units got delivered very nicely in less than a week.

[ldeveraux]

Vegeta, I installed my battery board yesterday and when i rebooted the time stuck. When I killed power to the Dreamcast then booted again, it was dead. The battery was fully charged before installing into the board. Does the DC require powere 24/7 to keep the battery charged?

[VEGETA]

Vegeta, I installed my battery board yesterday and when i rebooted the time stuck. When I killed power to the Dreamcast then booted again, it was dead. The battery was fully charged before installing into the board. Does the DC require powere 24/7 to keep the battery charged?

Please clarify more, can you measure battery voltage now? you could be having a broken battery if it gets empty this fast... I had such a case where my battery was simply bad and broken, does not hold charge at all. I switched it to good one and worked instantly.

kindly measure battery voltage + voltage from ground to one of the 2 pins in the middle of the board (around the resistor) and report back to me. when DC is on, the measurement of GND->one of the 2 pins will be around 3.3v, when off it should be about 3.1v if battery is ok.


As for power requirements, no you just need the battery to be good and having enough charge. Of course the DC will shut down completely and the battery will keep time.

The user before you suspected too many stuff and eventually he had a loose connection. according to what you described (the battery gets drained immediately), the problem is broken battery... or a loose\forgotten connection. pictures + measurements are all I need to solve it.

[ldeveraux]

Please clarify more, can you measure battery voltage now? you could be having a broken battery if it gets empty this fast... I had such a case where my battery was simply bad and broken, does not hold charge at all. I switched it to good one and worked instantly.

kindly measure battery voltage + voltage from ground to one of the 2 pins in the middle of the board (around the resistor) and report back to me. when DC is on, the measurement of GND->one of the 2 pins will be around 3.3v, when off it should be about 3.1v if battery is ok.


As for power requirements, no you just need the battery to be good and having enough charge. Of course the DC will shut down completely and the battery will keep time.

The user before you suspected too many stuff and eventually he had a loose connection. according to what you described (the battery gets drained immediately), the problem is broken battery... or a loose\forgotten connection. pictures + measurements are all I need to solve it.

I think I might have jostled the battery when I was reassembling to cause the memory drop. I killed power over night then powered up again this AM and clock is correct. I don't think I need to disassemble again, thanks for the help!

[VEGETA]

Please clarify more, can you measure battery voltage now? you could be having a broken battery if it gets empty this fast... I had such a case where my battery was simply bad and broken, does not hold charge at all. I switched it to good one and worked instantly.

kindly measure battery voltage + voltage from ground to one of the 2 pins in the middle of the board (around the resistor) and report back to me. when DC is on, the measurement of GND->one of the 2 pins will be around 3.3v, when off it should be about 3.1v if battery is ok.


As for power requirements, no you just need the battery to be good and having enough charge. Of course the DC will shut down completely and the battery will keep time.

The user before you suspected too many stuff and eventually he had a loose connection. according to what you described (the battery gets drained immediately), the problem is broken battery... or a loose\forgotten connection. pictures + measurements are all I need to solve it.

I think I might have jostled the battery when I was reassembling to cause the memory drop. I killed power over night then powered up again this AM and clock is correct. I don't think I need to disassemble again, thanks for the help!

yes that happens too, for me i kept testing stuff and moving batteries... nice to know you have no problem!

[Syntax]

If that is the case you may want to add a capacitor to the circuit so it keeps enough charge for a battery change over?

[VEGETA]

If that is the case you may want to add a capacitor to the circuit so it keeps enough charge for a battery change over?

there are caps everywhere, but their job is decoupling. changing battery will surely deplete their charge.

[NoAffinity]

@VEGETA - I turned on my DC over the weekend, after sitting for a week, and was greeted with the date screen upon powerup.

I pulled the board and inspected, and don't immediately see any issues. I tested the battery as soon as removing it, and it tested at 3.95V. I put it on the charger, and after about 20 minutes, it's up to 4.1V. I'm just going to keep letting it charge for a while, although I know it's already well above the minimum needed.

Below are pics of the board, top and bottom, as well as a couple installed pics.

Spoiler

[VEGETA]

It is now available from stone age gamer at here: https://stoneagegamer.com/sega-dreamcas ... board.html

[VEGETA]

@VEGETA - I turned on my DC over the weekend, after sitting for a week, and was greeted with the date screen upon powerup.

I pulled the board and inspected, and don't immediately see any issues. I tested the battery as soon as removing it, and it tested at 3.95V. I put it on the charger, and after about 20 minutes, it's up to 4.1V. I'm just going to keep letting it charge for a while, although I know it's already well above the minimum needed.

Below are pics of the board, top and bottom, as well as a couple installed pics.

Spoiler

Hello,

first please verify all points to be making good contact, and ribbon to be inserted correctly and firmly from both sides.

then put the battery correctly and set time, then turn it off and measure voltage between these points shown in red: https://imgur.com/a/ZPCx81L

it should give about 3 to 3.2v or so. if it does then it works fine. if it provides this voltage then the problem is surely elsewhere.


one possible "elsewhere" is to check is the battery connection to battery terminals... sometimes, it does not make good contact and overtime gets loose, once loose it loses charge as a safety feature in the circuit. you could squeeze the contacts a bit inwards to make it more tight... this is what i did to my personal one. after that it was fine. i tried once to put a small metal part to extend the battery to the contacts and make it extra tight... but this is extreme case due to me keep abusing the contacts when testing.

please check the voltages as mentioned above + tight contact then report back

[RoflMyPancakes]

I had no idea this mod existed until I posted on reddit asking for advice for options better than an ml/cr2032 battery. The current options only last weeks and it just wasn't going to cut it. A redditor linked me to the stone age gamer listing for your mod. I ordered one and a Samsung 25R 18650 2500mAh 20A Battery from 18650 battery store.

This mod fixes a big annoyance with aging dreamcast hardware. I'm really looking forward to installing it.

I did extensive searching for options before posting on reddit and did not find this at all. If you're looking for ways to get the word out, maybe you should setup a website for this with some search engine optimization, and make some posts on relevant subreddits. I did so much googling and just did not come across this as an option.

I'll report back in next week after it arrives and I install it. I'm really curious if this is going to fit alongside a Noctua fan mod since they both involve modifying the eject button it seems... will report back on that.

[VEGETA]

I had no idea this mod existed until I posted on reddit asking for advice for options better than an ml/cr2032 battery. The current options only last weeks and it just wasn't going to cut it. A redditor linked me to the stone age gamer listing for your mod. I ordered one and a Samsung 25R 18650 2500mAh 20A Battery from 18650 battery store.

This mod fixes a big annoyance with aging dreamcast hardware. I'm really looking forward to installing it.

I did extensive searching for options before posting on reddit and did not find this at all. If you're looking for ways to get the word out, maybe you should setup a website for this with some search engine optimization, and make some posts on relevant subreddits. I did so much googling and just did not come across this as an option.

I'll report back in next week after it arrives and I install it. I'm really curious if this is going to fit alongside a Noctua fan mod since they both involve modifying the eject button it seems... will report back on that.

really liked that you found it. i have a website www.thundertronics.net with a video tutorial on youtube but yes i need to do some work.

as for noctua fan mod, it does fit as my friend confirmed it. it is just that you need to file the side of the new latch plastic part... something like this image: https://imgur.com/a/xU3Ou8f
file it well to shave off a millimeter or 2 then it fits fine, after doing everything mentioned in the video tutorial.

[NoAffinity]

I just wanted to report back that I let my DC sit for a week, and powered it on yesterday with no issues. No date/time screen, it booted right into the game as hoped/expected. It seems whatever glitch caused the last round of issues, it's no longer an issue.