Arcade & Retro Repairs & Mods, all new recipe, with no added MSG...

In much the same vein as the PAL carts, it's quite simple to replace the battery in the NTSC ones also.

The cart, with a gamebit poised for action



The original battery in place



Original battery holder desoldered



Seeing as the new holder isn't a direct replacement, I needed to extend the battery points on the cart.





Extension wiring cut to lenght, & new holder installed





Perfect fit



That's all folks!

Much the same as the previous SNES cart battery logs, only the MD carts have much less room for positioning the new holder.

As always, a cart with a gamebit poised for action. The MD carts use the larger gamebit, so it's well worth investing in a pair.



Under the hood, the original battery.



Old battery & holder desoldered & removed.



As with the previous carts, these new holders aren't direct replacements. Therefore the terminals on the cart need to be extended for positioning the new holder.



Extension wiring cut to lenght, & new holder in place



The battery just clips into place from now on



Very very little room to spare, maybe other positions would yield more room but for all intents & purposes, this fits, bearly.



Check for 3.3v at the cart before reassembly, & all done.

o1s1n wrote: »

Feckin hell man, you're a machine! Those photos must be taking you longer than the battery replacements themselves.

I'm at them on & off since 12 today Mostly off

That's it though, all carts done & accounted for. Except Sonic 3 due to that fram method, but your happy enough that's working away so all good. Onto the consoles next

Far from complicated to bypass the trace, I just got the schematics for the chip and figured out what needed to go where. After checking the sound amp with a multimeter, I seen it wasn't getting a voltage. Checked the trace, no continuity. So bypassed it with a small piece of wire & brought voltage to the chip this way. Sound was then perfect

Ok chaps, this will be brief as I already detailed the 1200 cap replacement earlier in the thread. I just wanted to show this one as it had a slight difference to the last one, in that one cap had signs of leakage & sure enough when removed the solder pad came with it.

You can see it here, it should be a nice silver colour, but the electrolytic fluid has seeped out & eaten into the solder.



When the cap was removed, it ook the solder pad with it This means there's nothing to solder the new cap to & there will be a broken circuit (the Amiga more than likely wouldn't work properly, if at all).



Luckily, I was able to source some schematics, which showed me where the now gone pad was also connected to. This meant I could bypass the missing pad, & bring current to the cap by means of another method. Lucky escape that one!



Moment of truth, thank god :cool:



A game running from the internal CF drive



Now, when Andrew got this Amiga, the previous owner had modified an ATX power connector into it in order to power an external drive. The trouble was he didn't seem to care about routing it properly, & it was left dangling out of the case with no proper exit (which meant the case cas screwed tight, over the cable). Tbh it looked like @rse, & I couldn't hand it back like that.

So I found a better path for the cable inside the Amiga, & a proper exit for it. This means it can hide away when not in use, & simply popped out when needed. This way however took up most of the lenght of the cable, meaning you'll need to pop on a little ATX adapter when you want to use it. I've loads spare anyway I can give to you, it's just like a little extension piece.



And hidden away (poor lighting)



So there you go, another Amiga given a new lease of life. A real labour of love working on these things, giving them back is tough! Now, a one two Uniflu for me as I'm stricken down with nasty flu bug dudes

o1s1n wrote: »

Just goes to show, a preemptive cap change really can be a good idea even if you don't have any symptoms.

Looks like you just about caught that one! Is it much hassle to clean up that electrolytic fluid?

Not really, as it was all stuck to the pad (luckily, in a weird way). It simply meant I was left with a void on the motherboard, & only 1 solder point instead of two. Was a real "oh god no, no!" moment. Finding the common point was a godsend!

Andrew76 wrote: »

:eek: :eek: reading that!
Massive thanks EnterNow. Maybe a question for tomorrow but can this cap change be done for the 500 & 600 models too? Might have to send them for servicing too.

Yep I've already asked CosMos about the 600 kits, I presume he does the 500's too. Yeah if you wanna drop them out while collecting your other stuff that's no probs

Aiden Cuddly Tariff wrote: »

Erm i had said before look for discolourment/residue on cap legs..

And in the case it's present, how do you get the cap up without lifting the pad?

Aiden Cuddly Tariff wrote: »

You can twist them off with pliers,clean and effective

*now hit that thanks button.

But you still have to remove the corroded solder surely, or else when soldering in the new cap the corroded solder will still be in place & will continue to eat away?

Aiden Cuddly Tariff wrote: »

Yes of course do the clean down and removal and renewal.

But the way this solder was, it was very weak & looked like it was waiting to fall off. Like one I seen on a GG, where the whole cap practically fell off, taking the pad with it. It's like the cap gets bonded to the pad, & the pad then becomes the weak point.

So if I managed to twist off the capm & the pad did indeed remain but was weak...is there a way to clean it up & remove the solder without stressing the pad any more?

Aiden Cuddly Tariff wrote: »

Just renew it that's all i say,as someone made a good point elseware,they are less delicate than repairing something like wafer thin like mobile phone.

Heres how one guy did caps- http://amiga.serveftp.net/Replace_capacitor.html

So by renew, is that just apply some new solder straight into the older stuff? I guess it would definately strenghten things, is the corrosion then not a concern once I do that?

Aiden Cuddly Tariff wrote: »

Everyone has their own methods,would be best of course to remove the old soaked solder,stick to what you believe in to the best of your knowledge,surely you would threat it like another game gear job .

Well in both cases, the pads lifted. But by what your saying, if I twist off those corroded caps then it leaves the pad in place & I could then just add fresh solder on? I'll certainly try it next time, thanks for your help.