Caused my SF Alpha to Suicide when changing battery

NoAffinity

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Caused my SF Alpha to Suicide when changing battery

This was my first ever attempt to change a CPS-2 battery, and it didn't go well. :( Please review my process, and let me know what I did wrong:

1) Tested game in cabinet immediately before moving to the next steps, to ensure it was still working before starting
2) Plugged in solder iron to start it heating up (60w)
3) Opened B board cartridge, removed game PCB from outer shell
4) Set up work area, bent new battery legs into position, to ensure a quick swap
5) Tested new battery - it tested good at 3.64V
6) Desoldered old battery, soldered in new battery. Made sure it went in with correct orientation (+ side inward, - side toward edge of board). Took 3 minutes max.
7) Tested voltage from - leg on newly installed battery, to a trace point on the board downstream on the positive side of the circuit. It measured out at 3.64V.
8) Re-assembled game, plugged it into a known good A board, then powered the game on to get a blue screen.

Did I do something wrong?

I've read that the capacitor that should be holding the charge for 20+ minutes could be buggered, and possibly didn't hold the charge. Of course, I didn't read this until after the botched swap.
 
7) Tested voltage from - leg on newly installed battery, to a trace point on the board downstream on the positive side of the circuit. It measured out at 3.64V.

That probably did it, I'm not sure of the science but I've read never to meter a battery that is vital such as suicide batteries. I am guessing the meter causes the voltage to dip very briefly.

Forget the battery and install phoenix roms, I've got a stack of cps2 b boards that will never work again due to leaked batteries.
 
Ugh, didn't know that. Well, that's good to know for the future.

I'm torn between either phoenix or decrypted roms, or putting together a de-suicide setup. I'd kinda like to go the de-suicide route, and have that as a fail safe for future battery swaps.

Anybody out there (on the forums), tested out the de-suicide method yet?

That probably did it, I'm not sure of the science but I've read never to meter a battery that is vital such as suicide batteries. I am guessing the meter causes the voltage to dip very briefly.

Forget the battery and install phoenix roms, I've got a stack of cps2 b boards that will never work again due to leaked batteries.
 
Well, I'm happy to report that the de-suicide method works. My SF Alpha board has come back to life.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=389735

Save those original chips! There's now a way to revive the board without phoenixing it. Your steps were correct as far as I can tell...but as a suggestion for those who need to change the battery in the future, I'd recommend if the game doesn't boot normally after the swap, quickly try reinstalling the old battery. Don't know if this will work or not but worth a try :)
 
Save those original chips! There's now a way to revive the board without phoenixing it. Your steps were correct as far as I can tell...but as a suggestion for those who need to change the battery in the future, I'd recommend if the game doesn't boot normally after the swap, quickly try reinstalling the old battery. Don't know if this will work or not but worth a try :)

I never changed the chips on my alpha board. However, I have a Super SF 2 X board that has been phoenix'ed for some 9 years now. Getting a set of eproms with original code from hobbyroms, and going to revert it back to battery/original code. Will save the phoenix roms too, just for collecting sake I suppose, but don't ever intend to put them back in once the board is de-phoenixed/de-suicided.
 
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