Cinematronics World Series Baseball Battery

EagleTG

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Quick question for those who might know. I have a Cinematronics World Series Baseball (The Season, if it matters) that I've just completed restoring for a friend. Except for one part, there is a battery on the PCB.

I believe it is a soldered-in NiCad battery. My concern is regarding the obvious issues with NiCad batteries on boards. I can handle this a few ways, by switching to a capacitor, standard AA batteries with a diode, replace the NiCad with another NiCad mounted remotely, or just simply remove the battery. Unfortunately, I don't have a memory capacitor available, and have limited time to get this project completed.

Right now, I'm leaning toward just removing the battery as I don't think there will be a concern about saving scores and team stats. Does anyone know if the game will continue to operate properly without the battery, or are there issues when the game is forced to boot cold every day?

Thanks everyone!
 
Come on, Ralphy! SOMEONE has to have one of these that they've chopped the battery off of! What happens, do the demons spring forth from the screen with a violent wrath previously unseen by humankind? Does molten rock spew forth from the control panel? Does Vinnie come by and make you sleep with the fishes? Do the Phillies win the World Series?
 
Come on, Ralphy! SOMEONE has to have one of these that they've chopped the battery off of! What happens, do the demons spring forth from the screen with a violent wrath previously unseen by humankind? Does molten rock spew forth from the control panel? Does Vinnie come by and make you sleep with the fishes? Do the Phillies win the World Series?

While the Phillies may indeed win the world series, molten rocks are reserved for Asteroids. Demons are reserved for Satan's Hollow. Jeez, I thought you knew video games. A steroid hyped home run hitter may pop out of the screen and smack you upside the head with a Louisville Slugger, but it's not like THAT hasn't happened to you before :)

I would think that it would just not hold the stats, but I am not certain if it would have any other effect on the game. How's that for not answering your question ;)

Chris
 
A steroid hyped home run hitter may pop out of the screen and smack you upside the head with a Louisville Slugger, but it's not like THAT hasn't happened to you before :)

I thought it was HGH, not steroids. Oh well, I don't watch or pay attention to much baseball anyway.


I would think that it would just not hold the stats, but I am not certain if it would have any other effect on the game.

Hahah, ya think!? Mostly just want to be sure the game will still work properly. If nobody has tried it, I'll just hack the thing off and report back my findings when I get my next chance to work on it.
 
If all that really happened it would make arcade repair a HELL of a lot more interesting!

I say lop the battery off and hope for the best - seriously doubt there's any encryption there that would be lost.
 
This particular game has a great stats engine - and it records them by asking you your Date of Birth and what your initials are. It would be a shame to remove any ability to track stats on the game by taking the battery off completely. As a relatively simple repair I would put another one in it to keep the stats capability.

I would mount it on the wood board however.

My 2cents ;-)
 
I know this is an old thread, but, I just purchased the same game and it's not saving stats. Problem is It's my first arcade and I don't want to screw it up. Is there a way to attach a new battery without removing the old one. Maybe alligator clip it to the ends of the old one??? I never soldered before...
 
No, you don't want to connect a new battery in parallel with a dead one, as that would try to charge the old one (which is not rechargeable). The batteries that Cinematronics used are usually pretty good... I'd first confirm that it's actually dead (measure the voltage across the battery using a voltmeter). If it's >3 volts, it's OK and your problem is somewhere else. If it's dead, I'd try to find someone that knows how to solder, so they could solder a new one on for you (or solder a coin cell holder and install a 2032).

DogP
 
OK OK gotcha! Thanks for the info...much appreciated
 
I don't think that battery is for any kind of suicide mechanism is it? we had gotten one of those Mylstar cabinets years ago, the World Series board was completely demolished from battery leak. I don't think I was even able to salvage the roms off it. that cabinet wound up getting Final Fight, just like how my grandpa had it in one of those same cabinets back in 1990. that little thing weighed about 2 tons somehow.
 
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