Replacing batteries with a capacitor?

kencinder

New member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
6,466
Reaction score
130
Location
Alliston, Ontario, Canada
Anyone ever done it? How long are you looking at having the power off before it's on empty? (Of course this is dependent on the capacitor in use).

I have 2 games I'd like to remove the battery holders from and replace with capacitors, but I'm wondering if I should bother. I leave my games off for weeks at a time sometimes.
I've seen the recommendations for WPC games, but what type/rating of capacitor would be a good choice for older games like Gottlieb, Bally and DE SS titles?

I plan on remote mounting the battery holders at the least, so if this is a reasonable solution to never have to change batteries again, I'd rather just do this...hence me asking.
 
Here's what I did to a Baby Pac-Man when I had one 10 years ago...
BabyPacMan-backup-cap.jpg

http://www.vidiotarcade.com/babypacman.html

But you could probably get away with a smaller one like this...
Frenzy-bbc.jpg

http://www.vidiotarcade.com/frenzy.html

I've used those smaller ones(1F, 5.5v) in a few games over the years. I currently have one in our Omega Race and it has saved high scores for 5 months at a clip without being powered up.
 
Anyone ever done it? How long are you looking at having the power off before it's on empty? (Of course this is dependent on the capacitor in use).

I have 2 games I'd like to remove the battery holders from and replace with capacitors, but I'm wondering if I should bother. I leave my games off for weeks at a time sometimes.
I've seen the recommendations for WPC games, but what type/rating of capacitor would be a good choice for older games like Gottlieb, Bally and DE SS titles?

I plan on remote mounting the battery holders at the least, so if this is a reasonable solution to never have to change batteries again, I'd rather just do this...hence me asking.

I put a 1.0F super cap on my Black Hole (Gottlieb System 80) MPU. Been working fine for years. Don't know how long it'll hold... but I'm pretty sure it's been powered off for more than a month without losing data.
 
Back
Top Bottom