Sega Suicide Battery Replacement

nerdygrrl

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Perhaps it's the lack of coffee but all of the threads and interweb posts on this subject are making my head dizzy. After an hour I still don't have a clue what is what.

I am selling my Altered Beast and Shinobi and if possible I would like to change out the batteries for the new owner.

I have a few questions:

If the batteries haven't failed yet can I just replace the batteries and be done with it or do I need to buy the whole $40 kit?

Is swapping out the batteries similar to doing the CPS2 boards?

Has anyne purchased the kit and if so are they just plug and play or do I have to program them myself?
 
Yes, if your batteries have not failed, you can swap them out.

Here's a guide. Their site doesn't allow linking directly to the content, so click on Other/Misc on the left. Click on the System 16-18 Guide Link on the right.
http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/tutorials.html

Basically it involves pulling off the top of the FD1094 and jumpering another battery in, etc... Very similar to the old method for the CPS2 with the helper battery. People have now determined that the CPS2 buffers the battery with a capacitor, so you have about 10 minutes to swap the battery without the helper. This will NOT work on the Sega FD1094.

The kits are plug and play. If it's any cheaper, you can DIY on the kits. Burn a ROM and swap the FD1094 with a standard 68000. I've stolen the 68000's off of parts boards a few times. Gets you away with it for "free". Other times, I've gotten them from people like Riptor.

Self-promoting link to a mirror site of unencrypted ROM Images if you choose to go that route:
http://pinballzone.com/tech/fd1094/index.htm
 
Thanks, as I have no experience with burning, etc I may just try the battery swap or inform the seller about the options available to him and see how he would like to proceed.

These games and thei batteries.
 
For the record, it looks like Altered Beast has the Z80B suicide which only affects the audio. That one won't have the 68000 processor issue I mentioned.

Shinobi is split, depends which version you have. Easiest way to tell is look for a big black rectangular blob of a chip that says FD1094. If this is present on the board, it will completely die when the battery goes bad.

You can see the chart showing the breakdown of what boards/versions had what suicide chips toward the bottom of the link that KI4SWY provided.
 
Again, thank you so much for all of your help. I wasn't at all familiar with this problem/sega boards. I really appreciate the links/input.
 
I tried replacing the z80b and the a10 audio prom but didn't get my audio back on my altered beast :(

some nice links, i've bookmarked them for future reference.
 
Nah...it's not that. It's just that it was 1 stop shopping that I know would solve the problem without having to find someone to burn everything, etc. Sure, it probably cost me an extra $20, but the process was easy.
 
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