The "REAL DEAL" on Suicide Batteries

PhoenixStar

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
2,255
Reaction score
190
Location
Danbury, Connecticut
OK, it seems like everyone dances around the details of a suicide battery, specifically in Sega or Capcom games. And since I have a Sega cab, I need a few things cleared up in a non-general, non-broad way. Im hoping that this can clear up any confusion others and myself have.

1) If once your battery goes dead, what is this special "time limit" to replace it exactly mean? If it's dead it's dead right? Everyone seems to panic like armageddon is about to happen if you don't replace it within a time limit. If the battery already died, what type of power holds enough charge to keep this "time limit" in place, is it a backup battery for the battery?? BTW what is an official time limit on these?

2) Regarding how the actual process/function to kill works, what's the technical difference between suicide batteries with an easy fix (pop in a new replacement at anytime, no permanent damage) and batteries with this deathclock countdown urgency to replace (or your board is forever toast)? What is it exactly doing to the board?

3) Anyway to tell visually if your battery has already been replaced by a prior owner?
 
well, the main thing it does to the board is corrode, and the acid will leak out of the battery and corrode the board, which can cause damage. i think that's the reason why people "panic" about getting them out. i had one on my tron power supply and yanked it as soon as i saw it and cleaned up the corrosion it had already caused. can't answer your other questions, though.
 
http://www.arcadecollecting.com/dead/dead.html

With the CPS games, this is what you will hear referred to as the "XOR". Lose the battery backup of where it's stored, you lose that encryption "key" and your board refuses to boot.

As for this "Time Limit", I've never heard of such a thing. Once the key is gone, it's gone.

Yep - once the battery is dead, the key is lost...

spice-girls---forever.jpg


(Yeah they're freaks, but I'd hit it...)
 
Many of the games can be modified to restore functionality once the batteries die.

CPS1 games are in the public domain.

CPS2 games are not, but code can be found on torrents for many of them. When these boards are sent to me for revival, there's a 20 Euro charge for code that goes to Razoola, the programmer that created the phoenix code sets.

Sega games are different. Some are in the MAME sets as alternate ROMs. For those you'll need to replace the custom encrypted CPU with a standard one then reprogram the ROMs. Others are only available from the segaresurrection.com website as a set of chips pre-programmed for your game.

Newer games use RTC chips, custom CPUs, and other ways that aren't quite broken yet for resurrecting when they die. Capcom CPS III games are notorious for dying, even when you follow all the right steps to replace the battery!
 
As for this "Time Limit", I've never heard of such a thing. Once the key is gone, it's gone.

That's what I thought too, but Ive read certain posts where once certain batteries goes dead, you have a few minutes or a few hours to replace it before everything is lost. It's like when your screen just happens to go dead you better have a backup battery and all your tools layed out ready to go at all times for emergency surgery.
 
That's what I thought too, but Ive read certain posts where once certain batteries goes dead, you have a few minutes or a few hours to replace it before everything is lost. It's like when your screen just happens to go dead you better have a backup battery and all your tools layed out ready to go at all times for emergency surgery.

That is based on the chip that they used. I have heard, but have no impirical evidence (so don't bother to quote me) that the chip is not like regular RAM, it will degrade slowly over a period of up to an hour. This is why you can do a battery swap on them. It's like a game. Once you cut the red wire, if you can get the new battery installed before the bits in the key degrade, you win. Otherwise, ... :goodnight:

ken
 
At best I'd say that "Time Period" is due to a remaining charge in capacitors that are in circuit with said chip, your time is however long it takes to fully bleed off any remaining juice before the chip is 100% powerless and tanks.
 
but Ive read certain posts where once certain batteries goes dead, you have a few minutes or a few hours to replace it before everything is lost.

The time limit is when you're replacing the battery BEFORE it has died -- specifcally for CPS2 boards (I haven't changed suicide batteries on any other boards so can't speak to those).

From http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/suicide.html

"Note. Do not be concerned about the board having no power while swapping batteries. I have swapped batteries like this with a 100% success rate. CPS-2 game boards can stay alive about one hour without power (I have tested this) so you have plenty of time without rushing. "

When I changed the battery in my old CPS2 board it took all of 5 minutes.
 
I've done a few battery replacements on the capcom boards and they are really easy. Power up the game. Power down, take apart the cartridge. De-solder the two tabs on the battery, insert new battery and solder, and close the cartridge. There is some time limit when you have the battery out, but as long as you don't totally forget and walk away, you should be fine. I believe the estimated life on the original batteries is something like 5-6 years. So if you have a game that still has the original battery, it is a good idea to change it out.
 
Back
Top Bottom