Total Challenge Ahead - DEAD Defender Board!

[YellowDog]

Well, that's not my experience... but perhaps not all 5101 CMOS RAMs were created alike. They should have a standby current of ~5uA, which means battery capacity is not really a factor here. A CR2032 typically has a capacity of 220mAh, which means it should be able to supply that standby current for over a year. If that's not enough for you, you could also use a larger lithium cell.
I say give it a shot and see. BTW, I have seen 5101s simply go bad....

According to the data sheets ( and I wish they would standardize them ), it looks like the standby current for the 5101s is 5-10 uA. The standby current for 5114s (used in Stargate & higher) is 0.1 uA. That is roughly a 50X difference in drain. That is assuming that nothing else is on the circuit. I haven't pulled the Defender schematics, but the Stargate & higher use diodes to make sure that the battery power only goes into the SRAM.

I am just passing on what people have told me. I used to do the lithium mod for all boards as a matter of course, but as I said before I got feedback from a couple of people that the batteries were only lasting 3-4 months. Once I finish putting my Defender together, I will find out. The board has the CR2032 holder, I just don't keep one in it right now.

ken