Replacing Dead Batteries in Game Cartridges!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter! / voultar
PURCHASE (AFFILIATE) LINKS
►Buy my console mods, here! voultar.com
►Soldering Station I use: bit.ly/2DtoywS
►Soldering Tips I use: bit.ly/2Dvbln5
►All other equipment: www.amazon.com/shop/voultar
VIDEO DESCRIPTION:
Let's set aside the more difficult projects for something that's beginner friendly! Today, I'm going to show you some excellent tips & tricks that are useful when replacing the save batteries in your video game cartridges!
Check out EposVox! / eposvox

[@Dark_Jaguar]

This is honestly my favorite soldering channel starring a retired 70's porn star.

[@psoridian]

*extremely active porn star

[@HentaiNat]

He'd be underage back then

[@TheZerohimself]

Yeah..if i had to guess from his videos, that his porn star career is still quite alive.. although KZbin won't let him show the hard core inter-electronic erotica..

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Christ, he's not that old.. 😂

[@Woodoosticka]

zerohimself - Maybe RedTube link or Pr0nHub :P

[@instanoodles]

Yes, its Voultar the sensual solderer.

[@BJ-uncensored]

New drinking game. Everyone takes a drink when Voultar says "Just... Like.... That..."

[@fourdee4d]

World flat. Fun.

[@davidegalliussi1979]

Alcol kill ..not a game, man 😉

[@BJ-uncensored]

@@davidegalliussi1979 sorry for the delay, I've been on a bender since the video dropped. Nobody wins the Voultar drinking game

[@davidegalliussi1979]

@@BJ-uncensored do not get lost

[@davidegalliussi1979]

@Nuke Dukem ⏰

[@kennylauderdale_en]

Next Time on Voultar: Best Way to Hot-Glue Your Action Figures

[@TheAfroman]

*fights urge to search for hot glue figures...*

[@kind2311]

You mean Best Way to Hot-Glue Your Nipples.

[@shivasthong4924]

Everywhere I go, Kenny I swear your stalking me!

[@mopspear]

Hey it's Kenny!

[@kylegreen8581]

Brilliant suggestion for a beginner's first project. Having even a small amount of soldering proficiency opens up world of possibilities. There are a lot of "broken" games and consoles out there that need little more than this type of basic soldering to get back up and running. I got my main Genesis for free because a solder joint on the power input jack was broken. Took me all of 3 minutes to repair! If I may suggest another good beginner project: replacing the caps in retro console power supplies. I've opened up a fair amount of Genesis and SNES PSU's and seen leaky caps. Cheap, easy, and can make a difference!

[@Daniel-it1dp]

This was going to be my first project as soon as I get my new soldering iron and replacement caps. It’s been about 12-16 years since I last soldered 👍

[@LordHondros]

The original xbox has leaky caps too. I'd recommend trying to get a hold of one of those and trying that out as well! I'd love to see some love for the og xbox.

[@Daniel-it1dp]

@@LordHondros oh geez, I forgot I heard about this a few years ago. Maybe I'll make my old garage sale NES and OG Xbox my first cap replacement projects.

[@CarcinogenSDA]

Voultar has the most modsexual way of asserting his masculinity he was really showing that Power Supply the extent of his love

[@chriswaters834]

Despite being relatively simple, this is somehow the only good video I could find on KZbin on how to properly do this. Using the K tip and solder sucker really helped me.

[@sylvaingauthier908]

amazing work as usual, I find it really nice to give newer people with less soldering experience a good walk-through of proper practice. Welcome back Voultar

[@BorderlineOCD]

As one of those beginners aspiring to tame an iron like you do one day, I greatly appreciate your tips and tricks. I finally decided to start a channel repairing consoles to kick off my retro console collection, and content like yours is in part what got me excited about this hobby and eager to learn more. Look forward to learning more from you, Lord. Your humble subject and student, Borderline OCD.

[@WilliamMurphy-wp79]

I wish there was enough space in GB and GBA carts to implement a cell battery holder rather than the tabbed cell style, but you make it look easy as always

[@Nic345]

There is actually but it has to be a real low profile one for Cr1616.

[@tyg.5149]

I was just planning on doing this to handful of my games and then you come along and make a video about it! Can't wait to strap on for this one!

[@theburntcrumpet8371]

The Bob Ross of electronics. Except I can't imagine there being many happy accidents with desoldering batteries 😂

[@suluturnip]

That's a nice clean shell on that Zelda cart.

[@mcmarco]

Really happy Voultar is back! I would really appreciate if you could show your solder tip temps (°C/°F) in your beginners guide videos. I am still struggling to finde the right temps myself. Stay safe!

[@meh6722]

Goes without saying for those wanting to do this, back up the saves before replacing the batteries! Keep up the work, bud!

[@rokero171]

That duo of KSGER stations, again, thank you for the recommendation, is the best soldering station I've ever had, I use mine a lot and even did a couple of SNES and a PC motherboard recap using it, thank you, is the best money I've ever spent on a soldering gear.

[@brentvance9090]

So simple yet I learned some great tips. Thanks!

[@RetroBitTech]

Im just casually waiting for you to hit 1 million. To get the popularity you deserve. Cause ive been using all your videos as soldering tutorials and tutorials on mods i wanna do and can never afford on my retro consoles and computers

[@watchingdanny]

Your narration is fantastic. Love your channel. Can't believe I didn't find it sooner. Better late than never. 😊

[@LelandHasGames]

Love it! Such a good video. Easy to follow and fun to watch. I've been subscribed for awhile. It's good to see that your back at it again.

[@allisonsroom]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful! I'm a beginner at soldering so this was really easy to follow along and I will reference this when I replace the battery in my Pokemon games.

[@ryulord23]

welcome back.. ive been wondering where you have been.. great videos as always.

[@xSeRosiSx]

I love those CR2032 battery holders. They can really save your ass on nearly any project that requires a new CR2032. Plus they look darn neat as replacements to the tabbed CR2032. On a recent GameCube refurbishing I was just so pleased that the battery holder fit on the controller board.

[@forbiddenland8555]

Why are those better? You can change the battery without desoldering it later?

[@theresnothinghere59]

@@forbiddenland8555 yes

[@J0r]

Suggestion: Could you always mention the temps you are using for each step? Great video thank you for these!

[@Mario00064]

I would love to know this as well. I've asked in many places and never gotten a straight answer on what iron temp to use for this work

[@jamiecruickshank9697]

@@Mario00064 I think it really varies depending on the type of solder you're using. The usual temperature I work with is 350C / 660F. That works well for me for these heavy joints.

[@Mario00064]

@@jamiecruickshank9697 Thank you very much. Would this also be true for general soldering? For example, installing a mod kit such as DCdigital, UltraHDMI, etc?

[@jamiecruickshank9697]

Mario00064 Pretty much, i would sometimes nudge it down a little if I am soldering very close to plastic connectors to about 300 but start at 350 and practice a little and you will close.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

I usually go about 330-340C, but that's just me, since I mostly work on a lot of pre-NES stuff, with more fragile traces than post NES stuff. Anywhere around there, temp wise ought to be fine though. 👍

[@GameplayandTalk]

This is super helpful, thanks. I can do some really basic soldering with pinball machines, like running a big wire to a lug on a coil, but working on PCBs is still way over my head. It is something I need to learn how to do though so I'll try swapping out batteries on some of my SNES games like you demonstrated here. They need new ones anyway!

[@DadLadsGaming]

Really helpful mare, thank you. Looking forward to more in this series 👍

[@ricklewis2068]

Thank you for this video. I have screwed up more than a couple things on my own and this is a great way to go back and actually learn what I should be doing.

[@superroastburgr77]

Your amazing man I love watching all your videos! You are the more entertaining Bob Ross of the retro video game/repair/mod world!

[@OlivarBunny]

Thank you for another amazing video and something this simple, and sharing good practises on how to do this properly.

[@Maverick7r]

Nice tutorial man!! I ended up getting the same KSGER T12 soldering station on your recommendation and I've actually ended up using it a hell of a lot more than my Weller WES51. Just an awesome piece of hardware!! 😁.

[@CoryJacobsen]

I love the beginner videos, i ordered the soldering station you recommend (hopefully ill crack it open and not find watch gears or smurfs), and I’m stoked to practice with batteries and eventually beyond.

[@scubasteve31583]

Love all your videos Voultar! I learned so much from you!

[@mrlbr]

You're not just soldering, you are making some beautiful art.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Now we need part 2... for sega genesis/megadrive, Nintendo 64, sega 32x, gameboy advance, gameboy colour too

[@Sardonic_Zee]

I clicked to see if the solution was licking.. but ended up learning about soldering. I’m not disappointed. Well.. not completely.

[@yatudlabiereicit]

GUYS GUYS !!! HES REALLY BACK ! hooooooou

[@leirisal]

Great video as always! One thing that happened to me last time I replaced a Gameboy cartridge battery: I ordered some cheap tabbed batteries, and to my surprise, the top tab was soldered to the negative side of the batery. "No big deal" I thought, "I'll just flip it". Ends up the battery wasn't somehow powering the volatile memory, issue that I solved by isolating the positive side from the PCB with some tape (I assumed it was shorting). Just something I'd want to share to someone who might run into the same issue.

[@bdillmore40]

Absolutely loved the video! Very helpful! Ironically I have that same exact Zelda trucker style hat, but in yellow. Great looking hat!

[@jtlaughton5408]

I can't express enough how happy I am that my solder daddy is back

[@MellowGaming]

Do like seeing a cart get given a second chance at keeping its memories. Would love to see more stuff like this, or maybe repairs for common console faults.

[@mattfisher1916]

Should do a video on how to replace a battery without losing the saves. It's easy but I'm sure you can give it a thousand steps I don't even think about anymore.

[@andrewcosten]

Nice to see u back at the great work u do

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

Something so simple yet incredibly engaging.

[@barrettgpeck]

This is the shit I come to this channel for. I love you madly Voultar.

[@MrJibaku]

God I didn’t know how much I wanted to strap on until I wasn’t strapping on for some time. Glad you are back!

[@willipic]

Another excellent video, I learn every video and get a good laugh at the same time. Keep it up.

[@Yore0]

As always I love your vids. Please don't ever quit us again.

[@ajsliter]

I used some of the techniques in this video for replacing the capacitors on my PC Engines. The stock caps have bent leads when they were soldered in and the old solder is only meltable at higher temps without introducing rosin core lead solder that melts at lower temps. Using the heat and rock out technique, I managed to replace all 20 or so caps on each pc engine. The only thing I had to do extra was because one via that ripped out of the PC Engine and I had to patch the trace direct to the negative capacitor leg on the large cap on the right side. Other than that it was a much easier job than probably using a desoldering station.

[@SilverShadowLP]

Awesome! Glad youre back Voultar! i Love watching your Content u provide for us pls keep up this kind of good stuff content :) much Love from germany!

[@71dembonesTV]

I'm wetter than your solder joints right now uwu

[@fourdee4d]

Bless em.

[@joshm264]

So am I :D

[@NightWolve75]

Heh.

[@JeffYPbPr]

Much needed. Please give more 101 vids!!

[@TannerWood2k1]

keep up the great work! I appreciate all the effort that you are putting in to your channel.

[@leonardodepinto7912]

Notification squad from italy Im a your follower, im try to learn the most from you by wathcing your video at slow Speed

[@prymus141]

And I just had to read it with Mario voice :D

[@DanHendricks]

I like the newer method you're using, i did all my SNES games with your older tutorial and kinda wanna re-do them now!

[@infinity2z3r07]

A well made 30 year old coin cell battery still comes out shiny, while my rechargeable 16 pack of triple a's from our dear friends in China corroded to shit in an hour lol

[@paul_pratt]

The flush surface mount battery holders you recommend have changed the length of the negative pin by 60% since you did this video. They snap so easy now, even when I'm simply straightening out the pin. I feel the pins are a bit wider now too. They barely go into the hole (a good problem to be had for men in most cases). I have to "bore" the hole out with a snapped pin to ensure it passes through. After removing the battery I'm refilling the hole with solder, then vacuuming everything out with a Hakko FR-301 to ensure I get all the old solder out. I remove all the solder from both pads before proceeding. Just mentioning that to make sure you know I'm doing my due diligence. When I do finally get one seated, I'm worried that the negative pin will snap at some point post-soldering because of the stress of bending the pin straight. It's very weak. Perhaps it would snap during the battery change process? They go in very tight (herp derp). I like the idea of these replaceable button cells, but I don't know if it's worth the possibility of loosing saves so I don't have to solder in traditional batteries once every twenty years. What do you think?

[@firejelly]

I got some of these and the negative side is indeed longer now. If you're careful, use a sturdy but thin tweezer and bend it close to where it meets the plastic, it won't snap off. To me the positive end seems more flimsy and on the verge of breaking-after soldering though some solder creeps up it which hopefully is enough reinforcement. Definitely don't try to bend either more than once or it will snap (had that happen once). Also, I thought the negative didn't fit at first either, but there was a hint of solder around the edge. One more shot with the solder sucker and it slid in easy in a second with gentle rocking. Then I trimmed the long piece off and reflowed that side. Fit in the case snug as hell, but it worked. I also suggest anyone trying this to definitely use something like a K tip, so the solder melts instantly. Safer and easier.

[@red_geist9741]

Can confirm this is a great way to begin soldering. Thanks for the great tutorial Voultar! I will say be careful when bending the tabs on the battery slot trays. The soldering was easy but I killed 4 slot trays. 🤣

[@loidor8013]

I've missed you, so I'm glad you're back.

[@StrtSlct]

Hey Voultar, thank you so much for this, it’s greatly appreciated! Any chance for a more intermediate video next? For example, explaining the different types of solder (you mentioned lead-free, 60/40, etc. - which to a beginner is over my head). I also wonder what temperatures you’re working with - I’m always concerned about going too hot to damage the cartridge PCB. (If there’s an older video covering this please let me know; I’ll admit I’ve only been around for a year or two!)

[@mattjcwig]

Loving the videos! Really want to get into console modding and your videos are really easy to follow, hopefully one day i'll be modding and you won't be making a video about my modwork 🤣

[@thespinninggroove5155]

When I was first learning how to solder I changed a battery on a Super Nintendo game I didn’t have the right tools at the time, while I was desoldering it the battery got too hot and blew up in my eye!!! I thought I was blinded in my left eye but after an hour of washing my eye out The next day it was better but for months I had solder burns around my eye and it scabbed up it looked horrible!! So please have the right tools and wear safety glasses and have fun!!!! (Voultar you’re videos are the best out there!!)

[@hx8457]

Nice video! We need more quality beginner videos on KZbin.

[@Zoey_yea_boom]

In the years i have been soldering, i had never thought of cut down the legs before removing the component. I feel so stupid now. You Have beeen the Channel I have directed people to for years, you have taught me drag soldering.

[@Vypr]

love your tips and tutorial videos, best soldering videos out there and thank your for the bon-102 tip, is it worth buying the other pen tips?

[@stefanfredin7120]

A positive suprise to see you in Analog frontiers at My life in Gaming!

[@samuraijaydee]

Those battery holders are great. I had to go double check my spare battery holders, to make sure they didn't have tabs like that. I'd be mortified if been installing them wrong all this time. Pleased to say they don't and I wasn't. Great guide as ever!

[@ryanksiazek]

Sometime back in the mid 1980's is an undisclosed location "how much battery time should be in these games? How about 25-30 years? That should be more than enough, no one will be playing these games that long." It has been 35 years or so since Dragon Warrior came out and it is still saving on the original battery.

[@_HellYeah]

Hail Lord Voultar! So awesome you broke out that Gen 2 Sega Genesis. I just recapped mine with a kit from Console5. Can’t wait to see what you do to that bad boy and the T1000 love juices. 🦾

[@nitrax8629]

Great vid, love the tease at the end which I assume is for a Mega Amp mod - gonna be fixing the shoddy sound on the Genesis 2?

[@chrispybee]

Reminds me of the part in Spaceballs where Dark Helmet is playing with his toys! Great video and always love the sensual voice.

[@fermoralespy]

Voultar, could you please talk about wire gauges/sizes for specific aplications, like what size use for power, for video signals, and or batteries?, Mostly for the portabilizing projects? Hope you can help us here, thanks for the quality videos as always!

[@AnalyticalReckoner]

I started soldering the same way and even used the same battery holders in my games!

[@FyeRee]

Am I the only one who imagined voultar as being in his mid 40s?

[@BambooShadow]

Great outro (and great outro music) :)

[@ThickpropheT]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the various solder chemistries. Do you regularly use 60/40? I’ve been using kesters 63/37 with no clean core for a while now and it works pretty well, but there are some occasions where using it doesn’t quite perform the same as I’ve seen in your vids. Specific examples elude me atm. I’ve never used 60/40. Might have to pick some up to try

[@incorrect1844]

Voltar survived Covid! Welcome back Master!

[@spidermcgavenport8767]

I needed your expertise about a month ago, when I started to fix my own carts Voultar! I just use an eraser.

[@spidermcgavenport8767]

My soldering skills are lacking but I practiced on a Logitech mouse and figured it out. The only issue I am having now is VIA's getting them to clear, I also suggest adding a battery holder away from the PCB so you won't ever have to worry about a battery bursting and ruining the cart. What do you suggest when your cart shell to pcb line etches into to silk screen or solder mask? Cleaning that cart shell to pcb line is years worth of gross spit residue lol.

[@kirby695]

Voultar is back!!!!! YES!!!!

[@cavalen]

Nice video & tips! ... Question: Do you fix broken plastic tabs in the game cases? specially in NES games.

[@saturdayarena9443]

Awesome man, awesome job niceee mr Zach

[@TsunamiUndine]

tip top maintainance of your tools for optimum perfomance video next please, thanks for this video.

[@Panfloetenheini]

Is there a way of replacing the battery without clearing the savefile without having a way to backup the saves? I could imagine hot-swapping it while having the game loaded and save it after the battery is replaced, but it seems a bit risky.

[@retr0_amp]

You had me at the Wrecking Crew music. *liked*

[@globalhell5046]

That's nice! What temperature did you use in your solder station to do this?

[@NightWolve75]

I've got a soldering question Voult if you'd be so kind: What's the best way to tin/flux the aluminum wire/foil on a coaxial ISP/DTV cable? I want to solder it to a copper wire that goes directly to a new 10' copper rod I installed. Long story, I jumped thru hoops to stabilize my ISP signal. Don't want a ground block, want soldered connections instead with dedicated ground rod for my Internet service. Used to have very unstable service before I did this. Anyway, I saw other videos that showed vegetable oil to get aluminum foil/wire tinned, ready to bond with copper but I wanted more opinions on what is the absolute best way. Thanks!

[@muusi5708]

I want a soldering shack just like Voultar!

[@NordicDan]

I need to see if I can use this method for the CMOS battery in my old PSP-1000

[@sund0260]

Yay! He's back!

[@lazerpipe]

Voultar is the Bob Ross of soldering

[@dazamad]

Liked it. For smd work is the solder iron at 380 celcius or less?

[@kaio0777]

Love video and love this gb castlevana soundtrack more

[@TheCoolDave]

2 questions.. What is good temp to set the iron at for working on delicate boards like this ? Also, as all of my batteries are working years later, is there a easy way to keep the save games that are in it ?

[@RabidBeave]

Great video to help a n00b like me out. I ordered the battery holders listed in your Amazon page. I noticed they are the same as the ones in this video. Ordered them anyways and have had zero luck with them. The tabs just break when I try to bend them straight…that sounds weird. Are you still using those ones? Any suggestions?

[@Zarbondb]

Great video! I have a question about Game boy cartridges. I have some experience replacing batteries already on dry batteries. The thing is.. I have some Pokémon games that still have battery, and I would like to replace It and avoid losing data, but I would like to do It without dumping the sdram... Can I replace the battery with the cartridge conected and running? There's room for the replacement since the battery stays out of the GB cartridge slot, but I don't know if that could damage the save data or even the game

[@SkywardKkalox]

Hey voultar, what would you reccomend for gba battery replacements? Had tried a cr2032 ages ago but it was quite big.

[@Ragesauce]

Is there a reason you choose the Yohii battery holder? Is it superior to other holders?

[@TimDavis77]

Great video, Voultar. Amazon is currently sold out of those Yohii CR2032 battery holders. Do you have an alternate source you'd recommend for those?

[@DapperIndividual]

Not Voultar but I picked up about 50 from eBay for under $20 USD. It came from China but it came suprisingly fast, in roughly about a week.

[@Hostilenemy]

BTW, is it possible to replace the "save rom" chip with non-volatile flash so it wouldn't require a battery to keep the saves from wiping out?

[@nitrax8629]

I think there may be a way to modify them to use FRAM for saves, eliminating the need for a battery. Nintendo themselves did this on later production runs of certain early GBA games.

[@Supadupanerd]

Hey Voultar, I already have a Hakko FX-888D, do you recommend the T12 soldering station or is my Hakko sensual enough already?

[@tomsimeone3076]

If the case doesn't slide right on and needs a little help is that a big deal? Could slight bulging cause the case to crack over time?