Replacing internal batteries?

It is indeed the same process as replacing a GB, SNES or any other cartridge save battery.
I do not know the exact number of the battery, but it is a different one than the GB. Just unscrew your cartridge and you’ll know 😉

I wonder if you could use an LIR1616 and find a 5V charging circuit small enough to fit inside the cart…

3DBoyColor wrote:
A rechargeable battery isn’t a good option, unless you happen to leave your Virtual Boy running for several hours every day.

I beg to differ. Since the current draw is small, and it goes to zero while you’re using the VB, I think a rechargeable would work nicely. It’s good that (AFAIK) only a Li-ion cell would physically fit, though; the “memory effect” of other chemistries (I’m lookin’ at you, NiCd! ;-)) would ruin it after a few low-drain/top-up cycles.

Now that I think of it, though, maybe a supercap would be even better… But then you would probably have to run each cart for a few seconds every so often. Either that or find some pins that would fit, and make a rack that you can plug all your games into that supplies them with +5V 😀

RunnerPack wrote:
I beg to differ. Since the current draw is small, and it goes to zero while you’re using the VB, I think a rechargeable would work nicely. It’s good that (AFAIK) only a Li-ion cell would physically fit, though; the “memory effect” of other chemistries (I’m lookin’ at you, NiCd! ;-)) would ruin it after a few low-drain/top-up cycles.

Now that I think of it, though, maybe a supercap would be even better… But then you would probably have to run each cart for a few seconds every so often. Either that or find some pins that would fit, and make a rack that you can plug all your games into that supplies them with +5V 😀

Or you could just install a CR2025 (or 2032) and not have to worry about it for 20+ years.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to socket a cartridge for easier future battery replacements?

I did one for a Super Nintendo game some time ago with this video as a guide: link!. Probably not worthwhile since it’ll be 10+ years before it has to be changed again, but hey, why not! 🙂

The save battery in VB carts seem to be the same as GB, GBC, & some GBA carts, meaning that they are soldered to the board by the tabs. Looking at my VB Wario Land cart, it seems to use a CR 1616 battery for saving which can be harvested from either another VB cart or GB/GBC/GBA cart that has as a save feature. Some Game Boy carts use a CR 2025 battery saving (like the Pokemon games), so it can be a little tricky to find the right size battery to harvest and most GBA games that have save feature use flash storage rather than a battery.

Or you could find replacements on places like eBay with the tabs already in the battery, so all you’d need to do is a quick and careful solder job https://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-CR1616-SAVE-BATTERY-REPLACEMENT-W-TABS-GAMEBOY-COLOR-GBA-ADVANCE-POKEMON/262357234778?hash=item3d15b5b45a:g:GWQAAOSwRLZT-mfn

That’s basically how it works, but you should really watch some YouTube “how to solder” videos before you try it. There’s some craft and technique to it. It’s not as simple as just melting some metal to the board. Especially if you’re using cheap equipment.

That’s the one. I watched it and figured it out. I got the battery out using a small screwdriver. But the store I went too didn’t have any and the watch store is closed Sunday. So I ordered a 5 pack off eBay for $3.85 so I’ll put the battery in next weekend. I wish I had done this from the start as it would suck when this happens on my other games!

As I mentioned on FB it blows that they went cheap and Mario Clash doesn’t have a battery, that game needs a save function too!

It is possible that this is a one off but I had a SNES cart do the same thing, it would save for a day or two but by the end of the week all data gone. So I replaced the battery, now I’m good for another 20 years.

Yeah the battery works, but it’s not good. I guess the closest term would be that it’s producing undervoltage. There’s enough of a charge left for it to work when the system hits the game with some juice so it feels like it should last, but if you walk away for X amount of hours/days it will be gone if it hasn’t been hit again. I had a SimCity on SNES that did this, it would last weeks, then die.