What's new
By:
Filters

MVS MV1B/1C battery replacement

B

bodgit

Professional
Joined
Sep 6, 2020
Messages
244
Reaction score
426
Location
UK
Until recently my MV1B still had the original rechargeable battery. It looked a bit grotty but hadn't leaked however it wouldn't keep a charge for very long so I figured I should replace it pronto.

I bought a Dreamcast battery kit as it looked like the correct lead layout but it was only when I put the new holder on the MV1B board I realised the spacing was wrong on the +ve leads. Rather than mess about trying to hack that to fit I spent 10 minutes in KiCad and drew a simple PCB with a 2032 battery holder and the correct lead spacing.

You can mount it horizontally, or vertically like the original battery. I believe this will fit an MV1C as well although I don't have one to hand to confirm. I'm using an LIR2032 coin cell so it's still rechargeable, but you could use a CR2032 if you disable the charging circuit.

If anyone would like one/some to fix their board(s) I have some extras, £2 each + postage. Send me a PM.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2824.jpg
    IMG_2824.jpg
    179.8 KB · Views: 574
  • IMG_2811.jpg
    IMG_2811.jpg
    263.4 KB · Views: 654
  • IMG_2812.jpg
    IMG_2812.jpg
    180.8 KB · Views: 528
bodgit said:
Until recently my MV1B still had the original rechargeable battery. It looked a bit grotty but hadn't leaked however it wouldn't keep a charge for very long so I figured I should replace it pronto.

I bought a Dreamcast battery kit as it looked like the correct lead layout but it was only when I put the new holder on the MV1B board I realised the spacing was wrong on the +ve leads. Rather than mess about trying to hack that to fit I spent 10 minutes in KiCad and drew a simple PCB with a 2032 battery holder and the correct lead spacing.

You can mount it horizontally, or vertically like the original battery. I believe this will fit an MV1C as well although I don't have one to hand to confirm. I'm using an LIR2032 coin cell so it's still rechargeable, but you could use a CR2032 if you disable the charging circuit.

If anyone would like one/some to fix their board(s) I have some extras, £2 each + postage. Send me a PM.
Click to expand...
Sorry. Don't know how to PM you. I have 3 MV1Bs and 2 MV1Cs. I would like to grab a few and I can see if it will fit the 1C.
 
Bastich76 said:
Sorry. Don't know how to PM you. I have 3 MV1Bs and 2 MV1Cs. I would like to grab a few and I can see if it will fit the 1C.
Click to expand...
Took me ages to figure this one out

In the top right corner click the envelope button
step 1.jpg
Start a new conversation
step 2.jpg
Name of person you want to message
step 3.jpg
 
I've just received another batch of PCBs after my last lot sold out, if anyone still needs any.
 
So nice, any chance for other model for example for MV-1 big motherboard?
 
A forgotten unit my buddy bought from you a couple years ago worked great in a MV-1C!

Any chance you'd open source this design? I'd love to put it on the ConsoleMods wiki (with full credit, of course) for others to make and link this thread for people to buy them directly.
 
A friend of mine gave me one of these recently, any recommendations for coin cell to use? Not sure if the ML2032 or LiR2032 is better or if brand makes a difference. Thanks.
 
Between ML2032 and LiR2032 I believe the latter is preferable as its characteristics are closer to the original battery, that's what I used anyway.

You can of course just use regular CR2032 cells, but you need to disable the charging circuit on the MVS by removing a couple of components. There are guides such as http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/tutorials.html that show which ones should be removed depending on the MVS model.
 
bodgit said:
Between ML2032 and LiR2032 I believe the latter is preferable as its characteristics are closer to the original battery, that's what I used anyway.

You can of course just use regular CR2032 cells, but you need to disable the charging circuit on the MVS by removing a couple of components. There are guides such as http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/tutorials.html that show which ones should be removed depending on the MVS model.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. I left my console on for over 24-hours to hopefully charge a new LiR2032. I just turned my console off, any idea how long the battery can be expected to keep the save data intact before the console needs to be powered on again for recharge?
 
Last edited:
Update, after a 24-hour charge on a brand new LiR2032 it was able to hold the bios settings 2 hours after powering off. Today, after 18 hours being powered off, the bios settings reset again.

I have another brand new LiR 2032 that I charged in the console for about 9 hours and removed and have been checking the voltage daily. It seems to sit at 3.77V which is the same as when it was pulled from the console immediately following the 9-hour charge.

Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Has anyone ever been successdul with a rechargeable one? Seems like the regular CR2032 non-rechargeable mod is easier and widely preferred. I've had the batteries hold the charge in more than one MVS board for years.
 
Sorry I am late to the party. I had been thinking about battery replacement for months. I have gone a different route using a super cap. Over the last few years I have had a few different caps soldered in place of the battery and finally settled on one. It appears to get me at least 3 months without loosing soft dips, but is designed for pcb mounting and has short legs, so I designed a pcb to solder in place of the battery. I just opened a thread to test interest, hopefully this solves some of these issues. Removing a resistor or cutting a trace seemed unsatisfactory to me and the lithium battery route would probably be ok but to make it neat you still need to solder something in, options are good and hopefully this gives people another one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top