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Flash Equipment > EZF-Advance battery?

#17117 - wiz - Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:33 pm

Hi guys,

Having just received one of these from success-hk I have been playing and testing it out all weekend.

But there is something I do not understand, its the battery - it doesnt seem to be charging!

My GBA is an older model and the flash cart is 256m.

Are batteries powerful enough to charge the cart's battery? I have been using cheap "powercell" batteries in my GBA which dont last very long after uploading to the cart. I left the GBA on overnight with the batteries in and came back to it today (after work) so its been off for quite a while.. I was happy to see the saves and clock time remained.

Do batteries need to *STAY* inside the GBA unit? it seems sometimes when I remove them it loses the saves and clock. but leaving the batteries in the unit I can power off and leave it for a while and the save data remains in the cart.

Since I cant afford to keep getting batteries I'm using some rechargable ones from my camera. They last a LONG time *but* they read 1.2V where as the cheap ones read 1.5V.

With these "longer lasting, but only 1.2V" rechargable batteries, the saves and clock sometimes dont remain even when the unit is switched off and back on.

If its just a case of "use a charger and it will charge the battery" I can not locate a charger port on the unit. is there even one available for the old GBA?

I'll do more searching on the problem and see if I can work it out. The cart is brand new and the official site I read something about them requiring a charge since they will have been unused for some time.

Anyone shed some light?

Thank you again!

#17118 - ampz - Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:47 pm

The type of batteries used in your GBA is totally irrelevant to your backup battery.

#17166 - wiz - Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:39 pm

I wouldnt have thought so either, but maybe a higher voltage is needed to charge the battery in the cart? Can anyone confirm this please?

#17174 - ampz - Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:31 pm

The GBA have a switched powersupply. The internal voltage is not related to the battery voltage. The internal voltage will allways be 3.3V

#17177 - wiz - Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:45 pm

Thanks for your input ampz but Im unsure if you are reffering to the battery in the cart or the batteries powering the gba. The AA batteries are only 1.5 volts.. so that would only be 3 volts?

#17179 - ampz - Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:55 pm

Yes. That's only 3V, but as I said, the switched powersupply in the GBA converts it to 3.3Volts.

#17224 - wiz - Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:49 pm

Ampz, I saw your reply to a post on a similar post to mine. You said:

Quote:
The voltage supplied by the GBA (3.3V) is only enough to charge a rechargeable battery to about 2% of it's full capacity. A 3.6V power supply is required to charge it to it's full capacity.


So this sounds like my problem? I cant fully charge the 'cart battery' using standard batteries in my GBA (not SP).

If thats true would a mains power supply, for my GBA, charge it up to its full capacity? (I dont have one, or know anyone with one to test this) or do I need to locate someone with an GBA-SP and have them charge it for me?

Thank you very much for all your help on this!

#17226 - ampz - Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:23 pm

No.

I know the stand alone linker device from EZ charges the battery.

Not sure if EZ use rechargeable batteries or not on the devices shipped with a multiboot-style linker cable, because there is simply no way of recharging the battery to its full capacity without the stand-alone linker.

#17228 - wiz - Thu Mar 04, 2004 2:11 pm

uh-oh.. I dont have a linker (I just have the USB cable). The battery is rechargable from what I can tell of the online-manual which I found here:

http://www.ezf-advance.com/download-1_00software.htm

Its only sometimes the saves are lost.

Is it worth buying a linker?, and are they still compatable with the USB version cart (EZF-Advance 256 - its the clear red one)

#17237 - wiz - Thu Mar 04, 2004 7:59 pm

ok I *think* I have solved this mystery!

I borrowed a voltage tester from work today and returned home to test the battery inside the cart. Connecting both sides of the battery it registered 2.81V so this means theres nothing wrong with it. I then placed the pins on to the solder points where the battery is connected to the board and it didnt register anything! after a very close look I realised the solder was not actually connecting the battery. Now after I soldered it things are looking better. However Im not a very confident solderer so I'll do further testing and I really hope that solved it!!

#17877 - wiz - Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:29 pm

I can now confirm it was a dry joint. I have had no problems at all since the solder was done :)