How to Replace the Date & Time Memory Battery on the #Sega #Dreamcast

In this video, we show you how to replace the CMOS Clock Battery on the Sega Dreamcast.

September 9, 1999 is over 21 years ago at this point now, and most of us recognize the significance of that date as the day the Sega Dreamcast, the final home console from Sega, was released in North America. While some things get better with age, rechargeable batteries are not one of those things. The Sega Dreamcast uses a rechargeable battery to store date and time information in the system, but unlike their previous Saturn console, the Dreamcast is not a pop out/pop out scenario with the CMOS battery. Honestly, Sega took a step backwards with ease-of-replacement as the Dreamcast's battery is soldered to a board inside the system itself.

One other difference in the Dreamcast's battery is the fact that it is actually rechargeable. this means you can't just use a standard CR2032 Lithium Button Battery, you actually need an ML2032. This might seem like a minor change, but this is very important to be cognizant of. If you try to recharge a a non-rechargeable battery, you can actually have a catastrophic failure, up-to and including the battery EXPLODING!

You have a few options when trying to replace the battery. One is a direct replacement, which has the tabs spot-welded to the battery, just like the original. The other option is to replace the battery with a battery holder, this way you only need to solder once and be done. If your battery needs replacement in the future, you can simply remove and replace the battery in a snap without needing to solder anything. This is what I opted for as it was the more permanent solution.

From start-to-finish, this is about a 20-minute job. Getting inside the system is as easy as removing 4 standard philips screws to remove the case, and 4 screws to remove the board the battery is soldered to. You'll also need to remove the fan connector and a ribbon cable and the board should come right out. Before removing the old battery, I did re-flow the joints with fresh solder, just to make things easier to remove. While I used my desoldering iron to remove the old battery, you could try some solder wick too. Be careful that he tabs are completely desoldered before trying to remove it from the board, as if it is still connected you can lift pads and traces off of your circuit board.

Once the old battery is removed, align the tabs from the holder into the holes on the board and solder them into place. With the holder installed, take note of the polarity and install the ML2032 into the holder. From here, reassemble your system and plug it in. You'll need to re-set the date and time one last time here for obvious reasons. Once set, your Dreamcast should store the data moving forward.

#Sega #Dreamcast #CMOSBattery #BatteryReplacement #RetroConsole #HowTo

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