Barrel Battery Blaster: Drop-in replacement for leaky CMOS batteries

We are putting together a Barrel Battery Blaster. It is a small PCB for a CR2032 Lithium battery that can be used as a drop-in replacement for old NiCd rechargeable barrel batteries.
BarrelBatteryBlaster: github.com/scr...
Music:
Track Stalker from the Duke Duke Dance Party Album
by the Space Quest Historian, Troels Pleimert
spacequesthist...
• "Duke Duke Dance Party...

[@darthtripedacus1]

I love how the retro community is keeping these old boards alive. Projects like this and the voltage blaster from necroware help keep old machines working with modern equipment

[@luca6819]

Great job, and the background music a nice bonus! Hail to the king baby!

[@conradtrout]

A very neat solution.

[@ruthlessadmin]

Awesome. Definitely will be making a bunch of these!

[@clintthompson4100]

This is awesome. I love this.

[@Warrentheo]

Looks good, minor improvement would be to flip the vertical for the battery holder, would make removal of the CR2032 easier...

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

You mean with the battery facing to the back of the board? That would make it worse once the board is installed in the case, given the socket would be up against it.

[@Inject0r]

Nice! I’ve come up with the same solution a while ago. It’s awesome to see other people having the same solution in mind! GMTA

[@Lilithe]

thank you for blasting those accursed batteries 🐸

[@janpedersen9120]

thanks for doing this, as you say so much nicer.. i will take this to my projects thanks for sharing.

[@dosboy]

Very nice! The battery should face the board edge, though, to make it easier to replace

[@scrap_computing]

Yeah this makes it a bit easier to replace, but you can always place the battery holder on the other side.

[@Conradlovesjoy]

If it faced out it would be in a computer case and nearly impossible to replace.

[@llamallarry]

In some cases it would, and not in general

[@HBAVHS]

Thanks!

[@oldhuntersu]

As usual, great and interesting video from you!

[@MartenElectric]

That's a great idea, I've never thought about this one!

[@ctiborkoza8944]

Nice Video like always 👍

[@ljrretropcs]

You are some kind of wizard! Great idea. Although some boards may need a double CR2032 holder as there are some boards where the single cell is not enough to keep the full function.

[@jirja3192]

You can use LIR2032 that has 3.6V

[@gammitinofficial]

Love your videos, just subscribed!

[@BrassicGamer]

Such a simple idea. Awesome!

[@cdl0]

Amigakit sell a ready-made part, with optional CR2023 cell.

[@angelgrig72]

Very nice! subscribed!

[@gordoncreAtive]

I guess you could also solder female pin header to the board for easy access to the Barrel Battery Blaster.

[@kokodin5895]

why not make pcb horisontal and smaller and use cleaner looking vertical battery holder?

[@scrap_computing]

Yeah that's another option :)

[@pentiummmx2294]

i got one of those for my 386SX board and sadly it seems to not work, it like is ignoring any battery i try, i did pay attention to the polarity as well.

[@scrap_computing]

Hmm perhaps the diode is the wrong way in? Have you tried measuring the voltage at the pins with a multimeter when the PC is off? You should be getting a little over 3V with a new battery.

[@dazamad]

How has the cr2032 going after 1 month? Is it still holding the settings. Thinking about ordering these pcb but not sure if 3v is enough in standby. Thanks and enjoyed watching

[@scrap_computing]

I just checked and it seems to be holding the settings fine after ~2 weeks off power. But yeah, ti may not work reliably on all boards.

[@cptcrogge]

Would it be possible to use a rechargeable ML2032 without any diode or is the charging current of the NiCd battery incompatible?

[@scrap_computing]

I would guess that the ML2032 would require some decent charging circuitry to avoid damaging the battery.

[@Leos-World]

Nice solution. In general, how long das the lipo cell battery last?

[@Megatog615]

What schottky diode do you recommend for this?

[@scrap_computing]

Any schottky diode should do, like for example the 1N5817.

[@protonjinx]

soldering above a mobo.... one droplet of solder and goodnight mobo...

[@scrap_computing]

Yeah, it would make a nice motherboard repair video :)

[@ayan.debnath]

Pls share the Diode no?

[@scrap_computing]

Try a schottky, like the 1N5817 or 1N5818, 1N5819 any one of them will do.

[@ayan.debnath]

@@scrap_computing Thanks a lot.

[@ayan.debnath]

@@scrap_computing I know, but my tests gave some strange results.
I tested these in a Breadboard.
Using 1N5819, when I give 5V in opposite direction, the leak correct is almost 1.5v!
Using 1N4007, when I give 5V in opposite direction, the leak correct is almost 0v!
But, 1N4007 makes 3V, drops to 2.6-2.8V.

[@scrap_computing]

@@ayan.debnath You should not worry about reverse voltage. The only thing that matters is the voltage after the diode, it should be as high as possible (close to the 3V of the battery), which is why a schottky is usually a better option.

[@PROSTO4Tabal]

barrel batteries are rechargable, cr2032 are not, how do you explain that ?

[@RodBeauvex]

That's what the diode is for. It will keep the board from trying to charge the batter, but allows the battery to still run the RTC SRAM.

[@ayan.debnath]

@@RodBeauvex what Diode should I use? model?

[@RodBeauvex]

@@ayan.debnath Any cheap diode will work, though try to find something with a low voltage drop. The bigger problem is most boards were designed for whatever battery they came with, and if they were designed for other types, other circuit components me be needed, and those are application specific.