A4k Battery-backed clock

[SirStimpalot]

I'm fairly certain the clock battery in my A4000 is on its way out - but the behaviour isn't quite what i would've expected, so was wondering if anyone can confirm/explain it for me.

What I'm finding is that sometimes the clock will be at the time that I switched the machine off - eg. If the machine was last on at 8:30 yesterday, that will be the time and date it shows when I turn it on today. Other times it will be a date/time in 1996, while every once in a while it'll be something strange like a date and time in November 2003.

I would have expected the time to revert to the same point every time if it were a battery issue (I'm basing that on my experience with A500s and 1200s without battery-backed clocks).

And here's a long shot: Anyone happen to know where in Sydney would be best to start looking for a new battery? It's a barrel type.

Cheers

[A4000Bear]

Jaycar Electronics sell suitable NiMH batteries. Cat No. SB-1609 is what you want.

Check out my Amiga site - it has info on leaky clock batteries.

www.starnet.com.au/davem/amiga.html

[Desmon]

@SirStimpalot

Hey Stimpy, long time no see...

I'm fairly certain the clock battery in my A4000 is on its way out - but the behaviour isn't quite what i would've expected, so was wondering if anyone can confirm/explain it for me.

What I'm finding is that sometimes the clock will be at the time that I switched the machine off - eg. If the machine was last on at 8:30 yesterday, that will be the time and date it shows when I turn it on today. Other times it will be a date/time in 1996, while every once in a while it'll be something strange like a date and time in November 2003.

I would have expected the time to revert to the same point every time if it were a battery issue (I'm basing that on my experience with A500s and 1200s without battery-backed clocks).

And here's a long shot: Anyone happen to know where in Sydney would be best to start looking for a new battery? It's a barrel type.

From the bottom up....

See Dave's website re: your battery. If nothing else, at least get it out of the machine before it leaks acid all over your precious motherboard.

As for the weird times, my A4000 does the same thing, but i replaced the battery shortly after purchasing the machine, a little over a year ago. I've been meaning to give the whole box to Dave to see if he can fathom the problem.

As for the date being set at the last time you used it, AmigaOS used to read the last date on the files it could find on the boot disk and set the clock to that. At least under OS 1.x this was true. I used to set the clock on my A1000 from the last used date in my SUS.

Best of luck. The battery change isn't a hard job at all. just be patient with it.

 Cache Ya,
 Craig.

[Cryten]

This one is aimed at A4000Bear:
Did you put down the correct web address? I can't reach the page you stated, and I'm actually really interested in knowing how to find my way to that battery  :-)  

[SilvrDrgn]

Get that battery off of your motherboard as soon as possible.  If it leaks, it will destroy the board.  When you get a replacement, do what I did.  Attach a set of pins to the appropriate holes and then put wires on the battery (with some sort of plug-in type connection) to attach to the pins.  Then velcro the battery somewhere in your case far away from the motherboard.

[amigamad]

All amiga.s that are using this type of battery should have it removed due to the age of the machines. Quite a few machines have died due to battery leakage ive seen a few that have been for sale with dead motherboards due to leakage lately.i have an a4000 motherboard coming bought from someone on amibench battery is not leaking but i will be removing it and replacing it .my a 4000 tower has a lithium battery and also some pins to connect a batery with a lead instead of mounting on the motherboard . :-)

[patrik]

You could always replace the battery with lithium coin-type battery as described in http://www.aminet.net/hard/hack/LithBatt.lha, which is a more safe battery-type as it isnt prone to leaking corroding fluids.

Here are a few pictures of how it looks nowadays in my A2000:
Lithium-battery from the side
Lithium-battery from above


/Patrik

[tonyw]

Stone the crows, don't buggerise around, just buy the proper battery from Jaycar. Like the man said, it's the SB-1609, it costs $8.95, it won't break the bank. Besides, the new battery will last longer than the rest of the machine will.

I wouldn't bother with extension wires, put it on the carefully-cleaned board properly. If you can't or don't want to do it yourself, bring it along to the SAUG meeting on Sunday 14th, and we'll do it for you.

tony

[SirStimpalot]

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

The A4000 has actually had the existing battery moved off the motherboard and placed in what looks like a 35mm film canister, I've had a look and it looks OK in itself - so leaks aren't much of an issue.

It seems I'll just have to go ahead and replace the battery - I suspected as much, I just wasn't 100% as the behaviour made me wonder if it wasn't something else going wrong. I was also hesitant to touch it as lately the system seems to fail if I even look at it the wrong way.

Again, thanks for the replies.

[Cryten]

I think I'll have to put a thanks here aswell. Guess I'll be spending part of next weekend trying to get rid of that battery. Replacing it seems like lower priority after reading about leaking batteries.

[Dr_Righteous]

I got my NiMH replacement off Ebay... Dirt cheap... A few minutes with a soldering iron and a little amonia to neutralize/remove the battery acid. Works great, well worth the effort.

In my case, the new battery was 3 prong, but taking a vacuum desoldering tool to the 3rd hole on the motherboard fixed that.

Another thing on the A4k you have to watch is the SIMM sockets. The plastic on them decays over time and can break... Causing loose RAM modules. My fix for this when it occurs is a tiny amount of superglue, applied with a straight pin, to the sides of the SIMMs to hold them in place.

Just an extra tip  :-D