First time using a soldering iron and I used this tutorial to replace Pokemon Emerald's battery. Very useful tutorial with some in-depth knowledge about the carts too.
I'm actually in the exact same sitation and need to replace the battery in my pokemon emerald game as well haha, what a coincidence. Though i haven't started the process yet and honestly don't know if I'm going to because the process seemed overwhelming to me.
@@matsstrmsli6178 Me too lol. It's a good game that's why. I bought one on the market and was worried about it being a fake, but turns out I just got a really great deal on a legit Pokémon emerald with a dead battery. Works for me! I lost my game a long while back and had to buy a new one and lost that somehow as well. this will be my third one which won't be lost anymore because I don't have sibblings living with me
Great tutorial! Getting the batteries to connect properly over the chips can be really tricky. Also, props for mentioning flux - so many neglect it. The first time I replaced an internal battery (for Pokémon Gold) I used the first UA-cam tutorial I could find. It showed basically ripping the battery off the tabs and holding a new one in place with electrical tape. It was a terrible idea! Constantly slipping slightly out of place and losing my data... Don't do it, kids!
I'm no slouch when it comes to soldering and electronics, but this is, without a doubt, the most thorough tutorial I've seen on both the batteries AND the fake cart epidemic that's been going on for over a decade. Absolutely fantastic job, good sir!!
This was first time using a Soldering Iron and this tutorial was soooo good. So clear at what to do and was nicely paced and easy to follow. I can report that I no longer get that “Internal Battery has run dry” error anymore. Time based events WILL OCCUR!
You stay awesome Kyle! Thank you for the in depth tutorial, I have no experience with a soldering iron and am planning on changing the battery on some of my old gbc and gba games.
I've been doing quite a bit of digging into how the RTC works on the pokemon games recently. Even if you replace the batteries in Pokemon R/S/E, most clock based events wont work. The main issue will be Shoal cave, which is only accessible during low tides, so if you have a dry battery, it's best to set the initial time to one where low-tide will be present. The next thing would be growing berries, which probably won't effect many. When the battery is replaced, the RTC is reset to 1/1/2000 and 00:00am. This is also the case when starting a NEW game in Ruby or Sapphire, where as Emerald just updates the time set, and not the date of the RTC. The way the game deals with growing berries is to count time from the last save point, and check to see if the value is greater. Since the last save is probably pretty far into the future from the year 2000, berries will basically never grow. There are some homebrew apps that can run from either a GBA or DS flashcart and access/update the RTC. It can get pretty convoluted, but if you really want to update the time on the games after installing a new battery, using a $10 DS flashcart and the homebrew app is really easy, as it'll just read the RTC from the game in the GBA slot, and allow you to edit it.
I don't think I fully understood. The game counts time from the last save point, but what does that mean if you reset the game's clock to 1/1/2000? Do you mean that it takes into account the date at which the previous save file was last saved, meaning that if I had a save file that I last saved in 2012 and then started a new game, that save file from 2012 would still be some point of reference for the new game? If that's not what you meant, I don't really understand how it works. When you wrote that the game "checks to see if the value is greater", could you specify greater than what? I'll be very grateful if you clarify, mad respect to you for digging into this and sharing.
You are talking about the infamous berry bug right? That can be fixed if you have a copy of the newer pokemon games like FireRed/LeafGreen/Emerald. Basically involves connecting 2 GBA with a link cable and update the game using the Berry Patch included in those games. It only affects certain batches of Ruby/Sapphire.
I believe the right way is to install a CR1616 battery holder that you don't have to keep resoldering. Then your correct way also dont include the RTC reset that is needed.
I found a game without a real time clock that has a battry in it. Can some explain? I thought only GBC and OG GB games had batteries. The game was Castlevania Circle of the Moon
SRAM is not the most common for GBA. Even the games that used SRAM were produced with FlashRAM or EEPROM in later batches… like Metroid Fusion here. The vast majority of GBA game battery replacements will be RTC batteries for Pokemon games, which use FlashRAM to save. From my collection back in the day I recall F-Zero for Game Boy Advance (Maximum Velocity in the USA but I bought my GBA before it launched in the US), Warioland 4, and Metroid Fusion. I tried to import Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World on GBA before the US release and ended up with a bootleg SRAM-patched version that didn’t save hi-scores and stopped saving entirely a few months later. It was the first GBA game to use a certain EEPROM chip that was larger than the early games so the warez scene had already SRAM patched the Japanese release for flash cart users. The counterfeiters just grabbed that one. Someone also gave me a “broken” copy of Advance Wars that couldn’t save and, sure enough, it was a bootleg with an SRAM battery where my original was FlashRAM. I don’t see how an SRAM hack ever could’ve worked considering what had to be saved for the custom maps so it’s possible that the bootleggers were using the same PCB for everything and save never worked for that one. Yes, bootleg GBA games were an issue when the GBA was still current, as my two examples show. I saw them in the amused GBA display cases at every GameStop or EB Games I checked… people just didn’t realize it back then.
Where are you getting the batteries? I see a couple on Amazon but reviews seem so suggest the tabs are shorter and kinda tricky to use on gba carts. Thanks and nice video!
Just curious, other than Pokemon GameBoy Advance games, why do some GameBoy Advance games contain batteries? For instance the two Metroid GBA games contain a battery, but the Super Mario Advance games do not. However, you can still easily save game data on each game? Or the 2nd Densetsu No Stafy game contains no battery but 1 & 2 both do. Kinda of sucks because it causes more of a headache to worry about losing game data and saves.
some solder got on the BT1 hole (located just below the negative contact) currently the cart still works, but am worried once i add a battery that the current my do something, should i be worried? I've stopped for now until I find or get an answer Edit: Didn't get an answer so figured I'd give it a try after cleaning up as much of the solder as I could. works fine.
If you can't easily or cheaply buy from online sources (say, you live in Latin America like I do), you can be super jank/McGiverish and just get yourself a normal CR1616 cell battery at any hardware store, and then try and pry the tabs from the original battery. I've never actually done it with GBA games, but I did so for a CMOS battery in a laptop and it worked quite well. Just be careful not to break anything in the PCB when prying the battery. Oh, and do this under your own responsibility, I'm only informing how it could be done, not how it should be done xD
I replied to this earlier, but I decided to revise my response. Depending on the circuit, you could cause major damage to it, and potentially damage the battery or cause it to explode. Basically, don't try it.
Im replacing my battery so I can hunt for a shiny kyogre in sapphire. I hear with a dead one the rng works the same way as emerald. If i replace the battery can I then go on hunting like normal or will it take a full game reset? I’ve heard most in game clock events dont work until a full reset. Will this also mean I can’t get the Regis?
Generally about 10-15 years, especially if the battery going in is really full-capacity. Some of the coin cells I've gotten from retailers have measured significantly less than the full 3V, probably because they've sat on the shelf for years. I ordered from DigiKey, a super-dependable electronic components company, and the cells are always pristine.
I believe that NOT using flux would be a huge mistake - I've been there and done that, and flux makes things a MILLION times easier to do. So yes, use flux. Otherwise, your solder joints will likely look like garbage.
You can use lead-free solder, but it requires a hotter temperature on your iron to melt, which can be a bit more tricky to handle since some components can get damaged more easily if you're not careful. Hope this helps, and thanks for watching! 🙂👍🏻
Will this still work on a bootleg copy? I didn't realize it until now, but my Yoshi's Island cartridge is most certainly fake, but I'd still like to play it if fixing the battery will make the save work.
So with Flash memory, when a Pokémon cartridge's battery runs dry, the sava data before it ran out is still stored, unlike the Metroid SRAM chip? It's only the time based events that get affected?
Correct. There is another video tutorial to fix the real-time clock after replacing the battery. For the Metroid Fusion, it functions how all prior games did with SRAM. There are Metroid Fusion carts with no battery but flash memory instead.
Good video besides not specifying to turn the screw left until in clicks into place before screwing it in. I noticed you even did that in the video, but said nothing about it. Many people ruin the plastic threads by not setting the screw to the original threads.
@@KyleAwsm That's nice and all, but you're assuming the watcher has seen that video of yours and knows to do that? Shouldn't that information have been in the tutorial for changing batteries in GBA games? I think so.
You know, I think that's quite picky of you to assume. If I have that bit of info in this video, then perhaps I should take the time to put it in ALL of my videos? Perhaps I should give a full soldering tutorial explaining how flux works in every single video I make, or talking about proper solder fillets, how much solder in proportion to pad size is too much, how much is too little, what a dry joint is, what the plastic state of 60/40 solder is and what temperatures it occurs between, why it's important not to intermingle different types of solder together, the list goes on... In fact, why don't I put a full 10 minute soldering primer segment in every single one of my videos, thus putting myself at risk of appearing too pedantic to the vast majority of my viewers, thus defeating the purpose of a relatively content-rich yet more easy to digest tutorial all together? By making your nit-picking above comments, you grossly underestimate how much TIME and CARE I invest in ALL of my tutorials and other videos, so that I balance information overload and easy to digest instructions. So, if by nitpicking ME you feel that you are somehow proving a point, then you had better find something better to do and a different tutorial to watch. You get these videos FOR FREE, dude...
@@KyleAwsm I do enjoy your videos that I've seen so far; they're very well done and informative; which made it especially strange that the screw advice was omitted; even if just on-screen text . Your other examples aren't really comparable though and won't result in broken screw-threads, and aren't relevant to the point of changing batteries.
The Braided Desoldering Wicks are made of 100% copper wires with a fine braid design. Using flat stitch weaving, fast heat conduction, to promote strong capillary action to pull in excess solder.
You all prolly dont care but does any of you know of a trick to get back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly forgot my password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Benjamin Justice thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later with my results.
Well I'll be doing this for the Pokemon Ruby I got recently. I used to have the whole crew of generation 3 games, but lost them all a while back. Excuse me while I shed a few more tears.
There are about 30ish games that use Sram (2% of the GBA library), the vast majority used non-volatile forms of save (eeprom/fram/flash/passwords). Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire used flash memory with the battery being used for the clock.
I was taking pics for a buyer and saw the battery in a non pokemon game that definitely didn't have an RTC so I was so confused. That led me to look up this video.
Kirby nightmare in dreamland for example has Fram or sram, just depending on the model, this UA-camr straight saying that sram is most common is incorrect
For some reason, my - side on Pokemon Emerald was extremely difficult to remove. No amount of heating or desoldering braid allowed me to separate the pad on the board from the battery lead. I tried pulling it away by force, and unfortunately pulled away the whole solder pad. Don't do what I did, kids. Luckily I was able to still solder to the tiny little hole marked - right next to the pad, but just be careful everyone.
My Pokemon Sapphire just showed the clock error T.T and I have no soldering experience :( so guess I'll have to learn that first! thanks for the awesome tutorial though!!
I have a question regarding the soldering iron temperature you used for the soldering process. The reason is, I don't want to pull out the pads by mistake due to putting an incorrect temperature setting in Celsius. Edit: I found a comment for the temperature setting you replied to and you said just above 375 degrees C. But unfortunately for me, I have 99.3% tin and 0.7% copper wire. Do you recommend I use a different soldering wire?
Such a great rundown, and I was prompted by the game clock message on sapphire so I’m super stoked you covered that in the video. Good to know I don’t have to worry about wiped saves, may eventually still replace it but this is great!
Nice tutorial, this is pretty much all the steps I do and it gives good results. One extra step I do that helps is to tin one of the pads first before dropping the battery down. Then use that tinned pad to tack the battery in place. It stops the battery from moving around when you have solder and an iron in your hands like at 5:53. Then I finish up the other tab, then return to the "temporarily tacked down" tab and apply more flux and solder to finish it off. I also bend the tabs down (on GBA) and found a 45 degree bend works best.
Thank you! 🙂 This is the thing: www.amazon.com/dp/B07TZ5C746/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zWivFbEDS6RG2 Just get some shrink tube for the alligator clips and you're good to go. 👍🏻 Thanks for watching!
Great tutorial! For anyone wanting to backup their save before switching batteries, I can personally vouch for the GBxCart RW. Just a heads up for those who are doing pre-emptive replacements.
Thanks so much! I try to promote my friend Bennvenn's stuff wherever possible, so just including the obligatory post here for people to see: Check out the Joey Gen3 and Joey Jr. as well for save backup. Another battery wired in parallel temporarily works too. Cheers, and thanks for watching! 🙂👍🏻
Bro , imagine the people just wanting to fix the issue and not getting into modding or anything , you don't need half of the items you showed and still make a proper work , so much bs.
Make sure that if your using a hand me down soldering iron that it still gets hot enough to desolder stuff or you may end up with ripped pads like me. Yes it was Pokemon Emerald.
I'm having problems with my FIRE PRO WRESTLING:2 Gameboy advance cart. The handheld system won't let me play my game. On the loading screen, it keeps telling me that there's no cart inside the system, but there is. It'll let me play every game but this one. I tried cleaning the metal contacts inside the Fire Pro Wrestling: 2GBA cart with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip but still nothing. No gameplay. I got over 40 saved wrestlers inside the cart that I don't want to lose. How do I get the GBA cart to work again?
I'm hoping that the battery inside the game is just dead and that's what's keeping the game from starting. I DO hope that my data is still on board and that it's not gone.
I gotta say...holy shit. This has to be the most straightforward, easy to understand and pickup, while also being the most thorough guide I've seen. Some monumental congrats you to my friend and thank you
Warning: certain events in Pokemon R/S/E are tied to the internal clock proceeding past the time where the previous battery died. However when replacing the battery the internal clock resets to January 1, 2000 (halting certain events specifically tied to what day it is like berry trees, but not things tied to the clock simply moving forward like the Umbreon and Espeon Eeveelutions). In order to fix this you need to modify the save data so the internal clock is set to the correct time. Then all time based events will work properly without any issues.
@@stephen7862 i believe it requires a ROM dumping device (a cartridge reader that connects to a computer) and a save editor. There was a video on it that showed off exactly what to do, but I don't remember what the title of the video was.
If anyone watches this more recently, this does not fully fix the Pokémon carts. You actually need to have a way to manually adjust the RTC on the cart after the new battery is installed. This is because replacing the battery sets the date back to the year 2000 so time based events are still frozen until it reaches whatever year it last read before the battery died. You can also fix this by just restarting your game from scratch but using 3rd party software and hardware is the only way to save your save file properly after replacing the battery. Otherwise this video is perhaps one of the most definitive tutorials out there for replacing a battery properly. Thank you very much for making this amazing video!
I've just bought myself a copy of Fire Red and haven't started a save file yet. Am I best off changing over the battery before starting the game to avoid any issues later on? Thanks
@@RobertPaulson87 From what I understand, you can either change it or wait to see what happens. If you bought it from someone and they can tell you they replaced it recently then you are good. If they haven't then maybe consider doing so. But honestly I am not sure if Fire Red actually needs the battery the same way Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald do.
@RobertPaulson87 if it had a battery, yes. But since only the Hoenn games use a battery, you're fine. For Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald you should definitely replace the battery before starting a new savefile, if it's still the original battery. Those games are 20 years old now and if I recall correctly, I heard somewhere that the manufacturer expected those RTC batteries to last up to 15 years!
I have one question My friend, first after all, excellent video, but i need tour help, i have a metroid Zero mission, that lose the saves, so automatically an electronic guy change the battery but still without save, Even he Will test with the legs (sorry i don't if i can Say that with this Word) of another Game that saved Game with the same way, but nothing, so My questions is what could be happen to this cartridge? Sorry if My English is not the best
I have an issue with my Pokemon's Sapphire RTC. I've already replaced the battery myself the same way as explained in the video. The dead battery message doesn't show up and you can configure the time without issues. However, it just stays at the same time doesn't move at all. I used an RTC reader app on a R4 cartridge to edit it with pkmn chest as well to prevent the berry glitch, which shouldn't be a problem either since I have FireRed, Leafgreen and Emerald to link with. The only thing that makes it "work" is adjusting the RTC manually using the RTC Reader. It's worth noting that I did all of these previous procedures with Ruby and Emerald and they are working just fine. It's just Sapphire that's presenting this particular issue. If anyone knows what may be wrong with it, I'd gladly appreciate it.
So when the battery dies again after another 10 or so years, I can just keep replacing them again and again until the end of time, with no issues at all?
This is good to know now that I’ve found my stash of childhood GBA cartridges while going through the process of decluttering my house of old junk. Now I just need a working GBA (preferably the SP if I can find my old one) and I’ll be taking an unexpected trip down memory lane while fighting Rabites in Sword of Mana. 😂
Since I’m to scared to open up my PS3 and try to fix the clock problem, it felt like a good idea to see if maybe I could practice and try to repair some of my game boy Cariges since they kinda don’t work and since there small for my DS....but after this it makes me resize EVEN MORE that...I’m not a repairer and have no idea what this stuff is and probably would mess it up anyways, starting to feel stuck on how to fix when I know I can’t and I really want to sell some but I can’t if they don’t work probably...so I’m pretty lost. But this I guess is progress of kinda learning?
I'll bet Pokemon got away with using Flash RAM with it being the most expensive was because... it's Pokemon. Obviously, the returns would justify the costs.
@@austingallo7937 I've been setting it to 750F with no issues. Just make sure not to leave the iron in contact with the board for more than a few seconds at a time.
Would you make a video recommending some brands for each equipment you used in the video. I want to learn soldering only to be capable of changing gba save batteries. :)
I looked this up because my Pokémon Ruby battery is dead/low so I got that message in game about the clock, but my game save file is totally fine with all my Pokémon. I don't know about soldering (I'd have to buy all the stuff) but maybe I can get someone else to do it for me. Thanks for helping me to see what needs to be done in so much detail.
You're like an ancient blacksmith forging japanese katanas. Can you make a video about "differentiating clone-false games and consoles from original ones"?? The force of nintendo be with you.
If any one can answer this, thank you really. Here i go, Well i have a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the advance from 04 and it won't retain it's save after a few days or weeks. How do I fix it? Does this game have battery for a save? Lmk
Since you emphasized that it should be a temperature-controlled soldering iron, what temperature do you recommend setting the iron to? I know the basics of soldering, but I don't know how to tell the right temperature and I'm always worried of setting it too high, but melting solder takes forever at lower temperatures and that can make the job quite tricky .
I noticed there were two official versions of the Metroid fusion pcb. One with an internal battery, and the other with a flash memory chip. I had eBay sellers unscrew and open the carts for me and send pics of the pcb to me before purchasing. Until I found a Metroid fusion with no save battery. Obviously there are also fakes out there which have that glob of silicone.
I'm a bit late to the party but how hot is your soldering iron when using desolder braid ? It looks so easy when you do it, but mine just keep sticking to the PCB with the solder >
So I’ve replaced my Pokémon Ruby battery and still giving me the error.. I thought maybe it was the battery I was using to tryed a new one and still gives me the message. I used a multi meter and both batteries are fine. This happen to anyone else ?
First time using a soldering iron and I used this tutorial to replace Pokemon Emerald's battery. Very useful tutorial with some in-depth knowledge about the carts too.
I'm actually in the exact same sitation and need to replace the battery in my pokemon emerald game as well haha, what a coincidence. Though i haven't started the process yet and honestly don't know if I'm going to because the process seemed overwhelming to me.
@@matsstrmsli6178 Me too lol. It's a good game that's why. I bought one on the market and was worried about it being a fake, but turns out I just got a really great deal on a legit Pokémon emerald with a dead battery. Works for me! I lost my game a long while back and had to buy a new one and lost that somehow as well. this will be my third one which won't be lost anymore because I don't have sibblings living with me
I'm in the same boat with my Ruby edition. Once the batteries arrive I'm gonna give it a try, until then I'll have this video on repeat lol.
Can someone tell me , my battery has also run dry but I have my saves (Pokémon Ruby). If I change my battery will my saves be gone ??
@@harvesterofsorrow8499 thank you !!
I LOVE how professional this is, and thanks especially for sharing your tools
Great tutorial! Getting the batteries to connect properly over the chips can be really tricky. Also, props for mentioning flux - so many neglect it.
The first time I replaced an internal battery (for Pokémon Gold) I used the first UA-cam tutorial I could find. It showed basically ripping the battery off the tabs and holding a new one in place with electrical tape. It was a terrible idea! Constantly slipping slightly out of place and losing my data... Don't do it, kids!
I'm no slouch when it comes to soldering and electronics, but this is, without a doubt, the most thorough tutorial I've seen on both the batteries AND the fake cart epidemic that's been going on for over a decade. Absolutely fantastic job, good sir!!
This was first time using a Soldering Iron and this tutorial was soooo good. So clear at what to do and was nicely paced and easy to follow.
I can report that I no longer get that “Internal Battery has run dry” error anymore.
Time based events WILL OCCUR!
i heard that doesnt fix the daily events on ruby/sapphire/emerald can you confirm this?
@@luismata2814 you can check by going to the lottery and see if it changes.
You stay awesome Kyle! Thank you for the in depth tutorial, I have no experience with a soldering iron and am planning on changing the battery on some of my old gbc and gba games.
I've been doing quite a bit of digging into how the RTC works on the pokemon games recently. Even if you replace the batteries in Pokemon R/S/E, most clock based events wont work. The main issue will be Shoal cave, which is only accessible during low tides, so if you have a dry battery, it's best to set the initial time to one where low-tide will be present. The next thing would be growing berries, which probably won't effect many. When the battery is replaced, the RTC is reset to 1/1/2000 and 00:00am. This is also the case when starting a NEW game in Ruby or Sapphire, where as Emerald just updates the time set, and not the date of the RTC. The way the game deals with growing berries is to count time from the last save point, and check to see if the value is greater. Since the last save is probably pretty far into the future from the year 2000, berries will basically never grow. There are some homebrew apps that can run from either a GBA or DS flashcart and access/update the RTC.
It can get pretty convoluted, but if you really want to update the time on the games after installing a new battery, using a $10 DS flashcart and the homebrew app is really easy, as it'll just read the RTC from the game in the GBA slot, and allow you to edit it.
I don't think I fully understood. The game counts time from the last save point, but what does that mean if you reset the game's clock to 1/1/2000? Do you mean that it takes into account the date at which the previous save file was last saved, meaning that if I had a save file that I last saved in 2012 and then started a new game, that save file from 2012 would still be some point of reference for the new game? If that's not what you meant, I don't really understand how it works. When you wrote that the game "checks to see if the value is greater", could you specify greater than what? I'll be very grateful if you clarify, mad respect to you for digging into this and sharing.
You are talking about the infamous berry bug right? That can be fixed if you have a copy of the newer pokemon games like FireRed/LeafGreen/Emerald. Basically involves connecting 2 GBA with a link cable and update the game using the Berry Patch included in those games. It only affects certain batches of Ruby/Sapphire.
Great video. I feel informed and confident in tackling the task bow. Great job
What is the proper temperature to solder the tabs?
I don’t want to burn it 😓
I’m still a little new to soldering 😅
Professionally done! Great video
I believe the right way is to install a CR1616 battery holder that you don't have to keep resoldering. Then your correct way also dont include the RTC reset that is needed.
Due to it being on the chip, I doubt a holder would even fit.
@@VilifiedOne UA-cam does post external links. The CR1616 holder just fits, searcj retrogamingparts uk. Look at tbe first comment on the CR1616 holder
I found a game without a real time clock that has a battry in it. Can some explain? I thought only GBC and OG GB games had batteries.
The game was Castlevania Circle of the Moon
Late to the video but what temp do you usually have your iron on when doing this?
I personally solder at about 650° F, but I'd advise lower temps (at least above 375° F for 60/40 solder) for those new to soldering.
SRAM is not the most common for GBA. Even the games that used SRAM were produced with FlashRAM or EEPROM in later batches… like Metroid Fusion here. The vast majority of GBA game battery replacements will be RTC batteries for Pokemon games, which use FlashRAM to save.
From my collection back in the day I recall F-Zero for Game Boy Advance (Maximum Velocity in the USA but I bought my GBA before it launched in the US), Warioland 4, and Metroid Fusion. I tried to import Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World on GBA before the US release and ended up with a bootleg SRAM-patched version that didn’t save hi-scores and stopped saving entirely a few months later. It was the first GBA game to use a certain EEPROM chip that was larger than the early games so the warez scene had already SRAM patched the Japanese release for flash cart users. The counterfeiters just grabbed that one.
Someone also gave me a “broken” copy of Advance Wars that couldn’t save and, sure enough, it was a bootleg with an SRAM battery where my original was FlashRAM. I don’t see how an SRAM hack ever could’ve worked considering what had to be saved for the custom maps so it’s possible that the bootleggers were using the same PCB for everything and save never worked for that one.
Yes, bootleg GBA games were an issue when the GBA was still current, as my two examples show. I saw them in the amused GBA display cases at every GameStop or EB Games I checked… people just didn’t realize it back then.
Where are you getting the batteries? I see a couple on Amazon but reviews seem so suggest the tabs are shorter and kinda tricky to use on gba carts. Thanks and nice video!
ty
Just curious, other than Pokemon GameBoy Advance games, why do some GameBoy Advance games contain batteries? For instance the two Metroid GBA games contain a battery, but the Super Mario Advance games do not. However, you can still easily save game data on each game? Or the 2nd Densetsu No Stafy game contains no battery but 1 & 2 both do. Kinda of sucks because it causes more of a headache to worry about losing game data and saves.
Thank you so much you save my data
some solder got on the BT1 hole (located just below the negative contact) currently the cart still works, but am worried once i add a battery that the current my do something, should i be worried? I've stopped for now until I find or get an answer
Edit: Didn't get an answer so figured I'd give it a try after cleaning up as much of the solder as I could. works fine.
If you can't easily or cheaply buy from online sources (say, you live in Latin America like I do), you can be super jank/McGiverish and just get yourself a normal CR1616 cell battery at any hardware store, and then try and pry the tabs from the original battery. I've never actually done it with GBA games, but I did so for a CMOS battery in a laptop and it worked quite well. Just be careful not to break anything in the PCB when prying the battery. Oh, and do this under your own responsibility, I'm only informing how it could be done, not how it should be done xD
What is one of the metal taps are missing on the cart? Anyway to add a new metal pads on the gba cart?
Tnx
Welcome! 👍🏻
0:58 - It's a counterfeit cart!
Can I use contact cleaner instead of IPA to clean flux after changing the battery?
Also I forgot to recheck the video before I removed the outside and a small plastic bit broke off. How bad is that?
Damn, that is a lot of equipment, time to learn how to solder lol
Just curious what would happen if the battery is placed the wrong way aka negative to positive
I replied to this earlier, but I decided to revise my response. Depending on the circuit, you could cause major damage to it, and potentially damage the battery or cause it to explode. Basically, don't try it.
I bought a used copy of lego island 2 gba but save battery 🔋 is dead ☹️ so I'm gonna try and get it replaced
Im replacing my battery so I can hunt for a shiny kyogre in sapphire. I hear with a dead one the rng works the same way as emerald. If i replace the battery can I then go on hunting like normal or will it take a full game reset? I’ve heard most in game clock events dont work until a full reset. Will this also mean I can’t get the Regis?
What if I melted the MaskROM a little would that ruin the integrity of the game??
What can i do if my metroid zero mission dos not have a battery?
Doesn’t this erase your file once you take the battery out
For most games that use this battery, the battery is already dead, this just makes sure your clock works again.
I only buy a battery. Where I can buy the metal thing attached from the battery?
You need to buy a tabbed battery on Amazon.
so when i replace the battery on my Pokemon Saphire i dont have to worry about my save state right?
Correct, if it is a genuine Sapphire cart and not a bootleg with a battery. 👍🏻
How long do these new batteries last?
Generally about 10-15 years, especially if the battery going in is really full-capacity. Some of the coin cells I've gotten from retailers have measured significantly less than the full 3V, probably because they've sat on the shelf for years. I ordered from DigiKey, a super-dependable electronic components company, and the cells are always pristine.
Do you really need the flux? I seen people change it with out it?
I believe that NOT using flux would be a huge mistake - I've been there and done that, and flux makes things a MILLION times easier to do. So yes, use flux. Otherwise, your solder joints will likely look like garbage.
So for the solder lead does it have to be 60/40 or can it be lead free?
You can use lead-free solder, but it requires a hotter temperature on your iron to melt, which can be a bit more tricky to handle since some components can get damaged more easily if you're not careful. Hope this helps, and thanks for watching! 🙂👍🏻
@@KyleAwsm thank you so much for the guide everything went well :)
Has anyone ever tried the CR1632???
Will this still work on a bootleg copy? I didn't realize it until now, but my Yoshi's Island cartridge is most certainly fake, but I'd still like to play it if fixing the battery will make the save work.
I should also mention that my bootleg copy does already have a battery in it.
Yes. Batteries are batteries. Principly they are the same. Just match it up with the same one. They are sometimes different than CR1616.
So with Flash memory, when a Pokémon cartridge's battery runs dry, the sava data before it ran out is still stored, unlike the Metroid SRAM chip? It's only the time based events that get affected?
Correct. There is another video tutorial to fix the real-time clock after replacing the battery. For the Metroid Fusion, it functions how all prior games did with SRAM. There are Metroid Fusion carts with no battery but flash memory instead.
Good video besides not specifying to turn the screw left until in clicks into place before screwing it in. I noticed you even did that in the video, but said nothing about it. Many people ruin the plastic threads by not setting the screw to the original threads.
ua-cam.com/video/ZkdCSmMDS3k/v-deo.html 🙄
@@KyleAwsm That's nice and all, but you're assuming the watcher has seen that video of yours and knows to do that? Shouldn't that information have been in the tutorial for changing batteries in GBA games? I think so.
You know, I think that's quite picky of you to assume. If I have that bit of info in this video, then perhaps I should take the time to put it in ALL of my videos? Perhaps I should give a full soldering tutorial explaining how flux works in every single video I make, or talking about proper solder fillets, how much solder in proportion to pad size is too much, how much is too little, what a dry joint is, what the plastic state of 60/40 solder is and what temperatures it occurs between, why it's important not to intermingle different types of solder together, the list goes on... In fact, why don't I put a full 10 minute soldering primer segment in every single one of my videos, thus putting myself at risk of appearing too pedantic to the vast majority of my viewers, thus defeating the purpose of a relatively content-rich yet more easy to digest tutorial all together?
By making your nit-picking above comments, you grossly underestimate how much TIME and CARE I invest in ALL of my tutorials and other videos, so that I balance information overload and easy to digest instructions. So, if by nitpicking ME you feel that you are somehow proving a point, then you had better find something better to do and a different tutorial to watch.
You get these videos FOR FREE, dude...
@@KyleAwsm I do enjoy your videos that I've seen so far; they're very well done and informative; which made it especially strange that the screw advice was omitted; even if just on-screen text . Your other examples aren't really comparable though and won't result in broken screw-threads, and aren't relevant to the point of changing batteries.
Why i don´t have battery in my GBA games? Is that because they are falsely?
What is this desolder braid? What is it made of? I'm watching this tutorial in Poland and have no clue how to translate it to buy ;P
The Braided Desoldering Wicks are made of 100% copper wires with a fine braid design. Using flat stitch weaving, fast heat conduction, to promote strong capillary action to pull in excess solder.
How much do I have to pay to get someone to do this
Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @kyleawsm and I can do it for you. We can talk more about it there. Cheers! 👍🏻
Thanks again for the awesome repair work! It’s crazy seeing my cartridges on a repair video
You all prolly dont care but does any of you know of a trick to get back into an Instagram account..?
I stupidly forgot my password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Mustafa Gordon Instablaster =)
@Benjamin Justice thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now.
Seems to take a while so I will reply here later with my results.
@Benjamin Justice it worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D
Thanks so much you saved my account !
@Mustafa Gordon Happy to help :)
You are a legend. You presented in 7 minutes what i found in 2 full days of research.
I'm doing this exact method for my Metroid Fusion cart as well. Thanks for the amazing tutorial 👍
Great tutorial! Just one question, what temperature should I have my soldering iron set to?
At what temperature do you set the soldering iron to? F or C
Great video! This is by far the best tutorial video for replacing game cartridges 👍
Well I'll be doing this for the Pokemon Ruby I got recently. I used to have the whole crew of generation 3 games, but lost them all a while back. Excuse me while I shed a few more tears.
Wow, I thought all GBA games had flash memory. This is a very informative video.
There are about 30ish games that use Sram (2% of the GBA library), the vast majority used non-volatile forms of save (eeprom/fram/flash/passwords). Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire used flash memory with the battery being used for the clock.
I was taking pics for a buyer and saw the battery in a non pokemon game that definitely didn't have an RTC so I was so confused. That led me to look up this video.
It’s mainly for clocks. They aren’t technically “save batteries” in most cases.
Yeah, I did too. My Metroid Fusion cart has a battery, but my Zero Mission does not for example
Kirby nightmare in dreamland for example has Fram or sram, just depending on the model, this UA-camr straight saying that sram is most common is incorrect
For some reason, my - side on Pokemon Emerald was extremely difficult to remove. No amount of heating or desoldering braid allowed me to separate the pad on the board from the battery lead. I tried pulling it away by force, and unfortunately pulled away the whole solder pad. Don't do what I did, kids. Luckily I was able to still solder to the tiny little hole marked - right next to the pad, but just be careful everyone.
My Pokemon Sapphire just showed the clock error T.T and I have no soldering experience :( so guess I'll have to learn that first! thanks for the awesome tutorial though!!
You can actually also fit CR2016 coin cell batteries in GBA carts too.
I have a question regarding the soldering iron temperature you used for the soldering process. The reason is, I don't want to pull out the pads by mistake due to putting an incorrect temperature setting in Celsius.
Edit: I found a comment for the temperature setting you replied to and you said just above 375 degrees C. But unfortunately for me, I have 99.3% tin and 0.7% copper wire.
Do you recommend I use a different soldering wire?
Such a great rundown, and I was prompted by the game clock message on sapphire so I’m super stoked you covered that in the video. Good to know I don’t have to worry about wiped saves, may eventually still replace it but this is great!
Nice tutorial, this is pretty much all the steps I do and it gives good results. One extra step I do that helps is to tin one of the pads first before dropping the battery down. Then use that tinned pad to tack the battery in place. It stops the battery from moving around when you have solder and an iron in your hands like at 5:53. Then I finish up the other tab, then return to the "temporarily tacked down" tab and apply more flux and solder to finish it off. I also bend the tabs down (on GBA) and found a 45 degree bend works best.
Amazing tutorial! Just a quick question, what are you using to hold the pcb up like that? Seems extremely helpful.
Thank you! 🙂 This is the thing: www.amazon.com/dp/B07TZ5C746/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zWivFbEDS6RG2 Just get some shrink tube for the alligator clips and you're good to go. 👍🏻 Thanks for watching!
Great tutorial! For anyone wanting to backup their save before switching batteries, I can personally vouch for the GBxCart RW. Just a heads up for those who are doing pre-emptive replacements.
Thanks so much! I try to promote my friend Bennvenn's stuff wherever possible, so just including the obligatory post here for people to see: Check out the Joey Gen3 and Joey Jr. as well for save backup. Another battery wired in parallel temporarily works too. Cheers, and thanks for watching! 🙂👍🏻
Bro , imagine the people just wanting to fix the issue and not getting into modding or anything , you don't need half of the items you showed and still make a proper work , so much bs.
Make sure that if your using a hand me down soldering iron that it still gets hot enough to desolder stuff or you may end up with ripped pads like me.
Yes it was Pokemon Emerald.
Thank you
You are one of the very few who talks about soldering properly
I for whole my life until recent month thought liquid was bad, so I never used things like flux.
This was super helpful! I was able to replace the battery in the pokemon ruby copy i just got!
I'm having problems with my FIRE PRO WRESTLING:2 Gameboy advance cart. The handheld system won't let me play my game. On the loading screen, it keeps telling me that there's no cart inside the system, but there is. It'll let me play every game but this one. I tried cleaning the metal contacts inside the Fire Pro Wrestling: 2GBA cart with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip but still nothing. No gameplay. I got over 40 saved wrestlers inside the cart that I don't want to lose. How do I get the GBA cart to work again?
I'm hoping that the battery inside the game is just dead and that's what's keeping the game from starting. I DO hope that my data is still on board and that it's not gone.
I gotta say...holy shit. This has to be the most straightforward, easy to understand and pickup, while also being the most thorough guide I've seen. Some monumental congrats you to my friend and thank you
Excellent tutorial, I will consider changing my GBA games' battery with this
thanks.. I learned alot regarding different saving types of GBA cartridge.
Warning: certain events in Pokemon R/S/E are tied to the internal clock proceeding past the time where the previous battery died. However when replacing the battery the internal clock resets to January 1, 2000 (halting certain events specifically tied to what day it is like berry trees, but not things tied to the clock simply moving forward like the Umbreon and Espeon Eeveelutions). In order to fix this you need to modify the save data so the internal clock is set to the correct time. Then all time based events will work properly without any issues.
How do you modify the internal clock itself?
@@stephen7862 i believe it requires a ROM dumping device (a cartridge reader that connects to a computer) and a save editor. There was a video on it that showed off exactly what to do, but I don't remember what the title of the video was.
@@doutchebags Late reply but you can just use a DS/DS Lite for that process if you have a R4 Card
If you don't mind restarting the game, creating a new save file will also fix the RTC issue
@@doutchebags please can i have more info on this? i dont find anything online
Thank you! Followed this and Pokemon Ruby is working like new, great video!
Thank you for the concise, well-made tutorial; One gba pokemon cart battery replacement down, two more to go; first one went perfectly thanks to you!
If anyone watches this more recently, this does not fully fix the Pokémon carts. You actually need to have a way to manually adjust the RTC on the cart after the new battery is installed. This is because replacing the battery sets the date back to the year 2000 so time based events are still frozen until it reaches whatever year it last read before the battery died. You can also fix this by just restarting your game from scratch but using 3rd party software and hardware is the only way to save your save file properly after replacing the battery. Otherwise this video is perhaps one of the most definitive tutorials out there for replacing a battery properly. Thank you very much for making this amazing video!
I've just bought myself a copy of Fire Red and haven't started a save file yet. Am I best off changing over the battery before starting the game to avoid any issues later on? Thanks
@@RobertPaulson87 From what I understand, you can either change it or wait to see what happens. If you bought it from someone and they can tell you they replaced it recently then you are good. If they haven't then maybe consider doing so. But honestly I am not sure if Fire Red actually needs the battery the same way Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald do.
Fire red and leaf green don’t have batteries
@RobertPaulson87 if it had a battery, yes.
But since only the Hoenn games use a battery, you're fine.
For Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald you should definitely replace the battery before starting a new savefile, if it's still the original battery. Those games are 20 years old now and if I recall correctly, I heard somewhere that the manufacturer expected those RTC batteries to last up to 15 years!
I have one question My friend, first after all, excellent video, but i need tour help, i have a metroid Zero mission, that lose the saves, so automatically an electronic guy change the battery but still without save, Even he Will test with the legs (sorry i don't if i can Say that with this Word) of another Game that saved Game with the same way, but nothing, so My questions is what could be happen to this cartridge? Sorry if My English is not the best
Thanks for the new great video I’m currently ordering cr 2025s to replace my Gold silver red blue yellow and crystal carts
And I’m ordering cr 1616s too or wtv for whoever is gunna say yellow use them
Fantastic video, really well structured and super clear info
I have an issue with my Pokemon's Sapphire RTC. I've already replaced the battery myself the same way as explained in the video. The dead battery message doesn't show up and you can configure the time without issues. However, it just stays at the same time doesn't move at all.
I used an RTC reader app on a R4 cartridge to edit it with pkmn chest as well to prevent the berry glitch, which shouldn't be a problem either since I have FireRed, Leafgreen and Emerald to link with.
The only thing that makes it "work" is adjusting the RTC manually using the RTC Reader. It's worth noting that I did all of these previous procedures with Ruby and Emerald and they are working just fine. It's just Sapphire that's presenting this particular issue. If anyone knows what may be wrong with it, I'd gladly appreciate it.
So when the battery dies again after another 10 or so years, I can just keep replacing them again and again until the end of time, with no issues at all?
Yup, as long as you can still buy the battery.
This is good to know now that I’ve found my stash of childhood GBA cartridges while going through the process of decluttering my house of old junk. Now I just need a working GBA (preferably the SP if I can find my old one) and I’ll be taking an unexpected trip down memory lane while fighting Rabites in Sword of Mana. 😂
That has been the most thorough video on replacing a battery in a gba great job amazing video.
Thanks man, I did everything step by step flawlessly on my Pokemon Emerald.
Since I’m to scared to open up my PS3 and try to fix the clock problem, it felt like a good idea to see if maybe I could practice and try to repair some of my game boy Cariges since they kinda don’t work and since there small for my DS....but after this it makes me resize EVEN MORE that...I’m not a repairer and have no idea what this stuff is and probably would mess it up anyways, starting to feel stuck on how to fix when I know I can’t and I really want to sell some but I can’t if they don’t work probably...so I’m pretty lost. But this I guess is progress of kinda learning?
I'll bet Pokemon got away with using Flash RAM with it being the most expensive was because... it's Pokemon. Obviously, the returns would justify the costs.
Mate, this is an epic summary of everything you need to know about doing this repair
Quick question: Around what temperature should I be setting the soldering iron (to get sufficient heat without damaging the underlying PCB)?
Did you find out what temperature?
@@austingallo7937 I've been setting it to 750F with no issues. Just make sure not to leave the iron in contact with the board for more than a few seconds at a time.
Can't thank you enough for walking through this. Made it super easy. I just unlocked a new skill!
You explained exceptionally well. And what a soothing voice. Amazing tutorial. Thanks a bunch!
Would you make a video recommending some brands for each equipment you used in the video. I want to learn soldering only to be capable of changing gba save batteries. :)
I looked this up because my Pokémon Ruby battery is dead/low so I got that message in game about the clock, but my game save file is totally fine with all my Pokémon. I don't know about soldering (I'd have to buy all the stuff) but maybe I can get someone else to do it for me. Thanks for helping me to see what needs to be done in so much detail.
This is informative, thank you!
You're like an ancient blacksmith forging japanese katanas.
Can you make a video about "differentiating clone-false games and consoles from original ones"??
The force of nintendo be with you.
If any one can answer this, thank you really. Here i go, Well i have a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the advance from 04 and it won't retain it's save after a few days or weeks. How do I fix it? Does this game have battery for a save? Lmk
Since you emphasized that it should be a temperature-controlled soldering iron, what temperature do you recommend setting the iron to? I know the basics of soldering, but I don't know how to tell the right temperature and I'm always worried of setting it too high, but melting solder takes forever at lower temperatures and that can make the job quite tricky .
I noticed there were two official versions of the Metroid fusion pcb. One with an internal battery, and the other with a flash memory chip. I had eBay sellers unscrew and open the carts for me and send pics of the pcb to me before purchasing. Until I found a Metroid fusion with no save battery. Obviously there are also fakes out there which have that glob of silicone.
What if my game just keeps freezing? It's the older cart, Pokemon Crystal. It isn't my SP either. Other games work perfect
I'm a bit late to the party but how hot is your soldering iron when using desolder braid ? It looks so easy when you do it, but mine just keep sticking to the PCB with the solder >
Will this erase your Pokemon Game if you replace the battery? Or will this just affect the games clock?
what shoulld I do if The pin of the PCB that goes to the battery is gone ? how can I find another point to solder?
Probably the best GBA battery replacement vid I've seen by a long shoot! Thank you dude 😊
So I’ve replaced my Pokémon Ruby battery and still giving me the error.. I thought maybe it was the battery I was using to tryed a new one and still gives me the message. I used a multi meter and both batteries are fine. This happen to anyone else ?
Why do you need to solder to change the battery? Can’t you just take the battery out of that metal clip and put a new one in?
My 20 year old Metroid Fusion cartridge save files are still working, it's inevitable the battery will fail soon I guess?
Great tutorial and explanation, thank you very much! =)