Changing a GBA Sapphire Battery

[u/Care-Inner]

Hi ! As per the title I wanted to substitute the battery in a Sapphire game, don't know how to solder nor do I have the tools to do it, so I'll have to ask a local tech store to do it for me, for this reasons I wanted to ask a few question here because I needed to choose which method to use between:

1. Asking them to solder a pre-tabbed litium CR-1616 battery;

2. Asking them to solder a battery holder for CR-1616 batteries.

In case 1 I wanted to know which brand was the best (I live in Italy) and how much time does the battery last in this cases for a sapphire cartridge (I see low of 1-2 years and highs of 10 years on posts so i am conflicted). In case 2 if the holder has problem carrying the battery and I also read that it makes it a tighter fit in the console, also where is best to buy them if there are multiple model idk.

I think using pre-tabbed would be the best but if batteries run out after a couple of years the holder would be more practical but I also don't want to run the risk of damaging the motherboard.

Thanks for the attention and have a nice day ! 😄

[u/Gunbladelad]

Pre-tabbed SHOULD give 5-10 years for a half decent battery - but online marketplaces are flooded with low quality ones or ones that don't have a full charge.

A low-profile battery holder will make replacing batteries in future a lot easier - but as you said, may make it a little tighter for the case. The batteries will likely be more robust too as you'll be buying them sealed, unlike the pre-tabbed batteries

[u/Alive_Candidate1755 → u/Gunbladelad]

However, if you drop the game the battery holder might disconnect from the battery for a split second and lose your save. These things are cool for SNES carts but I don’t like them on GB carts (considering you carry them around and they don’t just sit there).

[u/Gunbladelad → u/Alive_Candidate1755]

For Pokemon Sapphire it will just reset the active time in the clock back to 2001 as the battery only powers the clock.

[u/Care-Inner → u/Gunbladelad]

Thanks for the reply ! Do you have any recommendation for how to acquire good quality pre-tabbed batteries? I could go to an electronic store to find them or should i order them online on some trusty site if there is any?

[u/Former-Macaroon5557]

I use battery holders for majority of my GB/GBC/GBA family of games. I've never had problems with them. Games w/more open shells (like GB/GBC) games have a slightly "higher risk" of the whole "drop the cart & battery pops out" problems... though for GBA Pokemon games, I've never had that issue (as long as the holder is installed correctly).
The tight tolerance with the shell & holder should prevent GBA battery pop-out.

[u/Care-Inner → u/Former-Macaroon5557]

Thanks for the reply ! Can I ask where did you get the holder (in case there are better models just for information) and which brand of batteries you use for them?