Hacking EZ Flash IV battery

[gnmmarechal]

I bought a EZFlash IV (MiniSD) and I wanted to know - what is the battery used for, and does it charge, or will I have to replace it? More, how long does it last?

 

[FAST6191]

It is used to hold data in the SRAM section -- there are three types of GBA saves (plus games with no save or games where you have to remember a password).

Charge... not sure actually. The earlier models were rechargeable (panasonic VL series, no charge management if you have found this on a forum search and were wondering), I hear some of the later ones are basic coin cells though.

Replace it. There are workarounds (soft reset) and the like if it runs flat and you do not want to change it. That said it is a key part of the flash cart, and all other GBA flash carts that are or that have been available and are worth the effort, so yeah you will probably want to consider that at some point.

How long.... it should be up in the years range really. Older carts which had real time clock circuitry lasted less time but as the EZ4 does not have such functionality it lasts longer.

 

[Adrian-E-C]

I was wondering about this too, I just ordered an Ezflash IV. How do I tell if the battery is rechargeable or not? And if it is not, I don't have to worry about it for a good while anyway right?

 

[FAST6191]

If it is a new one, or indeed one made after the first couple of batches, then it is not going to be rechargeable. Time wise it should be up in the years range.

 

[Adrian-E-C]

And what is the lifespan of a rechargeable battery? When the day comes that I decide to replace the one I have?

 

[WiiUBricker]

I always wondered why GBA flashcarts have a battery when original GBA cartridges don't have one.

 

[Jayro]

I don't see why the GBA flash carts couldn't just use an onboard flash chip emulating SDRAM, instead of actual SDRAM that requires a battery...

 

[FAST6191]

I always wondered why GBA flashcarts have a battery when original GBA cartridges don't have one.

Some GBA originals do, many moved to FeRAM though.

I don't see why the GBA flash carts couldn't just use an onboard flash chip emulating SDRAM, instead of actual SDRAM that requires a battery...

They could, such things being done very early on in the DS slot era of DS flash carts, sadly nobody was really interested in developing proper GBA flash carts by this point in time, especially when patching GBA games is trivial.

 

[Jayro]

Some GBA originals do, many moved to FeRAM though.


They could, such things being done very early on in the DS slot era of DS flash carts, sadly nobody was really interested in developing proper GBA flash carts by this point in time, especially when patching GBA games is trivial.

Well GBA flash cart makers are still in high demand for the GBA, it's still a very popular system. They could make a killing if they offered a new flash cart that came in both sizes like the 3 in one, has a 32MB NOR (for rom hacks), a RTC, a microSD slot, and an easily-replaceable CR1616 battery. I'd buy it for say... $40.

 

[Silentsurvivor]

I always wondered why GBA flashcarts have a battery when original GBA cartridges don't have one.

Lazyness on developing other methods I guess. All GBA games have to be SRAM patched, so... It's why all pirate GBA carts have batteries as well.

Maybe someday there will be an Everdrive GBA or something.

But the EZFlash IV is fine IMO. You don't even need to use the battery since you can just reset back to the main menu and it'll write your save to the SD card.

 

[FAST6191]

Well GBA flash cart makers are still in high demand for the GBA, it's still a very popular system. They could make a killing if they offered a new flash cart that came in both sizes like the 3 in one, has a 32MB NOR (for rom hacks), a RTC, a microSD slot, and an easily-replaceable CR1616 battery. I'd buy it for say... $40.

I am not sure how much demand there really is. Sure there would be some but whether it would be enough to coax those that did the original line in GBA flash carts out of retirement, or someone of similar skill, is a different matter.

I have considered doing the electrical engineer bit for this but I already have GBA flash carts that work and emulation works very well as far as I am concerned.

If I did it I would also have to be able to fake carts for DS games that have extras from GBA slot (this includes having a ROM appear as though it is the main thing and having save types hardware emulated or otherwise compatible) and though it would fall under much the same problems being solved GBA-GC linkup would have to work as well. I have never been sold on RTC but I guess it makes more sense (I have done this flash cart forum bit enough to know to play to pokefiends a tiny bit at least) than tilt or solar, that said single axis tilt sensors are pretty small, low powered and cheap these days. A lack of RTC would also drop the need for a battery.

Anyway theory hardware design is not much different to theory coding (a huge waste of time) so I will leave it there.

 

[WiiUBricker]

Some GBA originals do, many moved to FeRAM though.

Afaik only carts with RTC like Pokemon have a battery. Golden Sun was one of the first GBA games and it doesn't have a battery.

But the EZFlash IV is fine IMO. You don't even need to use the battery since you can just reset back to the main menu and it'll write your save to the SD card.

This method still requires the save to be temporarily stored in the SRAM, meaning it won't work without a battery.

 

[FAST6191]

It was a fairly early development in the GBA lifetime but there should be some
http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/index.php?title=GBA_Saves

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Batteries were used for SRAM and RTC. SRAM is meant to save your data. Most SD Flash Carts have the save data in the SRAM then move it into the SD card when you go back to the Flash Cart's menu.
The RTC is for any games that need real time clocks.

 

[Jayro]

This method still requires the save to be temporarily stored in the SRAM, meaning it won't work without a battery.

It should still work fine without a battery if the cart has power to it... the battery is only for when the system gets powered off. Otherwise, you can save your game in-game, do a soft-reset to the menu, and your save file will save from SRAM to the SD. Now if you saved in-game and then did a really fast OFF/ON technique (a hard reset) then I could totally see the SRAM losing your save...

 

[XiTaU]

ive had my ez4 for about 5 years and battery going strong still touch wood but yeah when it comes time ill just pull apart and replace it doesnt look too hard.
One day as all batteries it will die though.

 

[WiiUBricker]

It should still work fine without a battery if the cart has power to it... the battery is only for when the system gets powered off. Otherwise, you can save your game in-game, do a soft-reset to the menu, and your save file will save from SRAM to the SD. Now if you saved in-game and then did a really fast OFF/ON technique (a hard reset) then I could totally see the SRAM losing your save...

Games will not save at all without power from the battery.

 

[FAST6191]

They do save without power from the battery -- when it is in a powered GBA slot or equivalent it should be drawing power from that. Fast cycles are not great (even if SRAM data lifetime without power can often be in the 20 seconds range) but soft reset is a time tested method.

 

[Silentsurvivor]

Games will not save at all without power from the battery.

SRAM is powered by the system when the game is turned on even if the battery is dead. The battery only kicks in when the system is turned off. That's how it works in every game that has a battery ever, too.. Actually that's just how SRAM works really. I should know, I have two EZIVs and they saved fine even when the battery was dead, though I replaced it later.

 

[WiiUBricker]

SRAM is powered by the system when the game is turned on even if the battery is dead. The battery only kicks in when the system is turned off. That's how it works in every game that has a battery ever, too.. Actually that's just how SRAM works really. I should know, I have two EZIVs and they saved fine even when the battery was dead, though I replaced it later.

In that case your batteries weren't completly dead. Try it with a battery removed from your EZIV and you will see games outputting an error when trying to save.