[GBA] broken battery destroyed connector with acid

Bravestarr · May 30, 2019

Hi,

I just opened my gba SP battery case of my working gba. That was a good and bad idea: the battery acid was everywhere. After I removed the battery I saw that the left battery contact was destroyed because of the acid. See my picture. Can this be replaced somehow? Or can I through it in the trash?

Thank you for your help in this hard times!

Alexander1970 · May 30, 2019

Hello.

If it is the Battery spring only you can replace it.

Nintendo Game Boy Advance GBA Replacement Internal Battery Spring Contact Terminal

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...tery-Spring-Contact-Terminal/32539276859.html

Bravestarr · May 30, 2019

Hi,

Thank you! But I have a gba SP. Your link points to a replacement for the original GBA. Doesn’t it?

Alexander1970 · May 30, 2019

Sorry my fault.

Read that a BATTERY causes your issue.
Battery - GBA.

Akku - GBA SP

Sorry again for that "freud´schen missreader".

Bravestarr · May 30, 2019

So... it is dead?

Alexander1970 · May 30, 2019

I only found repair manuals for replacing the mainboard.

I fear this part is not to get seperately.

Roamin64 · May 30, 2019

That part linked is definitely not the part you need. From the picture , it doesn't look like the connector is broken , but it looks more like it's stuck pushed inside the case. Might have stuck in left over battery acid. You should open the gba completely , and clean everything inside. If it's stuck or bent , you should be able to put it back the way it goes. Opening it will also show you if the connector has been ripped from the board. My guess would be that no matter the damage , that same connector could be re-used. If it is ripped from the board , you could solder it back on. Open it up and maybe post more pics of it opened if you have doubts. Unless the acid destroyed a lot of traces on the board, the unit should be salvageable pretty easily. If it destroyed traces on the board, then the repair will be a bit more complicated but I doubt your unit is completely destroyed..

Keep us posted and good luck!

Bravestarr · May 30, 2019

Roamin64 said:
That part linked is definitely not the part you need. From the picture , it doesn't look like the connector is broken , but it looks more like it's stuck pushed inside the case. Might have stuck in left over battery acid. You should open the gba completely , and clean everything inside. If it's stuck or bent , you should be able to put it back the way it goes. Opening it will also show you if the connector has been ripped from the board. My guess would be that no matter the damage , that same connector could be re-used. If it is ripped from the board , you could solder it back on. Open it up and maybe post more pics of it opened if you have doubts. Unless the acid destroyed a lot of traces on the board, the unit should be salvageable pretty easily. If it destroyed traces on the board, then the repair will be a bit more complicated but I doubt your unit is completely destroyed..

Keep us posted and good luck!

The contact is loose. But it was running right before I opened it. I will get a screw driver and open it and keep you updated.

Roamin64 · May 30, 2019

alexander1970 said:
I only found repair manuals for replacing the mainboard.
I fear this part is not to get seperately.

I don't think this part breaks so often that sellers would sell this part labeled as "battery connector for GBA SP". Sites like newark or digikey could have that part stock. A quick digikey search yields many different type of connectors. I haven't seen one that looks exactly like the GBA SP , but i'm only basing this on the pics I see.

https://www.digikey.ca/products/en/...mnSort=0&page=1&k=battery+spring&pageSize=500

First thing would be to open the GBA further and see the damage , and if you really need the part then we'll see where we can get a replacement. Seems they are called something like "leaf style battery contacts"

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Bravestarr said:
The contact is loose. But it was running right before I opened it. I will get a screw driver and open it and keep you updated.

Not sure how loose you mean , but a battery contact like this usually is "loose" because it really is a spring , so pushing on it will make it move and appear loose. Of course if it is not longer soldered on the board , then it will be loose.

FAST6191 · May 30, 2019

A leaked rechargeable? Odd one there. It might just be it went puffy and that is how it failed but in the back of my mind I also have to wonder if something in the charge circuitry lost the plot.

Anyway first thing is to see what it might have further leaked on and damaged. Part of that will necessarily see you find out what happened to the spring and whether it can be cleaned up and popped back into place or if something more needs doing. It could be that some of the crusty stuff is preventing the spring from returning and when you levered it out then it got stuck.

For a battery contact that normally does not need to be removed then it should be nothing drastic to fashion something that makes connection with the replacement battery. Full replacement would be nice if you can get something cheaply but if it is going to be a lot then I would probably be the cheap bastard and make do. Exception if this is a AGS 101 screen GBA SP.

Bravestarr · May 30, 2019

I think it is dead. Look the contact and what the acid did to it. And the thing that houses the contacts is one massiv thing soldered to the motherboard :/

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Bravestarr said:
I think it is dead. Look the contact and what the acid did to it. And the thing that houses the contacts is one massiv thing soldered to the motherboard :/

Here, I fixed it! I bent the remaining contact with a tweezer - and it worked!

FAST6191 · May 30, 2019

That really is an unexpected failure mode. Obviously I have seen batteries go and spew electrolyte or whatever around before but not on a SP. Guess we have to add it to the list of known failure modes.

Also looks like nothing made it beyond the charger bit either which is nice -- occasionally things make it to the mask/under the mask and proceed to mess things up over the coming however long.

Glad it is working again.

subcon959 · May 31, 2019

Make sure you get some IPA and clean off as much of that acid as possible otherwise it will slowly continue eating through stuff.

[GBA] broken battery destroyed connector with acid

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