Hacking 3-in-1 battery appears dead

[granville]

After about a year since I bought it, it looks like my EZ-Flash 3-in-1 battery bit the dust. Every time I start Rudolph's loader, it asks to use the expansion pack (like it does if it's you're first time using it). The games won't retain their saves if I turn the DS off and I can't load my savegames from the microSD in slot-1 (or back them up from the 3-in-1 since they apparently aren't saving). Are these things SUPPOSED to die after only a year of use?

Now I can still write games and play them fine, but I can't save at all. I can also use the rumble and memory for the browser and some homebrew. But I really cherish the use of my GBA games.

All in all, I'd like a new card like this. I don't care about rumble as I never use it. I had a couple in mind:

Ewin
M3 Real expansion

If anyone has any other ideas, I'd appreciate it. And do the batteries last any longer on these?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

buy a new one or replace the battery, those are your 2 obvious options.

 

[granville]

buy a new one or replace the battery, those are your 2 obvious options.

I might just buy a new one. It's pretty cheap.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

I'm on my 4th 3in1, after this one dies I will be replacing the batteries on all of them since it is now cheaper to do that.

 

[Narin]

The batteries cost around 4-5$ each and they need to be soldered in. Soldering tin costs around 4-20$ depending on the type and size of the roll you get and a soldering gun can be around 5-50$ depending on the type you get as well.

If you already have a soldering gun and the soldering tin/roll, then its cheaper to manually replace the battery yourself, otherwise I suggest just getting a new 3 in 1.

 

[granville]

I don't have a soldering gun and on top of that, I have VERY shakey hands.

I'll just get a new 3-in-1 since they are only about $20. I just asked about the other cards to see if their batteries were any better.

 

[Searinox]

Correct, furthermore if your 3in1 is GBA sized and you don't like rumble you can rip the motor out and make room for a CR1620 which lasts twice as long(3 years).