Battery question... Game Boy etc... Please read.

[Bonny]

As we all know, older handheld-sytems like Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, (Colour/Advance), Sega Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, Bandai Wonderswan, etc... Are all using AA or AAA Batteries for power supply.

And if those systems are modded (backlight, etc...) The power consumption ,of course, grows.

A simple question: What kind/brand is the best choice to drive those systems?

I personally, own Gameboy Pocket/Colour/Advanced Systems, all Backlit-modded (not by myself, i just bought them) .

What battery choice is the best/powerful/long-lasting solution for operating...

- modded systems with retail, or flash carts? Ez Junior, for an example, is surely influenced by the systems battery power. So, whats the best AA or AAA Battery for modded handheld sytems...?

Please just post your experiences.

 

[FAST6191]

"And if those systems are modded (backlight, etc...) The power consumption ,of course, grows."
Not necessarily. If a screen replacement is included in the mod then it might even be a net reduction in power consumption.

Anyway best batteries.
Probably lithium single use AAs if you can get them, and have a wallet fat enough to finance such decadence. Equally I am by no means a filthy hippy but seeing lithium burned on single use batteries... does not sit well.

For those of us in the real world though. The main decision is between rechargeable and not. The problem comes in a lot of rechargeable batteries (especially older types) opt instead for 1.2V (to give a total of 2.4) which works for 95% of things with the 5% being high power options. Sadly handheld game consoles and cameras join electric toothbrushes in being battery killers which means rechargeable normal cells is mostly a no go. Rechargeable mod on the other hand, different matter entirely.

I have not seen any for a while and it might need some scalpel work but some of the combined ones they used to sell for cameras might be worth looking at.

To that end I usually go with whatever the cheap pack of alkaline batteries I get on the market as the total power delivered for the cost is the best, and they will generally last long enough to say they did. They are seldom going to be in there long enough to leak so I am not even worried about that, but you can ponder that one if you like. You are also typically paying for the label for the broadly same underlying chemistry and materials so bear that in mind as well.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Rechargeable NiMH are fine as long as you use high capacity ones. Popular choices are Eneloop Pro or Ikea Ladda (the white 2450 mAh ones made in Japan). The later is almost identical in performance to the former for a lower price. They both come out of the same factory (there is only one left in JP).

And i disagree that rechargeable AA's are a no-go. The LiPo mods for these consoles claiming they get you more runtime ironically can't beat high capacity AA's. Lithium batteries may have higher energy density but the protection and charging board included kinda kills the advantage because it takes so much room.

 

[Bonny]

Not necessarily. If a screen replacement is included in the mod then it might even be a net reduction in power consumption.

Yeah... you're sure right. I actually never thought about that....

Probably lithium single use AAs if you can get them, and have a wallet fat enough to finance such decadence. Equally I am by no means a filthy hippy but seeing lithium burned on single use batteries... does not sit well.

Agree. I always buy recharchable batteries. As much as i know, single use-AA's provide the most power, but as you said, it's decadence.

The main decision is between rechargeable and not.

Exactly. . I rather would go for the best rechargeable batteries i can get. I'am operating all me devices at home with rechargeable batteries. If you buy hight quality ones, and also use a modern charger, it's way cheaper in the end.

This said, it would be interesting, if my backlit-modded GBC/GBP would boot up/operate my EZ-Flash Jr. successfully with high-power single-us AA/AAA batteries... maybe i get some just for testing purpose. But as mentioned: Just for testing... not for regular gaming.

I own 2 backlit-modded GBP's and one backlit-modded GBC. One of the GBP's works flawless with the Ez-Flash Jr., the other GBP boots, but then loops the NINTENDO Logo. The GBC, shuts completely off (black screen), 1 second after i turned it on.

As said: I don't know anything about the internal specifications of the consoles, as i have just bought them, and did not mod them by myself

 

[DanTheManMS]

Probably lithium single use AAs if you can get them, and have a wallet fat enough to finance such decadence. Equally I am by no means a filthy hippy but seeing lithium burned on single use batteries... does not sit well.

I used to buy those purely because of a digital camera gifted to me in... gosh it must have been 2011 I think? It didn't support SDHC so 2GB SD cards maximum, if that helps age it. Those disposable Lithium-Ion AA batteries were the only ones that lasted long enough to provide enough power to the "Flash" function after a mere dozen pictures taken.

I stopped using that camera (and thus, stopped buying those batteries) long ago. Thank goodness times have changed for the better!

 

[Titney]

Pockets are pretty notorious for power supply issues because of the smaller AAA batteries. If they won't even boot up it could be the initial power surge that's the issue. It's likely not the raw voltage that's the issue, but the tolerance of the batteries to deliver a lot of power in a very brief time frame, and Alkalines possibly aren't the best for that, see here https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-106-advantages-of-primary-batteries so it's very possible a different battery chemistry would allow the modded systems to get past the boot surge, in particular lithium, but possibly also NiMH.

You might also consider getting a less power hungry flash cart as EZ Flash has a very high power surge at boot. The lowest power carts I'm aware of are from InsideGadget, but they are pretty pricey with few features. Everdrive is another option, but the difference from EZ-Flash isn't huge, ie, it's not guaranteed that an Everdrive would be stable on a modded system, but if it boots fine with official carts, an InsideGadgets cart would almost certainly work. Though try new batteries first.

Charts from, and see more examples at: https://gekkio.fi/blog/2021/power-consumption-of-game-boy-flash-cartridges/
(Everdrive GB is an old no longer made model, the X5 is the current one.)

For comparisons of different battery chemistries, gameboys should fall somewhere in between these two charts. The tl;dr
- single use lithium is indeed superior to everything else
- alkalines actually only run over 1.2v during about half their runtime
- NiMH should be good enough (I get very long runtimes with standard Eneloops in my unmodded gameboys and wonderswan) tho with modded systems there's no guarantees, esp with the surge tolerance.
- recharcheable lithium (LiIon, the orange in the charts) *might* have a better tolerance for surging/high power usage, but at the cost of shorter runtime than even NiMH.
Also, If you happen to have some NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries around it might be worth trying as those should have a high surge tolerance, but cadmium, as a heavy metal, is one of the worst possible options for the environment.

From https://lygte-info.dk/info/ComparisonOfAABatteryChemistry UK.html

 

[EZ-Flash2]

The left modded one is using a pair of black eneloop pro. nearly 11 hours for just red light. the card is OMEGA Definitive Edition.

 

[gbafan]

You can actually get 1.5v rechargeable lithiums in AA or AAA size for GBA/GBC or GBP. Google (or other search engines are your friend
They certainly help with those high drain issues after installing various IPS/backlight mods.
Also, you can add more efficient power regulators to power the old school backlights which should help with power drain.