Hi All,
Now I cannot test my newly modded chip as I was given the wrong batteries in an order of CR2032 batteries a while ago and I just reached in my bag and found three of three wrong type in my new stash.....great. I COULD weld tabs to them, and go but I'm not that person on this job.
So...whether this works will be a bit of cliff hanger until I get fresh, real, CR2032 stock).
Okay on to it!!!
One of Indys I was working on has a dead RTC (resets time to year 2052 after being unplugged, but somehow has MAC address!!!). Whatever....
I got two used DS1386-8k-120...you read right 120ms off eBay last year (cross-shipped without my consent from the Ukraine from a USA seller!!!). I've read three pieces of info that claim the 120ms is supposed to work in an Indy, even though you're supposed to put in a 150ms IC.
It's what I have and I didn't want to drill the Indy 150ms yet, until I had done this ONCE, correctly. So that's why it's a 120ms. I tired both, AS-IS, in the Indy but it wouldn't boot...so I don't know if that's due to something else ...we'll see I guess. I'm guessing it's due to old data and the battery registers 2.97V DC so I assumed it's holding its contents and the Indy doesn't do overwrite! So I need to blank it...I don't own a programmer so...drilling mod!!!
Okay, I approached this different from a last time but with simple rules: Minimal drilling, Targeted drilling, no removal of old battery!
Okay this breaks down into three separate tool stages and I'm sorry to say the last stage will be seen as cheating where few can follow. I know, I know, but if you know anything about me it's that I know manufacturers cheat consumers with special tooling every day...we have to have special tools to fight back for repair. Sorry...but I promise this will still be a good read!
First stage was using a dremel to drill down a quarter-circle section where the battery NEG lead is welded to the battery bottom (battery is upside down in epoxy).
(1st) Dremel work:
(2nd) Once I hit the welded tab I stopped dremeling and never went back. I used a knife tip on my soldering iron at 500F to carefully work the battery portion free to I had access to the tab and the battery positive:
(3rd) I aligned a cut (cheapo 1.0mm) nickel strip with tape to touch the battery side. I then used a miniature tab welder I got from Amazon last year (does coin cell batteries great...not real Li-ions though) and I WELDED the strip to the side of the old coin cell battery, then used cable bending techniques to route the bare strip (and tined the ends):
I broke the welded tab off the embedded battery to get a good length of NEG lead into the Epoxy to the IC PCB.
Then I glued down the holder and one place on the strip.
I soldered all the pieces together and there you go! This was quick and will work. Now likely you can crack off the holder as I didn't properly rough the surface before epoxying, but I think it's okay for what it needs to be.
Stay tuned for if it works...when I get a darn battery...argggghhh.
UPDATE: I've been told I misquoted milliseconds for the speed measurement instead of nano seconds for the IC access times. My bad, I've not corrected the text and will leave it as-is. But it's true, I should have said NanoSeconds (ns) instead of Milliseconds (ms). Good for future knowledge. Still not a 150 so fingers crossed, we'll see either way.