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## Pokémon Discussion

### The battery in the Gen 1 games - Page 1

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#### The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Nostalgia
Date: 2018-12-29 06:29:55
I have read that the battery in the first generation games can die eventually, but I've never experienced this myself and I've owned a copy of Pokemon Red from release date that never had a problem saving. I also a purchased a used copy of Pokemon Yellow a few years back from Ebay that also never had any save issues.
In the second generation games the battery issues are well documented due to the in-game clock feature draining the battery, but there is no such feature in the first generation games.
So I'm wondering has anyone here had an issues with the battery dying in first generation games and is there more detailed info on what causes it?

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Parzival
Date: 2018-12-29 07:23:14
I've seen it happen, and it's because the SRAM has to always have power to retain data, regardless of whether there's an RTC in there or not. If there's no battery, it'll pull whatever noise from SRAM every time you turn on the system. IIRC, the noise is pulled from atmosphere, but I could be wrong there.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: IceFlame
Date: 2018-12-29 10:19:43
The SRAM consumes a small current to preserve the data, and also batteries can die eventually even without being used (this might happen more quickly in a warm climate).

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: ISSOtm
Date: 2018-12-29 12:31:43
Batteries drain more quickly in cold temperatures, not hot ones.
Anyways, part of the drain problem is that the power is either supplied by the Game Boy (that's how all cartridge circuitry is powered in absence of a battery, eg Tetris), or the battery (SRAM chip only).
Therefore, the battery is only drained while the Game Boy is *not* powered on. How much the game is played may later the battery's life significantly.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Parzival
Date: 2018-12-29 19:23:45

> Batteries drain more quickly in cold temperatures, not hot ones.
> Anyways, part of the drain problem is that the power is either supplied by the Game Boy (that's how all cartridge circuitry is powered in absence of a battery, eg Tetris), or the battery (SRAM chip only).
> Therefore, the battery is only drained while the Game Boy is *not* powered on. How much the game is played may later the battery's life significantly.

Incorrect. I've never seen one that actually stops pulling from the battery when plugged in and receiving power via the console. It usually just ends up hooking them up in parallel, so it just draws amperage from both.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: ISSOtm
Date: 2018-12-30 10:14:19
Sorry, yeah, by Kirchoff's law, it should drain *less* battery, but still some. Dunno exactly what ratio, though.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: IceFlame
Date: 2019-01-02 14:16:07

> Batteries drain more quickly in cold temperatures, not hot ones.

Some types of batteries, particularly alkaline, perform worse in cold temperatures (edit: well they all do once they get cold enough, but some types much more than others). But I was talking about shelf life. If not being used at all, most types of battery will last longer if kept cool. A battery supplying a very small current probably has a higher optimal temperature than one not being used, but actual hot weather could still shorten its life. I had a quick look but haven't found any specific numbers for the temperature response of lithium coin cells.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Parzival
Date: 2019-01-03 19:07:11

> > Batteries drain more quickly in cold temperatures, not hot ones.

> Some types of batteries, particularly alkaline, perform worse in cold temperatures (edit: well they all do once they get cold enough, but some types much more than others). But I was talking about shelf life. If not being used at all, most types of battery will last longer if kept cool. A battery supplying a very small current probably has a higher optimal temperature than one not being used, but actual hot weather could still shorten its life. I had a quick look but haven't found any specific numbers for the temperature response of lithium coin cells.

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1496885.pdf

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: IceFlame
Date: 2019-01-04 10:37:30
Thanks. So I think that document implies… 20C is slightly better than 0C while discharging through a 15kohm load; and storing at 60C for 20 days results in a similar amount of degradation to storing at <25C for 12 months (about 3%).
As <25C is specified for storage, and 20C is the highest operational temperature they're testing, it seems likely that storing Game Boy carts at higher temperatures than this would be harmful.

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Ryccardo
Date: 2019-07-09 08:47:02

> > Therefore, the battery is only drained while the Game Boy is *not* powered on. How much the game is played may later the battery's life significantly.

> Incorrect. I've never seen one that actually stops pulling from the battery when plugged in and receiving power via the console. It usually just ends up hooking them up in parallel, so it just draws amperage from both.

The 8-pin "MM1261" chip (I don't remember the digits) is supposed to switch SRAM/mapper power between battery and console depending on the availability of the latter (as well as forcing write protection to be enabled when not on external power); this is in contrast to the NES model of simply having both sources in parallel (after a diode to prevent charging)!
Of course there's no such thing as a truly infinite impedance voltmeter, so Parzival is not technically wrong either… :)

#### Re: The battery in the Gen 1 games

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2020-03-06 04:14:08

> I have read that the battery in the first generation games can die eventually, but I've never experienced this myself and I've owned a copy of Pokemon Red from release date that never had a problem saving. I also a purchased a used copy of Pokemon Yellow a few years back from Ebay that also never had any save issues.
> In the second generation games the battery issues are well documented due to the in-game clock feature draining the battery, but there is no such feature in the first generation games.
> So I'm wondering has anyone here had an issues with the battery dying in first generation games and is there more detailed info on what causes it?

Yes it's possible. Some of my Generation I games seem to have had their save corrupted while powered off. Other issues include possible MBC (memory bank control) malfunctions such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyXVd_lpjRQ and Oak sounding like Gastly when you start a new game, black boxes/striped lines for sprites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz3bUVg-UNU Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal will exhaust the save battery while powered off due to the real-time clock (RTC), causing extra drain on the cartridge.
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