The Sega Saturn NetLink League

The battery on my Dreamcast must have gone bad since the unit no longer can maintain the date and time when the unit is shut off for more than a few hours. Sega says this battery is NOT a user replaceable item and that I need to send it in to have the battery replaced.

I don't mind opening the case of my Dreamcast, so would I be able to change the battery myself? Is the battery really built into the system? What's it take to replace the battery?

I'd rather not be without my DC for weeks while also risking it getting damaged or lost in the mail.

I've also long lost the functionality of my battery on the system itself (and the 4 VMUs too), so I'd also be interested to hear if this can easily be replaced manually. Did Sega say they'd do it for free?

sadly not as it os a rechargebale cell rather than a standard cell battery, you can replace with two AA or AAA batteries however there is a guide somewhere actualy but fairly straight forward, just need a battery holder

grolt wrote:I've also long lost the functionality of my battery on the system itself (and the 4 VMUs too), so I'd also be interested to hear if this can easily be replaced manually. Did Sega say they'd do it for free?

Well, I just bought my Dreamcast in February from Sega-Parts and it's still under warranty.

I took the case apart and found the battery. It is tack welded into the circuit board. Who was the genius who came up with this idea? What was wrong with the set up used on the Saturn in which the end user could easily replace the battery?

Anyway, if I can find one of these rechargeable batteries I'll replace it myself. I can't see paying shipping to send it back and being without my Dreamcast for 2-3 weeks especially since I suspect the battery will cost as much or less than what it would cost me to ship it back to have the work done under warranty.

Well the main advantage is that it recharges itself...good idea really...just a shame it has a limited life

It's nice that it's rechargeable, but why weld it into the system? Why not make it accessible and replaceable by the end user like in the Saturn? They probably had some lawsuits from some dumb kids who swallowed the battery out of their Saturns......

If they were dumb enough to eat them they deserved to die, it's called thinning out the herd. They may have also welded it in there so that most people would be forced to pay extra to get it fixed by someone at Sega.

Well, I wrote a note to Sega-Parts and asked if they would just send me a new battery under warranty instead of us both incurring the cost of shipping my DC back and forth and they said yes. I sent them the serial number of my machine and scan of my invoice to prove it is a unit I recently bought from them. They sent me a whole circuit board that contains the controller ports, the battery and the on/off LED. Four screws and a few cable connections later it was in place and the new battery seems to hold a charge.

Now there's customer service!

Scooter wrote:Well, I wrote a note to Sega-Parts and asked if they would just send me a new battery under warranty instead of us both incurring the cost of shipping my DC back and forth and they said yes. I sent them the serial number of my machine and scan of my invoice to prove it is a unit I recently bought from them. They sent me a whole circuit board that contains the controller ports, the battery and the on/off LED. Four screws and a few cable connections later it was in place and the new battery seems to hold a charge.

Now there's customer service!

Thats excellent and particularly interesting as I am tempted to buy a brand new DC from them and ship to the UK so that kinda service sounds great to me

I bought the $55 US "refurbished" version and it looks perfectly new to me. For a savings of $44 over new, I don't see any difference. It came complete in the original packaging, etc. I only got it in February and I think I have a dozen games for it already, but then I've been on quite a vintage game collecting spree since then. Lots of Game Gear, Saturn and 32X items have been procured lately too.

BTW, I did receive the small circuit board with a battery attached from Sega-Parts and installed it myself. It's been in for over a month and is still maintaining the memory.

Cool

When you bought this refurbished unit, did it come with all the original packaging (bags etc) or just the main box? Also what condition was the box in?

segadreamcaster wrote:Cool

When you bought this refurbished unit, did it come with all the original packaging (bags etc) or just the main box? Also what condition was the box in?

Everything looked new to me. I'm not sure what about it was "refurbished". The unit looks and works flawlessly as does all the included components. It came in the typical retail box, the box is perfect as well. Everything was sealed in the plastic baggies, all the warning and instruction sheets were included as was the browser disc (sealed) and the sampler disc and warranty card. I honestly can't see why anyone would spend the additional $44 for a "new" unit from them!

They provide the same warranty on both new and refurbished units. They come complete with a modem, controller, power cable and A/V cable all in the original packaging. I'm very pleased with the purchase.

lol, sounds rather like they may have actually sent you a new one instead of a refurbished one, which is obivously great if so