Making RTC battery external or easily accessible?

[ProdigalAmigan]

Hello!

I have an Amiga 1200 with an ACA1233n accelerator and the RTC module fitted.
Worked great until the CR1220 battery ran out of juice and the Amiga started defaulting to 1978-01-01...

The thing is due to physical limitations of mine I'm not very confident with opening up the Amiga to work on so I'm simply wondering if you know of any way that one could implement a way to make the RTC battery easily accessible without having to take the Amiga apart?

Optionally I'm thinking of removing the battery permanently but then I wonder if there is an application that could run on workbench startup where one could manually punch in the date and time?

Having no RTC isn't a big deal when it comes to gaming but I would like for to have correct time and date when messing around in Workbench at the very least....

//ProdigalAmigan

[npagonis73]

Not sure about RTC module which is accessible without opening up your Amiga. Anyway you only need to unscrew the screws on the bottom and lift the upper part of the case as well as the keyboard. Then you can change the battery on your RTC module.

Now if you don't want to do that and you are connected to the internet, there are apps that will sync your Amiga's time with a server so you will be fine. Such apps can be found on Aminet. NTPSync, Mtimed, AmiTimeKeeper.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by ProdigalAmigan

I wonder if there is an application that could run on workbench startup where one could manually punch in the date and time?

The Time preferences program does that very job - just move it into WBStartup if you want it to run every time Workbench Amiga starts.

However, the task of actually accessing the battery for replacement isn't a particularly difficult thing. I understand that you might not be able to do it yourself, but it's something that you could enlist the help of any reasonably competent person to do for you - it doesn't have to be a computer specialist or anything. If it's attached to the accelerator, you just need to open the trapdoor to access it - no screwdriver, no disassembly of the machine. The RTC module should be easily visible then, unplug it, change the battery, plug it back in.

[daxb]

The ACA 1233n ( http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1233n ) has a clock port and on this port you can add a RTC module. As Daedalus already wrote you just need to open the trapdoor (power off the A1200 first) and you may already see the RTC module. Change the battery should be easy.

[Lord Aga]

Yup, it's mildly annoying (I had to do it once already on my ACA1233n), but it doesn't require any complex operations. Juts pop the trapdoor out, take the module off, replace the battery and put the module back.

The real help here would be to discuss the longest lasting batteries It seems to me that CR1220 batteries are particularly pathetic when it comes to lifespan.

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by npagonis73

Now if you don't want to do that and you are connected to the internet, there are apps that will sync your Amiga's time with a server so you will be fine. Such apps can be found on Aminet. NTPSync, Mtimed, AmiTimeKeeper.

This is what I do at the moment as my TF1260 has no RTC and my clockport is in use with a Rapid road USB.
Sometimes it doesnt pick up from the startup if Roadshow has taken slightly too long to get online, but then i have a menu item to just Sync time which does it.

[nogginthenog]

Originally Posted by npagonis73

Now if you don't want to do that and you are connected to the internet, there are apps that will sync your Amiga's time with a server so you will be fine. Such apps can be found on Aminet. NTPSync, Mtimed, AmiTimeKeeper.

This is what I do on my A4000. I'm using comm/net/sntp.lha

[ProdigalAmigan]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.
I don't know why but I didn't get any e-mail notification about the activity in this thread and this is why I've been so quiet. I'll be looking into the suggestions given.

The reason why I'm worried about opening up the Amiga (unnecessarily) is that it's quite old, and plastic goes brittle. I wouldn't want to damage the case, but yeah I'll have to remove the battery that's already in there if nothing else...

[vroom6sri]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

The real help here would be to discuss the longest lasting batteries It seems to me that CR1220 batteries are particularly pathetic when it comes to lifespan.

Absolutely! I stopped replacing the battery in my ACA 1230/56 because (sadly) the Amiga would only be turned on every 2 or 3 weeks and the date and time were lost in about a month or two it seemed.

Are there any battery recommendations?

[idrougge]

You could desolder the old battery and connect wires to the connecting terminals. Pull those wires out through a hole in the case and solder a CR2032 coin cell holder to the other end. You can glue the holder somewhere on the case for easy access.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, they're not the best, and only used to fit the small size of those now-common modules. A CR2032 has about 6 times the capacity, for example. I've modified my clock module by putting a CR2032 holder on the back of it. I don't use mine on an accelerator so I couldn't say whether it has any issues fitting, but it works well on the motherboard...

[Lord Aga]

[wiz12]

Are CR1220 and CR2032 batteries identical apart from the size difference?

[Daedalus]

@Lord Aga

@wiz12 Yeah. Pretty much all lithium cells are 3V, so it just comes down to size (and as a result, capacity). Given that the shells of them all will be a fairly consistent thickness, as the cell gets larger, a smaller proportion of the volume is taken up by the shell and more is taken up by the chemistry. The 1220 is quite small as far as those cells go, so even a small increase in size gives a substantial increase in capacity. For example, the 1620 is the same thickness but 3.5mm wider, and has around double the capacity of the 1220.

[vroom6sri]

I was thinking about this again this morning. In theory would it be possible to have an adapter/extender that would plug into where the battery goes on the existing holder with some short cables running to a new battery holder that would take a larger capacity battery? So like inserting a hollow battery into the existing battery holder that is wired to a larger capacity battery holder.

It's beyond my abilities but I had a quick search on eBay thinking that there might already be something like this but I didn't find anything.

[wiz12]

Originally Posted by vroom6sri

I was thinking about this again this morning. In theory would it be possible to have an adapter/extender that would plug into where the battery goes on the existing holder with some short cables running to a new battery holder that would take a larger capacity battery? So like inserting a hollow battery into the existing battery holder that is wired to a larger capacity battery holder.

It's beyond my abilities but I had a quick search on eBay thinking that there might already be something like this but I didn't find anything.

I had the same idea, maybe something like this could be connected to the positive and negative terminals of an existing RTC battery module e.g. the icomp RTC CR1220 module. Would something like this work or be safe to do?

[vroom6sri]

I was thinking of a non-solder/non-modification solution where you would actually place a connector the same shape & size as the regular coin battery which would be connected to higher capacity battery socket.

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by npagonis73

…Now if you don't want to do that and you are connected to the internet, there are apps that will sync your Amiga's time with a server so you will be fine. Such apps can be found on Aminet. NTPSync, Mtimed, AmiTimeKeeper.

There’s a guide in Issue 3 of WhatIFF? AmigaGuide Magazine to set an internet sync clock up on your Amiga here http://whatiff.info/

[ProdigalAmigan]

Hello everyone. I have seen that there is now CR2032 based RTC modules for the Amiga (500/1200?) BUT I'm still wondering if there is a way to make the RTC external or easily accessible as I do not feel comfortable with opening the Amiga up more than I have to due to the brittle plastic.....

[Jope]

You can relocate it where you wish with some wires.