LC 550 Motherboard w/ 4.5v Battery - Common or Oddity?

[omidimo]

I recently got an LC550 minus CD-ROM (manufactured Nov 1994) and it has a 4.5v battery. I know the 575 onward switched to the 4.5v batteries, but had never seen a 550 with it. My other three 550 boards all are the old 1/2 AA 3.6v type. 

Anyone know if was common or just a late revision before the 575. 

 

[uniserver]

this should work.

 

[Macdrone]

never mind

 

[bibilit]

The Classic Colour used  the 3.6 then the 4.5 volt type, so not an oddity, probably the LC used both as well. 

 

[olePigeon]

Fairly normal.  It's held on with velcro.

 

[omidimo]

Good to know, I did not realize the evil square battery was so widespread. I have 2 new(being 2009 final year of porduction) Rayovacs left to use, that should get me thru the year. I don't mind the AA adapter box for the 6400/6500 towers, but the CC/5xx models, its pretty cramped.

 

[rsolberg]

AAAs are a better fit than AAs, I've found.

 

[uniserver]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Button-Cell-Battery-Holder-with-3x-LR44-Batteries-4-5V-/222137452425?hash=item33b86c8789:g:6B4AAOSwmtJXTsJC solder this down… clearance issues solved.

 

[Forrest]

I couldn't find a 3 AAA battery holder locally, but Dollartree is selling a square LED push light that has a 3 AAA battery compartment for $1. It didn't take long to cut off the LED (saved for a future project) and spliced in the old Rayovac 840 battery connector. Total cost, including 3 AAA Alkaline batteries was $2. Working great in my Umax C600.

 

[jessenator]

I couldn't find a 3 AAA battery holder locally, but Dollartree is selling a square LED push light that has a 3 AAA battery compartment for $1. It didn't take long to cut off the LED (saved for a future project) and spliced in the old Rayovac 840 battery connector. Total cost, including 3 AAA Alkaline batteries was $2. Working great in my Umax C600.

Was it the barrel-shaped battery holder? the one I had would not be soldered to the leads to save its life... I ended up going with the ovoid-shaped Harbor Freight LED flashlight. It's bulkier, but it was a quick job. Good thing the 4400 it's going into has space to spare.

 

[Zippy Zapp]

I also use the 3 AA holder for the 6320 and 640 and I prefer to use Heavy Duty Carbon Zinc vs Alakaline.  Not sure why but all of the batteries that I have removed from devices over the years that have leaked have been alkaline.   Keeping the time and settings is also a low drain application so heavy duty carbon zinc batteries should be ideal.

Here is something interesting, Panasonic batteries have, according to them, anti-leaking technology.

https://www.panasonic-batteries.com/en/news/alkaline-batteries-versus-zinc-batteries

 

[Forrest]

jessenator,

I used a square LED push light - designed to be attached to a wall with velcro. The 3 batteries were in a row - like the picture in uniserver's post. It was easy to solder new red and black wires to the battery tabs and solder them to the old battery connector wires. I used the velcro to attach the battery holder.

 

[jessenator]

Images won't load on that listing :/  
The barrel-shaped one was recommended by 65scribe in his 4400/200 review. I wonder if the contacts were a different material. the other one is really bulky and I may dremel off the excees (which is just empty plastic at this point.

 

[Franklinstein]

There were a number of machines around 1993-4 that had spots on the logic board where either the 1/2AA or square battery could be used. I assume they used the square battery on the 575 because it was easy to relocate should someone decide to install one of those socketed PPC upgrades (those things are huge) and in the 63x/64x series for the machines that used the DOS cards (and also for the aforementioned PPC upgrade). I've given thought to finding a 1/2AA battery holder to replace the pins for the square battery on my 575 boards but I haven't done anything with it yet. Really anything is better than those stupid square batteries. I really wish they had started using the button batteries before 2003ish. Yes the 1/2AA lithiums usually last longer than the buttons, but they're more leak-prone and not always easy to come by.