Mac SE battery replacement options

[Fry]

Hello all,

I recently hauled my Mac SE out of storage and am planning my strategy for inspecting the components and replacing the PRAM battery. This is an original SE with (presumably) the soldered-on battery. From searching around a bit, I can see that at least one place sells a holder for a battery of the same type, but what I'd really like to do is use a coin cell. Is a good old CR2032 an option in this case, or does it just not put out enough voltage for this application?

I know that the Amiga retro community has come up with a coin cell holder with a diode on one end that blocks the charge current, but don't know if that translates directly to how the SE logic board works.

 

[blusnowkitty]

A 2032 is adequate. Pull the old PRAM battery and stick a 2032 holder in there. Don't worry about diodes to block charging current because a rechargeable PRAM battery was never a thing in the Mac world, except maybe the Powerbooks.

 

[Fry]

Don't worry about diodes to block charging current because a rechargeable PRAM battery was never a thing in the Mac world, except maybe the Powerbooks.

Aha, that makes things a lot simpler. Thanks for the info.

 

[Crutch]

I have used a 2032 for an SE/30 and it works great.  If you want, you can use a standard battery holder with 9”-ish lead wires and mount the battery on the chassis so it can be changed without removing the motherboard.