Technical question, Zoom RT-223 internal memory back up battery replacement

  • Thread starter Thread starter ejm
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ejm

Member
12-15-2024

This might be a dumb question but here goes.

Inside the machine there is a little "watch type" battery.
I'm assuming that this is battery back up for the memory (patterns, songs, etc programmed by the user).
After several years it degraded from about 3v to around less than 2v.
The contents of the memory were GONE (AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!).
I replaced it at that time.
It came from the factory soldered in.
It is now in a little plastic battery holder, so I don't have to unsolder it from the board (like the original) to swap it out.

Question: How do I swap it out without losing the contents of the memory (patterns, songs, etc).?
If I have the unit powered up, would it be safe to swap out the battery with power on?
Any chance of it damaging the machine?
Has anyone done anything similar?

Thanks in advance.
 
I believe they often use a large capacitor (you can get small 1F capacitors) to keep the memory protected, while you swap the battery.
 
Thanks for the reply.
However, I don't understand what you're saying.

Are you saying that there may be a capacitor already in the circuit that should stay charged long enough to swap the battery?

Also, you said 1F.
That's 1 Farad (not 1 uF)?
That's a good sized capacitor.
Keep in mind that this machine is probably 15 years old, which means the components are using technology and designs that are also 15 years old.
 
ejm said:
Are you saying that there may be a capacitor already in the circuit that should stay charged long enough to swap the battery?
Click to expand...
Yes!

ejm said:
Also, you said 1F.
That's 1 Farad (not 1 uF)?
That's a good sized capacitor.
Click to expand...
Correct. They're called 'SuperCapacitors', which more or less approximate to little batteries.
1F would cost an arm and a leg, but a much smaller one would do the trick.

You might be lucky - you might not.
 
Thanks for the reply.

From the original post:
If I have the unit powered up, would it be safe to swap out the battery with power on?
Any chance of it damaging the machine?
Has anyone done anything similar?
 
I'd go for it.
There ought to be a diode coming from the battery, which would be reverse-biased when the power is on.
 
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