Sega Game Gear - Only works with batteries.

[Ditto]

Hey, I have a road trip coming up and happened across a Game Gear today with a Sega Powerback attached to the back. I was thinking of buying an RPG for the thing and letting it be my mobile gaming for 4 day trip.

 

Question #1

 

Reading up on the Powerback, the odds of the NiCds (6 rechargable AA's) in the thing being able to hold some juice are zero and nil. I read some posts about replacing them with new ones being easy enough in theory but have not found anyone saying they did and it worked. What do ya'll think? Having an all-in-one battery pack/charger attached to the unit sounds easier than buying/packing a separate charger.

 

Question #2

 

And all that would be great except the unit itself will not power up with a power supply. It works mostly fine with batteries and I expect a little cleaning will fix the remaining issues. Plug in the Sega branded adapter (Model 3201) and it goes dead. Search results return "works with adapter, not batteries." Anyone have any experience with one that will not work when plugged in and getting it working again?

 

Thanks!

 

PS. If ya'll know of a Sega forum out there somewhere feel free to redirect me.

[Rockin' Kat]

I had a GG once that woudln't work off the AC adapter. It turned out the dc jack on the GG was not connected to the main board... The solder connection was cracked. You could try adding some solder to the connection if you are able to use a soldering iron.

 

Otherwise, maybe there is a fuse like on the Sega CD or something?

[Ditto]

Oh yeah..."newer" stuff requires security bits to open. How annoying...

[Rockin' Kat]

The security bits are not too pricey to buy online. Just make sure you get the right size as there were two different sizes of the same type screw used by Sega and Nintendo.

 

I would buy both sizes from MCM electronics.

 

4.5mm

 

3.8mm

[Koopa64]

Question 1: Yes, replacing the batteries will work.

 

Question 2: As Rockin Kat said, chances are the AC adapter jack has a cracked solder joint. Just open the Game Gear, unscrew the power board, flip it over, determine where the solder joints for the power jack are and just heat them up. To help return a solid connection, try sticking the AC adapter plug into the jack and using that to move the jack a bit as you reflow the joints.

[zylon]

Inserting the power cord in the socket opens a switch that disconnects the battery power. A dead power cord would give the same symptom as a bad/loose jack.

The powerback adaptor is good if you find a yet unused one. They start degrading with each use. The rechargeable battery packs are still available new in the wild sometimes.

[Koopa64]

No, these ancient rechargeable batteries degrade even in a factory sealed package. The only fix for them is to replace those terrible batteries, preferably with NiHM types. Those are very good rechargeables.

[fiddlepaddle]

No, these ancient rechargeable batteries degrade even in a factory sealed package. The only fix for them is to replace those terrible batteries, preferably with NiHM types. Those are very good rechargeables.

Will NiMH batteries charge properly, even though the device was designed to charge NiCd?

[dendawg]

No, these ancient rechargeable batteries degrade even in a factory sealed package. The only fix for them is to replace those terrible batteries, preferably with NiHM types. Those are very good rechargeables.

Will NiMH batteries charge properly, even though the device was designed to charge NiCd?

 

According to this, it appears the answer is probably.

[fiddlepaddle]

Will NiMH batteries charge properly, even though the device was designed to charge NiCd?

According to this, it appears the answer is probably.

Well, I wouldn't normally put faith in a probability of "probably" on a project using parts that say "...may burst, release toxic material, or cause burns. Charge only in a charger designed for Ni-MH batteries."

 

NiMH batteries have been known to explode or catch fire even in devices that were DESIGNED to charge them (for example, some cell phones and laptops). I wouldn't want my Game Gear to catch fire on my night stand while I'm asleep or at work.

 

How would one verify it's OK?

[Rockin' Kat]

Question 1: Yes, replacing the batteries will work.

 

Question 2: As Rockin Kat said, chances are the AC adapter jack has a cracked solder joint. Just open the Game Gear, unscrew the power board, flip it over, determine where the solder joints for the power jack are and just heat them up. To help return a solid connection, try sticking the AC adapter plug into the jack and using that to move the jack a bit as you reflow the joints.

 

I'd go a little further and add solder rather than just reflowing the existing solder personally. It'll be less likely to crack a second time that way.

[Ditto]

FYI, for what my research on the topic since posting this is worth, I see no reason to try and substitute an NiMH for an NiCd. I think, at a minimum, you would have to replace the charging system in the Powerback as well and at that point wouldn't it make more sense to use a separate charger all together?

 

 

I actually got this setup with a 7 day return policy and, given that, I'm going to return the whole thing and get A) a GG that has actually been tested and works or is a known fixer-upper and priced accordingly. I paid "tested/working" price. I would also go with B) one of the other models of rechargeable power supplies with more space for a higher "mah" replacement since a 3-hour play time versus 5-hour play time is $22 vs $26 and an extra inch of space.

 

Two good links on the topic:

 

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14039

http://www.jonathanen.com/pages/Help/Replace.html

 

An excellent source of replacement batteries:

 

http://www.onlybatterypacks.com/

 

I did learn alot from working through this and will be making an educated purchase of a GG in the near future. Thank you all for your input.

[Ditto]

And I'm totally ordering those security bits.

[7800]

I have 2 Game Gear units, one uses the yellow tip adapter, the other requires a larger, non-yellow tip barrel. Does anyone know if Sega ever sold a PowerBack battery or the earlier Battery Pack with the NON-YELLOW tip barrel???

 

Or better yet, can anyone explain to me why the Game Gear would have two different size jacks???

[CatPix]

I only ever saw the battery packs and GG using the older SMS/MD1 tip. Maybe (most probably?) your second GG unit was repaired, and whoever did it, be Sega or just a guy skilled in electronics, used the more recent connector available. Maybe thy guy had a SMS II or a Megadrive II and didn't want to buy another power supply.

Maybe Sega changed the power supply tip on late models. Maybe it's a Jaleco model you got?

[Makara]

On 9/10/2020 at 3:54 PM, 7800 said:

I have 2 Game Gear units, one uses the yellow tip adapter, the other requires a larger, non-yellow tip barrel. Does anyone know if Sega ever sold a PowerBack battery or the earlier Battery Pack with the NON-YELLOW tip barrel???

 

Or better yet, can anyone explain to me why the Game Gear would have two different size jacks???

There are two different versions of the GG internal power board, the UK/ Japan version uses a centre negative 5.5mm socket and the USA version uses centre positive 4.8mm.

[CatPix]

This explain why I never saw that 4.8mm version.

 

Reading above, I'm not gonna quote because the message is from 2011, but for a powerpack, the reason why you should replace the original NiCd by NiMh is cost (not sure they still sell NiCd anyway). And the reason why you don't need to worry about NiMh exploding is because the Power pack charger does "trickle charging" or slow charging (instruction manual says you need to charge the Power Pack for 8 hours if I recall) which won't harm NiMh. Overcharging (letting the power pack plugged for more time) may damage them, but this was true of NiCd batteries as well.

Edited September 23, 2020 by CatPix