I recently got my DD Crew FD1094 back from Charles after he dumped it and despite liking the fact that we now have decrypted ROM sets, I do love my stuff to be original wherever possible.
I did attempt a battery change on one of these a few years ago and it ended in disaster so I was keen not let it happen again.

I ordered a couple of CR2032 batteries up and set to work.

First thing was to make the helper battery up. This was just another tabbed CR2032 with a couple of flying leads on with crocodile clips on the ends.

Then gently pry the lid up from the body.

To be sure I checked the voltage on the current battery. I’m glad I did as the + and – wires from the CPU had a layer of crud on them that meant I could not get a reliable connection. I took a stanley knife blade and scraped away at the top and sides of the wires which allowed me to get a good connection.

Next I attached the helper battery.

As the original battery was 3v and the helper battery was 3.3v it allowed me to check if the helper was connected properly, which it was.
Time to disconnect the old battery.

No I probably should have prepped the new battery before removing the old one but I never did. I got it ready though and proceeded to solder it in

Once I got the battery in place it became clear that with the plastic surround on it, it wouldnt fit in the CPU housing at all so I carefully snipped it away.

I closed the CPU back up

Now came the testing part.

Very pleased with that. I’m now going to order another battery up to do the other board I have still running on its original battery.

My friend Runik has been working on this for a while now and I don’t feel that its existence is as well known as it should be as it really is a great program.
Basically it is a repairers aid to logging and tracking faults and the like. I use it all the time and I know a couple of others use it too.

Note from Runik:

Hi there !
As time goes by, I’m stacking lots of defective arcade games waiting to be repaired, and I’m having hard times keeping track of what is done and/or what is left to do. At first a simple excel file was enough, then I changed for Task Coach, but this one soon have shown its limits.
After desperately looking for the perfect software, I realized it didn’t exist.
So I decided to create it Tongue

This thread is about the release of AGAR v1.0, an arcade game monitoring and repair software.

What means AGAR ? It stands for Arcade Games Analysis & Repair, and besides it’s almost the name of my favorite Final Fight character Wink

Broadly speaking, with this software you can :
– create makers (without duplicates)
– create games linked to these makers (without duplicates)
– create pcbs : with the game linked, its type (original, bootleg, conversion), its origin, its location, its state (working, wip, dead, etc.), its faults when they exist, etc.
– for each pcb, you can add analysis and link actions to them (whether completed or not)

State of pcbs is shown using parametrable colours (text and background), so you can check each state visually. You can also filter pcbs display by state and/or faults.

AGAR is perfectly usable as is, but I intend to add some more modules in the future, like (non exhaustive list) :
– pictures management
– purchases management
– notes management
– and maybe a little components stockpile management, but don’t count heavily on this one …

That’s all for now, I hope you’ll find it useful, as for me I’m using it everyday.

Please do check this out if you are into repairing games.

AGAR DOWNLOAD