Back-up Battery Replacement

[xiondavis]

I didn't see much info when searching the forum, so i thought i'd post my experience here...

Haas Mini Mill built in Feb 2006 - 1mb ram. Upgraded to 16mb in June (board replacement)

I got an alarm 124 (low backup battery) on startup in Sept 08 - only 2 1/2 years old. Since i have 12mb of ram in use, HFO tech suggested deleting all programs and checking again (he suggested that alarm 124 could be caused by things other than low battery). Did not resolve the alarm.

I tested the battery voltage to be 2.8 volts - which is low. On my board, there are two lithum cells soldered to the top right corner of the memory board (on the mini mill -its the bottom board, of course).

HFO tech said that the resolution is to plug in an external battery into the pin header above the soldered batteries. They sent a battery and I plugged it in. You can plug it in without removing the boards if you remove the metal safety plate and have small hands. Be careful - the pins will bend easily.

My mini mill has the 16mb upgrade and i'm actively using about 8mb. It sits idle (off) for up to two weeks at a time. The HFO tech suggested that this could have drained the battery early. I wonder if the 16mb boards use more power than the 1mb boards? I have two batteries soldered to the board - i wonder if the 1mb boards only have one?

Anyway, i'm disappointed that the battery only lasted 2 1/2 years - i hope that next time i change it, i don't lose my parameters, etc - because i'll have to either unplug the external battery, or do some jumpering to connect a new battery without disconnecting the current external one. On my memory board, there are two RAM labels - Flash ram and battery backed ram - hopefully params and s/n are stored in flash ram. i guess we'll find out in a couple of years.

[lkenney]

On my Takisawa EX-108 lathe with the Fanuc 21Ti controller, We have to replace the batteries every year, in fact I am doing that today. We have to do it while the machine is powered up not to lose the stored data. I wired in slip fittings to make the job easlier and assemble the 2 battery pack from off the shelf Panosonic 3 volt batteries at our local "Batteries R US" store.

Have fun.

Eagle