DTE-7150/DSR-4800 Battery Replacement

[Bongu]

I have been searching for instructions on how to replace the battery on this beast. I have found nothing. The only search results that come up are questions asking if it needs to be done, and those questions are always found at Satelliteguys. I am worried about the battery in mine since I do not wish to have a doorstop that cant even move a dish. Opening the unit up, I see there is the ACE module in the center of the board and it is a daughterboard. I can peek under the plastic ACE cover and can see a coin cell battery. I do not see how to access the battery without cutting/breaking the plastic cover. I am afraid that if I do this, it might compromise the integrity of the holder or the battery circuit. I did not try to peel off the ACE ID label or apply pressure to it so I did not see if there are any fasteners or releases under it. The top plastic cover is secured through the daughterboard to a bottom plastic cover and I cannot see how to release the pins.

Has anyone attempted to replace their battery? If yes, were you successful? If yes, how did you do it?

 

[Anony55]

I've wondered the same thing. On my DSR4800s, there's not a plastic cover on the ACE. The side of the ACE board that faces the main board has a sheet-metal housing over a portion of it. Using a small mirror, it's obvious that there's not a battery on the portion of the board that's not covered. And the sheet-metal housing is soldered to the ACE board.

I would be tempted to explore this a little, but all of my units work. If someone had a unit where the UID was already corrupted, that would be a good unit to open up & see how the battery is physically connected.

Just the fact that I've never seen any reprorts of a corrupted UID on a DSR4800, DSR4810, or Digitrans makes me wonder if there's even a battery in there. It's "conventional wisdom" that there must be. On the other hand, this is the only series that I've personally tested where the UID is all zeros until you lock a DCII signal.

Could it be that there really isn't a battery in the ACE and that this particular XC chip can write it's UID to the receiver an infinite amount of times? I doubt it, but the lack of reported failures & the "all zero UID" on power up sure makes one wonder.

I do know this, if that did happen to be the case... they sure wouldn't want us to know about it or talk about it.

However, there's most likely another explaination for the lack of failures & the zeros. If I was a bettin' man, I'd still bet that there's a battery in there.

Cheers

 

[rrob311]

Ya I have a couple of these so I hope they last awhile. They are so easy to use.

 

[Anony55]

...On my DSR4800s, there's not a plastic cover on the ACE...

Looks like I spoke too soon. I have 4 DSR4800s. The first one I opened was as I described above. The second one I opened has the plastic cover. I'll find out about units 3 & 4 in the days to come since I'm opening them all up anyway to activate RS232 serial control.

I assumed that they would all be the same as the first one, since they all came from the same place. Now that's got me wondering if someone already did a little "exploring" on that first unit before I got it.

Cheers

 

[merkin]

Changed the battery in dte-7100 little over a month ago.

Once you remove the ACE, the plastic cover can be taken off from underneath by prying gently on some tabs.

The battery was a BR2335.

Good Luck.

 

[rrob311]

Merkin how do you maintain power to the board while changing the battery?

 

[merkin]

Merkin how do you maintain power to the board while changing the battery?

Same principle as the 4dtv units...

 

[rrob311]

so are there extra posts to hook maybe alligator clips up to while doing the switch? I have successfully performed this service on the 4dtv units.

 

[Bongu]

So it sounds like you can separate the ACE from the receiver without killing the unit. Sounds like a decent solution. I think I will do this in the next couple of weeks and take photos. This way I can document where I did right, or...gulp....wrong.

Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys

 

[Bongu]

I said in a couple of weeks, but....

Well, here are the photos I took removing the ACE module from my DTE-7150. It was not rocket science and I will have to wait until tomorrow to power it back up.

Does this appear to be an easy one to add the ASI connection to? Are there any components I need to install?

 

[dotbatman]

Well, here are the photos I took removing the ACE module from my DTE-7150. It was not rocket science and I will have to wait until tomorrow to power it back up.

Does this appear to be an easy one to add the ASI connection to? Are there any components I need to install?

Thanks very much for posting these pictures. Helped me figure out the resistor value on my broken unit (see here). As for installing ASI, you are missing a few components for sure. Could you take more pictures near the ASI any place where there are empty solder pads? I'll do the same and post the results, then you would be able to come up with a parts list.

 

[rrob311]

So how are you able to maintain battery voltage while replacing the coin cell? The pictures are great. I don't see a way to keep the voltage present.

 

[Bongu]

There is actually a second set of holes for the battery. One extra for the + and - connections. I will replace with an AA style lithium rated at the 3.0v that has leads on it. The plastic ACE covers will be taped up inside the unit.


As far as adding ASI, my main worry is the missing IC has code on it. If so, them I would need a dump so I can jtag the chip.

Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys

 

[Anony55]

Changed the battery in dte-7100 little over a month ago... ...The battery was a BR2335...

Merkin how do you maintain power to the board while changing the battery?

Same principle as the 4dtv units...

So how are you able to maintain battery voltage while replacing the coin cell? The pictures are great. I don't see a way to keep the voltage present.

Merkin, I'd be very interested in the method as well. I looked up the BR2335 battery, and it is indeed a coin battery, same as the original.

So how did you replace a coin battery with another coin battery, and maintain a steady voltage supply to the XC while doing it?

Cheers

 

[Anony55]

After zooming in on Bongu's pic of the ACE, I see there is an empty "+" hole right beside the one in use. Considering the design of the battery & board, it would seem to be impossible to replace the battery using the unused + hole in the PBC without loosing contact with the negative side of the battery. UNLESS, the other side of the board has provisions for a battery also.

If the other side of the board did have provisions for a battery, then it would be easy. All you'd have to do is mount a new battery on the other side, solder the new battery's + tab into the unused hole, and then clip the old battery's + tab & remove it.

Unfortunately, Bongu didn't include a pic of the other side of the board, and I'm not at home right now to check it. So I can't tell if that's how it is. But the thickness of the ACE covers, and the fact that they are on both sides of the ACE's PCB, and the position of the empty + hole, all add up to at least a little hope that it may be that way.

Cheers

 

[dotbatman]

I can confirm that there is a second empty hole that could be used for the negative contact on the underside of the board.

 

[Anony55]

I can confirm that there is a second empty hole that could be used for the negative contact on the underside of the board.

Does it look like there's a "solder in" negative tab as well? Solder in would certainly make more sense than spring pressure for the nature of this application.

The problem I can see is battery availability. BR2335 batteries are available all over the web. But it looks to me like what we really need is a BR2335SM. The "non SM" is just a regular coin with no solder tabs. The SM version has a tab for both + & -. I'm having a hard time finding anyone selling the SM version.

Cheers

 

[brex2001]

Does it look like there's a "solder in" negative tab as well? Solder in would certainly make more sense than spring pressure for the nature of this application.

The problem I can see is battery availability. BR2335 batteries are available all over the web. But it looks to me like what we really need is a BR2335SM. The "non SM" is just a regular coin with no solder tabs. The SM version has a tab for both + & -. I'm having a hard time finding anyone selling the SM version.

Cheers

Thus far I had only found limited coin cells for this:
Panasonic - BR2330A/HD - Batteries - Battery - Allied Electronics
So I opted to go this route & leave the cover off:
Tadiran - TL-5101/P - Batteries - Battery - Allied Electronics

 

[Bongu]

That is the battery I recommend Brex. This type can be easily added in parallel multiple times with no real issues.

Would it be of any help to up a photo of the backside of the board?

Sent from my Timex Sinclair using SatelliteGuys

 

[brex2001]

Yes a photo of the backside of the board would help. However, my 4810 is packed away right now for my move.
I'll see what I can do for a few photos when I can get at it.