Neo Geo MV4FT2 Battery Mod and Cap Kit

New Battery

While I waited for the new capacitors to come in, I removed the battery and was happy to see that there was no leakage and therefore no damage to the board or traces in any way. The solder connections look a bit corroded, but they test perfectly and a little bit of new solder will fix that right up. One of the other things I noticed when taking apart this board is that it’s a model I hadn’t seen before: MV4FT2. I’m not sure if this is an early unit or not. 

One advantage I have on this specific model is that it has two sets of holes to connect a battery or battery holder. Since all of the coin cell battery holders I’ve found have a spacing of 20.5 mm for the connecting pins, I’ll be able to use the previously unused holes. Other 4 slot boards I’ve worked on only had one set of holes and when installing a coin cell battery holder, I had to bend the legs outward to fit. I decided to install the battery on the bottom of the board because it makes it so much easier to replace the battery without having to dismantle the shell and top board. Of course, this battery will likely be good for another decade so it’s not that big of a deal, but I figured why not.

New Capacitors

I didn’t even bother powering up this unit to see if new caps were needed; I just replaced them all as a matter of habit. If you have a 4 slot board and need the complete cap list, here it is:

Be very careful when pulling caps out of this board because if you’re not careful, you can pull the traces right out of the holes.