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AST Bravo 4/33 - Motherboard battery

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First post, by dw_tk

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Hi all,

First time poster, so hopefully I get things right around here 😀

I have got myself a vintage PC project that I've picked up - an AST Bravo 4/33. The machine powers up, yet every time I boot up the BIOS corrupts itself. I've found where the battery compartment is, and found that it has no battery - I think it's safe to assume this is part of the problem.

I got myself a CR2032 because these I thought were the most common battery type, however when trying to install it it's a little large so it won't work. I've tried googling to find out what sort of battery the board takes with no luck. So having stumbled across this board a few times in my travels, I thought I'd try and find out if somebody is familiar enough with the machine to know what battery it takes?

Reply 1 of 7, by derSammler

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Show a picture of the battery mounting. Most likely there belongs a 3.6v NiCd battery, not a coin cell.

Reply 2 of 7, by dw_tk

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That's a point 😀

I've attached an image of the battery compartment, with the CR2032 next to it as a reference/

Reply 3 of 7, by derSammler

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Now that is tiny. Looks like a CR1025 would go there to me.

Reply 4 of 7, by dw_tk

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Thanks for that - that should hopefully give me something to work with,

Reply 5 of 7, by timb.us

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dw_tk wrote:

Thanks for that - that should hopefully give me something to work with,

Just as an FYI, it’s easy to find out what fits if you’ve got a little mm or cm ruler. These types of coin cell battery part numbers are easy to decode:

CRXXYy

CR = Primary Lithium - 3V; LIR = Secondary (Rechargeable) Lithium - 3.7V
XX = Width In Millimeters
Yy = Thickness in Millimeters (Y.y mm)

So, a CR2032 is a non-rechargeable 3V Lithium cell that’s 20mm wide and 3.2mm thick; a CR1025 is 10mm across and 2.5mm thick, etc.

So, if you can measure the holder or opening, you can find out what fits! (The thickness doesn’t matter quite as much as the width on spring contact type holders, in which case you can normally get away with a thinner/thicker, lower/higher mAH cell in a pinch; the “push in” type holders are much less accommodating however.)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (E.g., Cheez Whiz, RF, Hot Dogs)

Reply 6 of 7, by SSTV2

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timb.us wrote:
Just as an FYI, it’s easy to find out what fits if you’ve got a little mm or cm ruler. These types of coin cell battery part num […]
Show full quote
dw_tk wrote:

Thanks for that - that should hopefully give me something to work with,

Just as an FYI, it’s easy to find out what fits if you’ve got a little mm or cm ruler. These types of coin cell battery part numbers are easy to decode:

CRXXYy

CR = Primary Lithium - 3V; LIR = Secondary (Rechargeable) Lithium - 3.7V
XX = Width In Millimeters
Yy = Thickness in Millimeters (Y.y mm)

So, a CR2032 is a non-rechargeable 3V Lithium cell that’s 20mm wide and 3.2mm thick; a CR1025 is 10mm across and 2.5mm thick, etc.

So, if you can measure the holder or opening, you can find out what fits! (The thickness doesn’t matter quite as much as the width on spring contact type holders, in which case you can normally get away with a thinner/thicker, lower/higher mAH cell in a pinch; the “push in” type holders are much less accommodating however.)

Exactly.

I've discovered this button cell marking scheme when I tried to figure out what goes into my 486 AST MB.

Reply 7 of 7, by dw_tk

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timb.us wrote:
Just as an FYI, it’s easy to find out what fits if you’ve got a little mm or cm ruler. These types of coin cell battery part num […]
Show full quote
dw_tk wrote:

Thanks for that - that should hopefully give me something to work with,

Just as an FYI, it’s easy to find out what fits if you’ve got a little mm or cm ruler. These types of coin cell battery part numbers are easy to decode:

CRXXYy

CR = Primary Lithium - 3V; LIR = Secondary (Rechargeable) Lithium - 3.7V
XX = Width In Millimeters
Yy = Thickness in Millimeters (Y.y mm)

Thanks for that 😀 That's something I didn't know - so have learnt something new, which is always a good thing.

I'll put this here though just in case anything else needs the info and doesn't have a ruler to hand - I've put in a CR1220 and so far it seems to be doing the trick.

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