crisp condor
Hello! I've recently ran into the issue of my childhood GBASPA not taking a charge! I've bought a new battery and it's worked till it ran out of juice, MIND YOU before I changed the battery (og) it'd light up but now it wont! i was thinking maybe it was an EM(num) issue but I'm new to soldering [as in i JUST bought a kit to fix it] but I don't have a digital multimeter because I it'd be an easy fix but now im doubting myself! anyone able to give me a hand?
inner saddleBOT
Hello! I've recently ran into the issue of my childhood GBASPA not taking a char...
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marble island
Heyo 👋
Yeah the EM issue is quite common
Can you test it with a multimeter ?
crisp condor
stated in the msg before- no i do not have one
marble island
my bad
crisp condor
im guessing i need one 😭 i was just trying to not waste materials but since wiki says i need to and you suggesting it i might have to buy one 
I just wanted to see if it was possible without one
marble island
You can install the motherboard in the back of the shell (remove the screen for ease of use) and have the battery installed
From there you can gently push on the EM filter and see if the light comes up
crisp condor
can you put a red circle where the em filter is?
marble island
The SP is a bit flawed : it doesn't support the charging port well enough, or should have it separated from the main board
Because of it, the charging port carries a bit of flex to the board when the plug is pushed around
That can result in having a cracked solder join around the charge port
This is more common on bigger components such as the EM filter
marble island
can you put a red circle where the em filter is?
It's under the ribbon
crisp condor
It's under the ribbon
This?
marble island
Yes - use something non conductive just in case
crisp condor
I see I see okay
like a swab I guess? since it's Cotton and wood
marble island
My go to is : chopsticks but yes that will probably do
crisp condor
gotcha!!! okay
marble island
I forgot to ask : are you able to charge the old battery still ?
crisp condor
Rookie mistake here; I tossed it :(
marble island
All right
Can you show me your new battery fitting ?
Note : don't toss old batteries - recycle it !
It can cause fires when handled in common trash
crisp condor
I’m in voice channel if you want to talk without the timer; I can show you me working on it live too
marble island
Fitting in the shell*
Also this is not a well regarded battery
For one thing : they're lying about the capacity
Can't voice chat at the moment but I can listen
crisp condor
Okok gotcha
marble island
Yes, with motherboard
Yeah gameboys are built like tanks : made to survive kids hands
I'm trying to see if the metal prongs are aligned with the contacts and touch properly
Dots : no water damage
Water disolves the dots and the whole paper gets colored
Looks all right - screw the battery door so it doesn't move
Let's move to the EM test
2 ! You can set 1 aside
No need to screw the motherboard
Also the motherboard screws on the other part
You can't screw on this side 😄
You can also just hold the battery
Careful not losing the square nut that is inside the shell
So from there, just plug the motherboard as if you were to charge it, and push gently on EM8
No need to turn it on
Do you get a charge light if you flex the charge port up and down ?
Yes that's the EM8
Correct
Yep no dice
No, you need a multimeter to move from there
EM8 is probably fine
That should be doable but without a multimeter you're flying blind
I could point you to touching up some things but I don't know about your soldering skills so I don't want to add variables
Where ?
Unplug it and show me
I can't see it but is it on the board or on the part ?
I zoomed on your pictures
Just a bit on the volume switch shield - that's nothing
As for the triggers, that may just be old dry flux ?
All right well don't lose anything now, put everything in a ziplock bag 🙂
Ping later when you have a multimeter
It's a good thing to own anyway 🙂
Reading/testing currents from wall and chargers
Continuity testing
Resistance testing
Say you have a device acting up, you can check if it's getting proper power
Or if a cable is broken (continuity)
Don't fiddle around with wall power if you're not used to it, but devices should be fine
If you don't have any other questions I'll get going, it's late over here in baguetteland 🙂
crisp condor
Gotchaaaa! Okay!! Have a good night!!
