12 Error keeps coming back on S+

[smartin53]

Yep another question...technical this time.

I got another MPU board for cheap so that I would not have to screw with the perfectly good board it came with. The intent was to install other games as wanted. In this case the board was empty and I installed the Triple Double Diamond chips (SS7693 and SP731). Oddly the bill validator also works fine with the new board without any changes. The battery on the second board was dead as expected (error 12 etc) so I swapped it and it worked for a moment...and then the 12 error comes back. Sometimes I can use the reset key to eventually get to a 61 error and then to a 61-1 but after closing and a few plays it flips to the 12 error again even though the battery is fine. Any thoughts as to what is going on?  I want to avoid using the clear chips until a last resort unless this is the exact thing I need to do.

[cowboygames]

Bad solder joint on the battery maybe? Polarity correct? Where you never saw it work there's not telling if maybe it came with that issue. Also, a new battery, even though it measures the correct voltage, if it's old it may still be bad

[smartin53]

Yea all is good with the battery. Those were the first things I checked. This could very well be the reason the board was sold for cheap but this also isn't the first time I've picked something up that also had an easy fix.

[Badbaud]

I have received boards in for repair with batteries...
that had connected the leads (of the previous batteries terminals) onto the new battery with airplane glue, or duct tape, or a rubber band, or hot glue.
Please tell me you soldered the new battery onto the board and did not use any of the above methods.
Another mistake is to solder the body of the new battery, which has no leads, onto the terminals that were on the removed battery.
A battery with no leads is made of a casing made with stainless steel.
Solder will not stick on it. It will blob and rest against the stainless steel but the connection will degrade.

[smartin53]

I have received boards in for repair with batteries...
that had connected the leads (of the previous batteries terminals) onto the new battery with airplane glue, or duct tape, or a rubber band, or hot glue.
Please tell me you soldered the new battery onto the board and did not use any of the above methods.
Another mistake is to solder the body of the new battery, which has no leads, onto the terminals that were on the removed battery.
A battery with no leads is made of a casing made with stainless steel.
Solder will not stick on it. It will blob and rest against the stainless steel but the connection will degrade.

No, it is solidly connected via solder don't worry.

[Badbaud]

Then best case remove the RAM chip and plug it back in. Worst case it could be a component on the board such as U65, the LM3302 that monitors the battery, or really worse case it could be a defective EEPROM on the back plane board.
Have you tried running the clear chip on the board, maybe there is garbage in your RAM or EEPROM.

[cowboygames]

I guess my suggestion would be to try a new battery and make sure it's fresh. You might even remove the battery you have, clean the solder pads really good and reinstall it. Make sure you are using a good solder. I prefer 60/40 rosin core

[smartin53]

All good suggestions. I'll give em a go. Thanks.

[smartin53]

Meant to make a follow up sooner.

I have to give cowboygames credit here. It looks like your suggestion was correct. I got one of those removable battery conversions one can find online and after installing that along with the new battery it came with the board works fine. I should try the battery that was giving me issues in the new setup just to be sure but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's quite possible my temp setup was just making bad connections though I lean towards the replacement battery being bad. It's a real possibility it sat on the store shelf at microcenter for too long.

[Stayouttadabunker]

cowboy is one smart cookie! Lol
Glad you got it going!