IGT I - GAME PLUS LOW BATTERY

[Dave]

Does anyone have the procedure for correcting a "Low Battery" message. I was told that the best way to prevent the battery from running down was to leave the machine on "always" which is not what I want to do. I had a power supply catch fire once and it was a good thing I caught it before the building went up. I need a procedure for changing the battery on a IGT I Game Plus (Texas Tea) machine without loosing the programing. What do I do if I do loose the progaming? How do I go about changing out the battery and bring the game back up?

[Tilt]

Dave,

To replace the battery you'll need to remove the MPU board from the tray and desolder the existing battery.  Unfortunately you'll lose all your programming when you change it, but I find that I-game default settings are fine when setting it back up.  There are a few options that may require a keychip to change if you don't like the default ones.  You can get one of those from one of the vendors at the top of the page. 

You may want to consider installing a battery holder on the board while you have it apart, then the next time you need to change the battery you won't have to do any soldering on the board.  Here's a photo of one of mine.  I got the parts from mouser electronics.  The holder is part number 534-1027, and the battery is 658-CR2354  Both were $1.67 the last time I ordered them.  The battery has close to twice the maH capacity as the original so I expect it will last a very long time before needing replacement (even with the machine off most of the time).  Good luck.