Soldered Coin Batteries...Why?

upstatemike

Senior Member
I need to replace a battery on my Panasonic voicemail system because it will no longer keep accurate time. I opened it up to see what kind it takes only to find a 3V lithium battery that is actually soldered onto the circuit board. While I was down there I decided to check the battery in my Stargate and found it too has a 3V lithium battery soldered in. So what is the thinking behind soldering batteries? Certainly nobody thought a battery was going to last through the entire lifecycle of the product? These devices have at least another decade in them so how the heck are you supposed to maintain the things without risking damage to them? I just don't understand the logic behind a design like this.
 
I participate in a number of 'retro-computing' groups and you'd be appalled at the damage inflicted from batteries that have been left to rot in old gear.  Followed closely by failed capacitors.  It's almost PTSD-inducing watching newbies try to resurrect models of gear I've long since thrown away. 

What's worse than the electronics failing?  How about the CASE PLASTICS.  Yep, some old gear (especially Apple's desktop lines) are old enough know that the plastics are no longer flexible enough to be handled.  The trend away from metal boxes to plastic cases with an endless amount of hidden plastic catches is presenting a lot of hassles now.  You can't get the cases open without breakage.  And I'm not talking just the D-shaped clip parts or tabs... those were always tricky.  But now the larger case parts themselves fail when you attempt disassembly.

I suspect there's a combination of planned obsolescence and projected failure rates of the system as a whole.  They kind of knew it would only last X-number-of-years so it was kind of pointless to spend the extra $5 to have a removable battery.
 
wkearney99 said:
I participate in a number of 'retro-computing' groups and you'd be appalled at the damage inflicted from batteries that have been left to rot in old gear.  Followed closely by failed capacitors.  It's almost PTSD-inducing watching newbies try to resurrect models of gear I've long since thrown away. 

 
 I imagine all the dead computers due to leaking batteries has a lot to do with the insane prices some of them sell for now, I collect old 68K computers and the prices are insane for some of them now, I have old  Amiga, Atari, Mac and NeXT computers myself.  I see that there have been quite a few replacement motherboards made lately for old Amigas. 
 
People have been killed overheating Litihum batteries. They are dangerous even if just overcharged. Amazon has had class action suits, and may be still involved in one right now, for selling the 18650 lithium cells. Amazon claims distancing and claims ignorance of  KYC rules in this matter.
 
Lithium cells without internal protections usually have spot welded flat leads on them. I would be very concerned  sticking a soldering iron on one.
 
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