Tennokoe Bank - Does anyone do refurbishings?

[Trenton_net]

Hey Gang,

Does anyone know of someone who does refurbishing for Tennokoke Bank cards? Ie. Replacing batteries, or socketing them so you can just replace them yourself whenever you need?

[dshadoff]

I don't know about people performing this as a service, but it's easy enough to do... sort of.
I thought I had put together a webpage years ago, but I can't seem to find it so I guess I never did.

Anyway, the front plastic 'bulge' of the Ten no Koe Bank is just held on with double-sided sticky tape of some kind.  And this is the most perilous part - because I couldn't find similar sticky tape, so I couldn't get the lid to fit back on perfectly (but it was good enough for me).

The battery inside is a CR2016, but at the time I could only find a CR2032.  Electrically, it's the same (higher-capacity actually), but it's a bit thicker, and may have had something to do with the plastic front not being as flush as before.

The battery is soldered (or was it spot-welded ?) onto a couple of contacts which connect to the board; this is also a bit of a tricky spot, since you would need to solder the battery in, and this type of battery isn't supposed to be exposed to that kind of heat.  Mine didn't explode, but I was paranoid about how long the battery was exposed to the heat.  If you can find an ultra-low-profile socket, more power to you.  They're likely easier to find today than when I did my Ten no Koe surgery.

Once the battery is connected up again, put the plastic cover back on with new double-sided sticky tape.  Probably somebody around here could put together a nice tutorial...

[Trenton_net]

Maybe there is a way to make a custom case for open cards or something. How hard would it be to install a battery holder you think? I don't have any soldering skills or proper equipment so hopefully someone else has more to say on the matter.

[dshadoff]

A battery holder would be pretty easy, but the result would depend on the size and shape of it.

But I don't really think that a battery holder is particularly necessary - the CR2016 battery is good for something like 5-10 years in the Ten No Koe Bank.

[ClodBuster]

Now if there could be somehow  flash memory modded into the card, that would be amaaaazing!

[Ayce]

I like that idea.

[Trenton_net]

I am assuming it isn't already public, but once the API is released for the Turbo Everdrive then no doubt there will be save backup software written for it.

[escarioth]

thanks for the advices i have 2 banks that does not work here and i was looking about the problems.