Sheesh! I rescued 5 NUCs. Four had bad batteries.
As they are annoyingly compact, I figured I'd look for
a teardown before I dug into them.

Sure 'nuff, you ave to take the entire device apart
to access the battery. Which is then TAPED to the
underside of the cooler.

OK, fine. It's not in a battery holder (to save space)
but, rather, on pigtails with a 2 pin connector.

"Intel does not provide battery replacements."

Understandable. You've got bigger issues to screw up!

"CR2032 batteries with a wire and Molex connector may
not be locally available. To find a replacement, search
the Internet for CR2032 with wire or CR2032 with Molex
connector and purchase through an online retailer."

Wow! How low they have fallen.

Of course, this sort of search criteria doesn't guarantee
anything other than "CR2032" and "connector". But, hey,
it's worth a try!

Batteries arrived (Amazon). Connectors are pinned exactly
backwards! Must be one of those AC/DC batteries that
automatically adjusts polarity based on need... yeah, right.

How many folks will gleefully plug in the connector (it is
keyed to mate only one way) and fail to observe the reversed
red/black leads?

(sigh) "Not my problem!"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:15:19 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

Sheesh! I rescued 5 NUCs. Four had bad batteries.
As they are annoyingly compact, I figured I'd look for
a teardown before I dug into them.

Sure 'nuff, you ave to take the entire device apart
to access the battery. Which is then TAPED to the
underside of the cooler.

OK, fine. It's not in a battery holder (to save space)
but, rather, on pigtails with a 2 pin connector.

"Intel does not provide battery replacements."

Understandable. You've got bigger issues to screw up!

"CR2032 batteries with a wire and Molex connector may
not be locally available. To find a replacement, search
the Internet for CR2032 with wire or CR2032 with Molex
connector and purchase through an online retailer."

Wow! How low they have fallen.

Of course, this sort of search criteria doesn't guarantee
anything other than "CR2032" and "connector". But, hey,
it's worth a try!

Batteries arrived (Amazon). Connectors are pinned exactly
backwards! Must be one of those AC/DC batteries that
automatically adjusts polarity based on need... yeah, right.

How many folks will gleefully plug in the connector (it is
keyed to mate only one way) and fail to observe the reversed
red/black leads?

(sigh) "Not my problem!"

Tektronix made a sampling plugin that used soldered-in coin cell
batteries to back-bias the sampling diodes. 7S14 maybe?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 23/04/2025 05:15, Don Y wrote:

Sheesh!  I rescued 5 NUCs.  Four had bad batteries.
As they are annoyingly compact, I figured I'd look for
a teardown before I dug into them.

Sure 'nuff, you ave to take the entire device apart
to access the battery.  Which is then TAPED to the
underside of the cooler.

OK, fine.  It's not in a battery holder (to save space)
but, rather, on pigtails with a 2 pin connector.

"Intel does not provide battery replacements."

Understandable.  You've got bigger issues to screw up!

"CR2032 batteries with a wire and Molex connector may
not be locally available.  To find a replacement, search
the Internet for CR2032 with wire or CR2032 with Molex
connector and purchase through an online retailer."

Wow!  How low they have fallen.

Of course, this sort of search criteria doesn't guarantee
anything other than "CR2032" and "connector".  But, hey,
it's worth a try!

Batteries arrived (Amazon).  Connectors are pinned exactly
backwards!  Must be one of those AC/DC batteries that
automatically adjusts polarity based on need...  yeah, right.

How many folks will gleefully plug in the connector (it is
keyed to mate only one way) and fail to observe the reversed
red/black leads?

(sigh)  "Not my problem!"

It is called built in obsolescence and user applies the coup de grace!
(unless they are particularly observant and spot the polarity)

Reassemble and it doesn't work at all. Buy new computer - Intel wins!

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what is when you
take it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside a copper pipe!

Autoconfig settings on boot up and an internet connection means that you
can set the time and date other ways today. The failed battery can
usually be ignored if you have an internet connection. You do need to
sync PDQ almost nothing else works if you claim to being in 1/1/1970.

--
Martin Brown

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 4/24/2025 2:06 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

It is called built in obsolescence and user applies the coup de grace! (unless they are particularly observant and spot the polarity)

Reassemble and it doesn't work at all. Buy new computer - Intel wins!

I was thinking of how they could have indicated the correct connector,
wire length (what if too short?) and polarity. I decided all they could
have done was assign an INTEL part number to an assembly -- that they
never actually SOLD! Then, People's Battery Factory #245 could just
claim "compatible with Intel XYZ".

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what is when you take
it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside a copper pipe!

Ah, but it is likely a SPECIAL kind of copper! <rolls eyes>

Autoconfig settings on boot up and an internet connection means that you can set the time and date other ways today. The failed battery can usually be ignored if you have an internet connection. You do need to sync PDQ almost nothing else works if you claim to being in 1/1/1970.

Apparently, the board settings are NOT stored in FLASH but, rather,
BBRAM. So, it doesn't even know HOW to boot without preserving
that information.

<shrug> Not the end of the world but a particular waste of time.
If I hadn't got the NUCs for free, I wouldn't have bothered:
"These are defective. I want a refund!"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 24/04/2025 11:29, Don Y wrote:

On 4/24/2025 2:06 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of

certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what
is when you take it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside a
copper pipe!

Ah, but it is likely a SPECIAL kind of copper!  <rolls eyes>

That is pure audiophile territory. All our loudspeaker wires have been
handmade by virgin mermaids in 100% oxygen free atmosphere.

Emperor's new clothes sales tactics are their speciality.

--
Martin Brown

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 4/24/2025 4:27 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

On 24/04/2025 11:29, Don Y wrote:

On 4/24/2025 2:06 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of

certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what is when
you take it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside a copper pipe! >>

Ah, but it is likely a SPECIAL kind of copper!  <rolls eyes>

That is pure audiophile territory. All our loudspeaker wires have been handmade
by virgin mermaids in 100% oxygen free atmosphere.

Yeah, but the REALLY good stuff is only made under s full moon -- between
the hours of 1:00AM and 3:00AM. Of course, the limited production times
mean it is much harder to come by. Only the finest of merchants are
allowed to carry /these/ products. And, of course, they charge a premium
for it!

Emperor's new clothes sales tactics are their speciality.

"Clothes? What clothes??"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 24/04/2025 9:27 pm, Martin Brown wrote:

On 24/04/2025 11:29, Don Y wrote:

On 4/24/2025 2:06 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of

certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what
is when you take it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside a
copper pipe!

Spare parts are always very expensive. What you are paying for is long
term storage in a place that has to hold lots of small numbers of a wide variety of parts organised in a way that let you find the right part fast.

In the bad old days supplying spare parts was seen as some kind of moral
duty, but when the accountants got involved they decided that they could
charge the earth for authentic parts, and it became just another profit
centre.

Ah, but it is likely a SPECIAL kind of copper!  <rolls eyes>

Probably not. It's just guaranteed to be a drop in fit that will work.

That is pure audiophile territory. All our loudspeaker wires have been handmade by virgin mermaids in 100% oxygen free atmosphere.

It isn't. Audiophile parts are touted as different and better. Spare
parts are just exactly the same as the original fitting, or at least
close enough to act the same way.

Emperor's new clothes sales tactics are their speciality.

Not when selling spare parts.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2025-04-24 18:07, Bill Sloman wrote:

On 24/04/2025 9:27 pm, Martin Brown wrote:

On 24/04/2025 11:29, Don Y wrote:

On 4/24/2025 2:06 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

Opposite polarity vastly overpriced batteries are a mainstay of

certain products. My oil tank gauge is a prime example. £40 for what
is when you take it apart nothing other than 3x AA Duracells inside
a copper pipe!

Spare parts are always very expensive. What you are paying for is long
term storage in a place that has to hold lots of small numbers of a wide variety of parts organised in a way that let you find the right part fast.

In the bad old days supplying spare parts was seen as some kind of moral duty, but when the accountants got involved they decided that they could charge the earth for authentic parts, and it became just another profit centre.

Interesting idea!

--
Cheers, Carlos.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)