Originally posted by Steve Guttag
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Ambiguities of how the circuit board works aside, I don't think connecting a temporary battery would be too difficult for a proficient technician to do. Then the old battery could be removed and a new one swapped in.
Just from the pictures, it looks like the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the circuit trace that leads to R581 which, I assume, leads to the backup power terminal of U47. (*) I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be possible to use a hot air soldering station to tack a wire onto the solder bead on that resistor. I can't tell where the negative terminal leads to but it's got to go somewhere that a wire can be tacked onto. It would be great if you could find a via-hole, somewhere, to use.
Once that is done...assuming all the foregoing is true...it would be a simple matter to clip out the old battery, clean up the pads and/or through holes and solder in a new one.
If you made sure to wear an ESD smock with grounding straps and used an ESD-safe soldering station, I don't see why this couldn't be done.
I think of it this way. If the device is 100% certain to fail when the battery goes bad, even if you have a 50/50 shot at preventing it, you're still ahead of the game. If you are going to have to spend $4,000 when it fails, successfully replacing the battery saves you money. Messing up the repair doesn't cost you any more money than you would have had to spend in the first place.
The only difference is that you get to decide when to make that expense instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
In my opinion, we can do some more research to find out how this repair can be done, if it can be done, then come up with a plan of attack and do it. Have a backup plan in case the experiment fails then give it a shot.
I see this as a situation where there is little to lose and a lot to gain if only the right people could apply the right combination of brainpower, skill and work.
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(*) I'm sorry. I know it's obtuse but I can never see the name "U47" without being reminded of Frank Zappa. "It looks just like a Telefunken U47!"
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