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Hey everyone.

I have a game gear modded with a mcwill screen and i read rechargeable batteries work on the game gear. So i bought a pack of the Ikea LADDAs, that i believe are eneloop unbranded?

The batteries are on they are on their first full charge and i played with them for around 3h or 4h and the power led started blinking indicating low power (i think). After it started blinking i've used the game gear for at least another hour and it still has power to work.

Is this normal behavior because im using the rechargeable batteries? I tried measuring them with a multimeter and they are outputing around 1.2v each and a full charged one outputs 1.35v.

The blinking light doesnt bother me and if can still get a couple more hours after it starts blinking is fine by me. Im just worried it can damage the game gear in any way.

Another question i have is, i've seen some people changing the original screen and cutting the 34v cable, is there a specific reason for this?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

you mean the 2450 mAh Ikea LADDAs?
modern rechargeable batteries can likely last longer than the batteries we had back in the day...

sverx wrote

you mean the 2450 mAh Ikea LADDAs?
modern rechargeable batteries can likely last longer than the batteries we had back in the day...

Yes those batteries, and they do seem to last much longer, but i suspect that as they get depleted their voltage drops and maybe the game gear thinks the power is running low and blinks the power led.

Does this makes sense? I think it is what is happening.

lvl wrote

i suspect that as they get depleted their voltage drops and maybe the game gear thinks the power is running low and blinks the power led.

I think that's exactly what happens. the voltage drop in batteries means the juice is ending

You would have to look at the discharge curve for the batteries to know exactly what to expect.

In general plain old alkaline batteries i believe have a fairly linear voltage drop as they discharge. So the flatter they get the lower the voltage gets. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.5v but could be slightly higher.

Rechargable batteries on the other hand, and dependant on chemistry, tend to have a fairly constant voltage output untill close to the end of the discharge cycle and then the voltage rapidly drops. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.2v but could also be a little higher for nicad of nimh. Lithium cells are normaly 3.7v

As its likely designed with alkaline batteries in mind.. the voltage when the power led starts to blink might indicate flat alkalines, but not so much with rechargable batteries given their lower voltage.

wasup wrote

You would have to look at the discharge curve for the batteries to know exactly what to expect.

In general plain old alkaline batteries i believe have a fairly linear voltage drop as they discharge. So the flatter they get the lower the voltage gets. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.5v but could be slightly higher.

Rechargable batteries on the other hand, and dependant on chemistry, tend to have a fairly constant voltage output untill close to the end of the discharge cycle and then the voltage rapidly drops. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.2v but could also be a little higher for nicad of nimh. Lithium cells are normaly 3.7v

As its likely designed with alkaline batteries in mind.. the voltage when the power led starts to blink might indicate flat alkalines, but not so much with rechargable batteries given their lower voltage.

After i read this, i did some snooping on the alkaline batteries i usually use and new they have 1.6v and when they are mostly spent they drop to around 1.3 something volts and the game gear blinks.
These LADDAS i have, are around 1.36 fully charged and now used are around 1.3v but with plenty of juice on them it seems.

This means the game gear starts blinking at around 1.3 something volts. This is not a problem, i was just worried my game gear had a problem or i could harm it with the rechargeable batteries. I use to get around 5 something hours with normal batteries, i am now on 7h with the LADDAS and it seems they will last even longer. The only thing i will have to do is to take note how much they last after the game gear blinks so it doesnt shutdown mid game.

The 6x1.3V is giving the GG 7.8V from which to derive 5V - this is clearly not a big deal. The flashing light is trying to warn you about the imminent death of alkalines but it’s not much use here. I think the original GG Ni-Cad battery pack only gave 7.2V, but the system was happy to have that via the power jack.

On my GG with LED backlight and improved powerboard, it'll still go for several hours once it reaches the blinky LED stage, and that's just with standard Alkalines.

The Kentli Li-Ion batteries seem to output closer to 1.5 V which keeps the power LED steady longer in my experience

Author	Message
lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	Game Gear on rechargeable batteries Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:41 pm
lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	Hey everyone. I have a game gear modded with a mcwill screen and i read rechargeable batteries work on the game gear. So i bought a pack of the Ikea LADDAs, that i believe are eneloop unbranded? The batteries are on they are on their first full charge and i played with them for around 3h or 4h and the power led started blinking indicating low power (i think). After it started blinking i've used the game gear for at least another hour and it still has power to work. Is this normal behavior because im using the rechargeable batteries? I tried measuring them with a multimeter and they are outputing around 1.2v each and a full charged one outputs 1.35v. The blinking light doesnt bother me and if can still get a couple more hours after it starts blinking is fine by me. Im just worried it can damage the game gear in any way. Another question i have is, i've seen some people changing the original screen and cutting the 34v cable, is there a specific reason for this? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3801 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 2:11 pm
	you mean the 2450 mAh Ikea LADDAs? modern rechargeable batteries can likely last longer than the batteries we had back in the day...

lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 5:10 pm
lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	sverx wrote you mean the 2450 mAh Ikea LADDAs? modern rechargeable batteries can likely last longer than the batteries we had back in the day... Yes those batteries, and they do seem to last much longer, but i suspect that as they get depleted their voltage drops and maybe the game gear thinks the power is running low and blinks the power led. Does this makes sense? I think it is what is happening.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3801 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 5:16 pm
	lvl wrote i suspect that as they get depleted their voltage drops and maybe the game gear thinks the power is running low and blinks the power led. I think that's exactly what happens. the voltage drop in batteries means the juice is ending

wasup Joined: 05 Nov 2014 Posts: 435 Location: Auckland - NZ	Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:27 am
	You would have to look at the discharge curve for the batteries to know exactly what to expect. In general plain old alkaline batteries i believe have a fairly linear voltage drop as they discharge. So the flatter they get the lower the voltage gets. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.5v but could be slightly higher. Rechargable batteries on the other hand, and dependant on chemistry, tend to have a fairly constant voltage output untill close to the end of the discharge cycle and then the voltage rapidly drops. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.2v but could also be a little higher for nicad of nimh. Lithium cells are normaly 3.7v As its likely designed with alkaline batteries in mind.. the voltage when the power led starts to blink might indicate flat alkalines, but not so much with rechargable batteries given their lower voltage.

lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 4:36 pm
lvl Joined: 29 Jul 2021 Posts: 6 Location: Portugal	wasup wrote You would have to look at the discharge curve for the batteries to know exactly what to expect. In general plain old alkaline batteries i believe have a fairly linear voltage drop as they discharge. So the flatter they get the lower the voltage gets. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.5v but could be slightly higher. Rechargable batteries on the other hand, and dependant on chemistry, tend to have a fairly constant voltage output untill close to the end of the discharge cycle and then the voltage rapidly drops. A fully charged voltage is nominal 1.2v but could also be a little higher for nicad of nimh. Lithium cells are normaly 3.7v As its likely designed with alkaline batteries in mind.. the voltage when the power led starts to blink might indicate flat alkalines, but not so much with rechargable batteries given their lower voltage. After i read this, i did some snooping on the alkaline batteries i usually use and new they have 1.6v and when they are mostly spent they drop to around 1.3 something volts and the game gear blinks. These LADDAS i have, are around 1.36 fully charged and now used are around 1.3v but with plenty of juice on them it seems. This means the game gear starts blinking at around 1.3 something volts. This is not a problem, i was just worried my game gear had a problem or i could harm it with the rechargeable batteries. I use to get around 5 something hours with normal batteries, i am now on 7h with the LADDAS and it seems they will last even longer. The only thing i will have to do is to take note how much they last after the game gear blinks so it doesnt shutdown mid game.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14727 Location: London	Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 6:44 pm
	The 6x1.3V is giving the GG 7.8V from which to derive 5V - this is clearly not a big deal. The flashing light is trying to warn you about the imminent death of alkalines but it’s not much use here. I think the original GG Ni-Cad battery pack only gave 7.2V, but the system was happy to have that via the power jack.

thatawesomeguy Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 729 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 2:50 am
	On my GG with LED backlight and improved powerboard, it'll still go for several hours once it reaches the blinky LED stage, and that's just with standard Alkalines.

bsittler Joined: 22 Apr 2018 Posts: 530	Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:19 am
bsittler Joined: 22 Apr 2018 Posts: 530	The Kentli Li-Ion batteries seem to output closer to 1.5 V which keeps the power LED steady longer in my experience

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