CMOS battery hack | Laptop CMOS battery 

Must make sure that you're replacing the CMOS battery with the same type of battery. Some use non-rechargeable ones like the CR2032 shown in this video. Others use rechargeable ones like ML1220. You risk damaging either your laptop CMOS charging circuit or causing the replacement battery to leak/explode inside your laptop if you use a non-rechargeable in place of a rechargable battery.

Thanks for making this video. You saved me probably $30. I had 3 Intel NUCs that all needed the battery replaced. Luckily the existing batteries had flat metal connectors on the ends of the wires that I was able to pull of the batteries and use to connect to the new batteries. Also, luckily, I already had some aluminum metal tape that would normally be used for sealing duct work (not duct tape, the metal kind). It worked great. I didn't have any heat shrink. I just wrapped it in electrical tape. Hopefully, it doesn't melt and make a mess for the next time I need to replace the batteries. Other than that, was glad I was able to immediately replace the batteries and save some money. Thanks for taking the time to make this video. It was very useful. Also, people were complaining the ones I was going to buy on Amazon sometimes had the wires backwards. I would rather make my own and make sure they are wired correctly. Pretty pathetic quality control that a company would let that happen.

Brilliant tutorial. I successfully replaced the CMOS battery in my HP Pavillion DV2 laptop today following your guide. I think the plastic shrink stuff that I ordered may have been a bit too wide as it didn't shrink wrap like yours did but it still did a good job and the laptop is now happily using the CMOS battery hack.

I was thinkin why not soldering a battery? What could go wrong?...but no more. Thanks

Just what I was looking for!! Was about to solder too. Mine had a contact attached to the wires already so I made it flat as possible and wrapped the electrical tape tightly around it and seems to be doing the job. I swapped out the original 1620N battery with a 2032. Same voltage, etc just 3 times more MAH. Thanks for posting

I can't walk away without echoing the sentiment that this is a flawless instructional video. Thanks for making this.

This is probably the best instructional video on RU-vid: concise, informative, easy.

it's currently September 2018. I just discovered I had an old ThinkPad (not Lenovo, IBM!) T30 in storage. with mildew growing on the case because of moisture. I plug it and it boots up to windows XP! well after it gave me the error prompt that date is set incorrectly. opening it up, the CMOS battery is just like what you have in yellow shrink tubing. searched eBay found some but shipping will cost me a lot (I live in the Philippines). found this video and it's EXACTLY what I need to do! Thanks so much from the Philippines!

That brought back a memory! When I was about 12 (30 years ago, lol) I briefly connected a button battery to a 6V dc power supply to try and recharge it, and it exploded. I was lucky like you, nothing went near my eyes.

You can remove the wires from the original cmos battery and keep the connector intact. Use the conductive tape and the heat shrink to connect the wire to the new battery and viola, a new cmos battery ready to install.

Dude! I was just about to solder the leads on!!! You saved my butt!!!

I actually tried to solder the wires to the battery before I saw your video! Lucky there was no explosion, but the battery did get very hot! Thanks for the tutorial, this way is MUCH better and easier :)

I'm glad i found your video i did this This evening to get my 8 year old Asus G51jx back to life. Quicker and i didn't have to wait for one to ship.

Thank you for this video. Seven years later I still found it useful for my Intel Nuc DN2820FYKH computer that had a pigtail on the CMOS battery. Transplanted it to a new battery with some tape and it is up and running again.

Thanks for the Info, you just saved me from exploding a coin battery

Believe it or not hockey tape works even better for this hack than insulation tape. When it dries from the heat generated inside the laptop - it tightens. Insulation tape does the opposite actually. It tends to expand and the glue sloughs off in a huge mess. With hockey tape you don't even need to use heat shrink pocket.

Thank you so much for taking all the time and trouble to get resolve this issue....

Also wanted to mention that the original leads are NOT soldered onto the battery in the conventional sense...they are attached with specialized equipment similar to a mini spot-welder.

Is it absolutely necessary to use the conductive tape to get the least impedance or would flattening and spreading the wire leads a bit and then using the electrical tape wound tightly be sufficient? I don’t have any conductive tape. What about an aluminum foil tab (no adhesive) then electrical tape?

Thank you, my husband messed up my laptop cmos batt tried harder to solder the new one😀, since my laptop is old no cmos batt available anymore..so here's the video that would help.

9 years old still helping them thanks you Sir

Good job. I Actually soldered mine without any explosion but have to do it again because the battery is old, only next time I will try your method.

Great tip. That exploding battery was dramatic - an effective warning!

thanks for the tip, 7 years later and it's still relevant. what would you recommend using as a sticky pad to adhere it to its oem location?

Wish I'd seen this video before I soldered the terminals on my CR2032. I guess I was very lucky because I used a low power soldering iron and very little. solder. Thank you for posting this!

+yahye abdulaahe It's the same as the CMOS battery. RTC= real time clock

Thanks for the hack. Helped me a lot. I used to solder it a lot with 25W soldering iron and 22 gauge solder reel.

Thanks for the video, do you use a "conductive tape" to connect the cables to the battery right?

Ah, conductive tape . . . Well, I'm just now seeing this video, and I used electrical tape exclusively, but thankfully it still worked. I guess, as long as you do it in a way where each wire remains exclusively touching on one side of the "coin" (without those wires ever touching each other), you'll get by. Apparently, this CR3025W, is simply a CR3025 with a wire and connector attached to it. I had to replace one of these in an Intel NUC. I'll buy some conductive tape for the next time. Thanks.

Was wondering how to go about doing this - and you've shown me. Thanks.

OMG, that was short doing a big mistake! I'm just changing the battery and heating up my soldering station for soldering the battery. Thank you for saving me! It is an old Thinkpad 600e I'm changing the battery. Thanx for the video! Good job! Lupo

Also worth a mention, instead of the tape you can use electrically conductive wire glue.

I simply peeled the tabs off the dead battery, taped them to the new battery with conductive tape, wrapped in electrician's tape and good to go. Thanks for the Tut & yeah people, NO SOLDERING ON BATTERIES!

Thank you for your great video Some one gave me 12 years old but mint condition labtop It needed to replaced cmos battery I have no idea until found this clip, Thank a lot 😊😊

Hi, thanks for the great simple procedure. I was really thinking about soldering wire onto the CMOS battery!

It seems like history is repeating itself. Both of these ideas crossed my mind: soldering the wires onto the battery directly, or wrapping the wires in place with insulation tape and then adding a heat shrink for good measure. The latter seemed most convenient as I don't like to solder. But wow! Good thing I found your video and saw what can happen if you try to solder onto a battery. So not only is taping it together more convenient, it's also the secure way to do it. Short of only doing it professionally with a spot welder, like they do in the factory. But why use a copper tape I wonder? I have never used one before. Is the adhesive conductive on this type of tape? I could not find a definitive answer to this fairly simple question from local suppliers. Apparently, people that buy copper tape are mainly concerned with snail invasion, so it's sold as a pesticide. They don't really care if it's conductive or not, as long as it keeps the snails away from their plants. LOL! I had a good laugh at this! :) It's the first time I hear about this. I learned something new about snails in my search for conductive tape. So they know that it works for snails, but they can't tell if only the top side of the tape is conductive or if both top and bottom side are conductive. I know there are such things as conductive adhesives or glues. But since a single roll costs about 9€ (about 8£) and I didn't know if it would work, I decided to get it elsewhere (or not at all). I think I will order online, along with the appropriately sized heat shrink tubes. The CR2032 is 20 mm in diameter and the biggest heat shrink tube I have is 19 mm wide and it won't go on even if I push it. So I will get the right size and some copper tape (to satisfy my curiosity about conductivity). I might as well skip the copper tape. I have preserved the battery terminals by prying them up and then flattening them out with pliers. I found a guy from Latin America (Argentina) did the same, and then he rolled them up a little bit like hooks, and then just taped them to the battery. That way you get more volume to press against the battery as you wrap the tape around! Clever! He also added a small piece of tape in between the wires to prevent shorts. You can see his video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-svtG4ypcKQA.html It's hard to believe that people are still changing their CMOS batteries this way. It's a good thing that we still can change the batteries on electronic devices. I'm currently doing some work on a 22 years old Fujitsu Siemens laptop for an acquaintance of mine, and I measured the battery voltage to 0.43 V. It's no wonder both BIOS and Windows were complaining about wrong date and time. I have a handful of these CR2032 and a mix of other button cell batteries, brand new and recently purchased. I just had to improvise to get one in. I have not worked on a laptop before that didn't have a CR2032 socket. It must be the very old ones that didn't have a socket for a CMOS battery. In any case, thanks for the video!

Excellent video! I need two of these to be connected in series, for my Pismo G3 Powerbook that i'm trying to revive. Could you please make a video on how that's done?

Wish I had these tools, maybe one day. For now I'll wait on shipping. Thank you for this cool video

Thanks man for preventing me from trying to solder onto the battery... I was already preparing. ;)

Wow I literally just asked about this in the previous video and you’re the next one thanks!

My Dumbass was going to solder the wires on until i saw your video, Thanks.

Good solution if you have all the things required. Else it's much cheaper to buy the full thing. Thanks for the video.

Very useful no-nonsense instructional video. Can I use insulation tape instead of conductive tape?

Lmao that battery blowing up made me jump,I wasn't expecting that,thanks for your help pal, good video.

The best tutorial on youtube. Thanks man!

This is very useful info for me as my PS2's CMOS battery is suspected dead!

Must I use the 2 different types of tape or can I just use electrical tape for both tape types?

guys i need help!! whats the name of that little plug i have to buy one because the little wires that are atached to it are removed

Best method is to spot weld, like they do on these from the beginning. It's possible normally to just rip off the old weld without rupturing the nickel strip. Just be careful to not short the battery, like you did when you tried to weld it. Using a little bit of electric insulating tape is all needed.

Thanks, needed the advice. Fixing a friends laptop and keep killing the button batteries (don't know where to get the one I need, but have cr2032's aplenty and keep killing them trying to solder leads on). This will work wonderfully. I don't know why I didn't think of this.

You are simply awesome, really appreciate your instructions here. You are a saviour

Thanks Handyman, gonna give you a shout out when I do this hack for my laptop!

would the isolationTape/electrical Tape do the same as the shrinking sleeve or what is this sleeve for? ty in advance

Nearly a decade later, this video was helpful for me: Lenovo wants nearly $30 for a replacement. $3 and using the heat shrink I already had in my stockpile (and electrical tape), I was back in business in the same day.

Video of excellent quality, congratulations. I took a lot and will try to make the adjustment.

Can't believe they are selling just soldered CR2032 for $10. Thanks for the video!

saved me a lot of time ordering that crappy cmos battery, thanks Ultimate Handyman!

thanks for this its gonna save me a lot of time and money

Thanks for the demo Chez - I wondered how you did it on your last video.

Thanks. Websites seem to be charging ridiculous prices for these RTC batteries, all because they have a proprietary connector.

Good tip, man. I'll get some shrink wrap or something to get it nice and snug back in there again.

I didn't know laptops had batteries in them like that! Thanks for sharing Chez!

Thank you for this video! What size heat shrink tubing should I get? 20mm? 25mm?

You were just The guy I'm looking for. I have plenty of 2032 but a dead cmos... And now I don't even have to sotter it 🤣 Really useful video I really appreciate you mate

Tnx it worked great with just batery and isolating tape

Great Video. Should copper tape be double sided? How thick? 1.0, 1.4, 3 mil 5 mil 10 mil? Can we get links to the copper and insulated tapes you used in the video?

OMG i can't believe someone has posted this kind of video..you made my day ty SIRRRR @!@!@!@!@

hey, thanks for the tip. can you tell me what kind of tape that you use to stick the cable? thankyou :)

That's great. Thanks for showing this easy method. You really Saved me from explosion of soldering CMOS battery. 💥 Boom

CMOS battery is the one for resetting your clock time and zone?

what about a rechargable PRAM battery backup, is it working with CR2032 cells as well ?

Great tip! I'm wondering whether you mind to show me the tips to remove broken tiny jolt on laptop. Mine is asus a46 / k46. Thanks mate!

you Sire, are a legend, thanks for this. saved my computer thanks to you.

OMG! You just save me from soldering that kind of battery. Thanks! I have a question though, my laptop has CR1220. Can I change it to a CR2032 since both has 3v?

And where you gonna connect it is in the Usb port or in the motherboard?

Instructions: Avoid exploding battery & eat gun. Hospital appointment confirmed. Good video.

Gaffer tape did the job for me!😀

Wish I would've known this before I ordered a new CMOS battery for my Alienware alpha

i used a binder clip but this makes more sense.. thx

Great video, well done; however, in the U.S., the conductive tape is about $10.00/roll, & a pack of heat shrinks is around the same. So that's around $20.00 right there, vs. an $8.00 replacement battery. I might have to hack your hack & do some workarounds. It would be great if you made a video how to do a poor man's hack if they don't have those things. I'm sure something could be worked out with aluminum foil, or maybe not even use something conductive, just tape the wires down... & then in lieu of a heat shrink, just double up on the electrical tape.

I thought to solder too but your video saved me. Instead I'm planning to use hotgun to solder, What is your thought?

This tutorial is great. I have been struggling to find the right replacement battery with the right connector. Before I try this method, does someone know if the conductive tape is essential?

What type of connector do they usually use these days for those batteries? Is it something like a 1.5mm or a 2.0mm pitch? I have an ITX Z390 motherboard, and the connector for its battery is located near the rear I/O and it has under a heatsink that covers that area. Gonna be a chore to get at without taking the entire motherboard out...

Do I need the heat shrink? because I don't have any, could I just use the insulation/electric tape instead?

Good morning friend. What are the materials you use in the video? Mostly what you use after the electrical tape.

Good idea! Thank you for your help.

Thank you sir. Picked up a Thinkpad T23 from a boot sale and I can't be doin 5-7 quid for a new CMOS battery.

Top drawer mate. Thanks for the tutorial.

Esse vídeo é exatamente o que eu estava procurando! Thanks my friend, you help me!

What about the connectorized end that attaches to the mainboard?

Where did you connect it to the Usb port? Or on the motherboard?

I have a question, can I connect a 3.7v battery to the BIOS?

Nice video mate, there are not that many people out there that I know of that are masters of the building trade and also a dab hand when it comes to computers. It's normally one or the other. Hats off to you!

Thank you very much for this hack! Subscribed :)

My video card is being blocked by my right angle cmos battery lol. Is there any heck to fix this??? I have a cmos battery cavity with some leads and a switch. Is there a way to solder it to the cmos cavity on the mother board. I can run the pc with no cmos battery but I won't be able to use my sata settings. Thanks a bunch. Great vid!!!

Great. Thank you. I'll try that

Great hack, thanks for sharing!

genius as always.. Happy New Year..

I bought a Cmos battery with wrong style plug. What is the best way to splice wires to put old connector on new battery?

hi guys and hi handyman, well done! a question for you: my acer l3600 has a cmos battery wrapped like yours but it's connected to three wires (red, black in the middle and white)...why? and how should I connect the wires? tks 4 your videos ;)