# TiVo HD internal battery?



## A2JetGuy (Jan 24, 2013)

While up-grading the hard drive in my TiVo HD, I noticed a wafer battery on the mother board near the cable card slots. (Picture attached below)

What does it power?
Should it ever require replacement?
This battery is original to this TiVo; wouldn't it be dead already?

As it stands, my HD is running great so I have no intention of messing with it, but I'd sure like to know what it's for.

Thanks!


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

A2JetGuy said:


> While up-grading the hard drive in my TiVo HD, I noticed a wafer battery on the mother board near the cable card slots. (Picture attached below)
> 
> What does it power?
> Should it ever require replacement?
> ...


Just based off what PC's use similar batteries for I'd guess that it powers the motherboard's real time clock when the TiVo is unplugged.

Those little batteries can last for ages, but even if it failed it's probably not a big deal. The TiVo should be able to pull the correct time from the network not long after being powered up again.

_If_ I'm right the only time that battery being dead could bite you is if the TiVo lost power, turned back on, but your network wasn't working. Then it presumably wouldn't know what time it was and couldn't record shows (even if your cable or antenna was providing signal)


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## timhbtr53 (Apr 25, 2014)

Jonathan_S Yes your right it's just for the real time clock. It's not a bad idea to change it about every 3-5 years it's number is CR2032 the same type used in computers.


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## A2JetGuy (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks, both of you...

That's very helpful!
Knowing that my HD's battery is likely dead, I now have a heads up to the potential recording/timing problem should I unplug or lose power. 

I won't make a specific trip back inside to change that battery, but when the next opportunity presents itself, it sounds like a pretty good idea to put a new one in.

Thank you, again!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

A2JetGuy said:


> Thanks, both of you...
> 
> That's very helpful!
> Knowing that my HD's battery is likely dead, I now have a heads up to the potential recording/timing problem should I unplug or lose power.
> ...


You may very well have a PC or more around the house that use the same battery (2032), so it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to have a couple of them on hand in advance.


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## replaytv (Feb 21, 2011)

It would be a good idea to replace it, as it could start corroding and could make a big mess.


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## A2JetGuy (Jan 24, 2013)

Great point, ReplayTV...
That's reason enough for me to open it up and replace that battery.

Thanks, also, Unitron... 
Since I already have a few CR2032 batteries, I'll take care of this tomorrow.

It almost sounds like No Battery is better than an Old Battery.

Thank you, everyone!


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## squint (Jun 15, 2008)

A lithium coin cell leaking would be pretty rare. The main culprit is alkaline batteries.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Do all or most TiVos have a battery?

ETA: I just checked my Series 1 Sony-2000 which happened to be open as I've been playing with it. It also has a battery, but it is placed in such a way that you can't change it without removing the motherboard.


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## replaytv (Feb 21, 2011)

squint said:


> A lithium coin cell leaking would be pretty rare. The main culprit is alkaline batteries.


I did pull some leaking batteries out of a Tivo remote, but of course they were alkaline, and in fact, I have never had a lithium battery leak on me. Although looking around the web, it has taken place sometimes.

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1193923


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

I have never, once, had a lithium button cell battery leak. I have, however, found that some computer mainboards won't even attempt to boot (or even power-on), if the battery is completely dead, or close enough to it.

Now, if I shift over to the specialized ones that are the same button cell, with prongs welded to the battery casing, that are then soldered to the board, those I have seen leak.


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## timhbtr53 (Apr 25, 2014)

I have seen lithium batteries leak before, of course they were junk to begin with you know the brand "hangu" lol. Talk about a mess to cleanup. YUCK....


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## joeaksa (Jul 29, 2005)

Just found this thread.

I have a S-3 HD and its losing time. Talked with Weaknees and they insist that the battery on the motherboard has nothing to do with the time and that the Tivo gets the time from the cable/internet connection.

Whatever, my time is 4-5 minutes off and am tired of having my programs cut off, so guessing its time to replace the battery! 

Thx!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

joeaksa said:


> Just found this thread.
> 
> I have a S-3 HD and its losing time. Talked with Weaknees and they insist that the battery on the motherboard has nothing to do with the time and that the Tivo gets the time from the cable/internet connection.
> 
> ...


If you have a TCD652160, then yes the original battery is old enough that it could stand to be replaced, but what you really need to do is get a voltmeter and check the DC outputs of the power supply (unless you can see at least one of the capacitors is not completely flat on top, in which case you need to go ahead and replace all the medium sized ones) and you need to hook the hard drive up to a PC and boot with something like the Ultimate Boot CD and run a diagnostic long test on the hard drive (and if the PC has a GigaByte motherboard say so first so I can tell you what special precautions are necessary before connecting the TiVo drive).

If there's a Food Lion grocery store in your area they have the CR2032 in packages of 2 and 4 at a decent price and it's actually cheaper per battery if you buy the 2 pack instead of the 4 pack.

If you look around you should be able to get a name brand version of that battery at about $1.25 each.

Also, you should check the TiVo time on the System Information page in the menus--it'll show what time it had when you first load the page, but it won't update unless you back out and reload the page--and make a note of how far off it is.

Then go to Settings, Phone and Network and force a connection to the TiVo Servers and see if that causes the time on the Sys Info page to be closer to accurate.

If so, then it's getting the right time with each connection but failing to keep the internal clock working at the proper rate until the next connection, which could be because of the battery.

But on a Series 2 or Series 3 platform TiVo if the hard drive and power supply haven't given trouble yet it's only a matter of time.


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## coredump4 (Aug 8, 2009)

unitron said:


> If there's a Food Lion grocery store in your area they have the CR2032 in packages of 2 and 4 at a decent price and it's actually cheaper per battery if you buy the 2 pack instead of the 4 pack.
> 
> If you look around you should be able to get a name brand version of that battery at about $1.25 each.


I recently replaced some CR2032 batteries and found a deal at my local Office Depot. They have a 4-pack of Duracell 2032's marked at $6.99 on the shelf (not half bad at that price) that rang up $3.11 at the register (a really good deal). It wasn't advertised, so ask for a price check to be sure. I'm in northern Virginia, for what it's worth.


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

Those lithium batteries are generally good for at least 10 years, and if the device is plugged in, no power is generally drawn from it as the power supply supplies the necessary power. It's meant to hold the time and settings while the system is completely devoid of power.

The power draw is quite low and it's not unusual for them to last 20 or more years unplugged. If your PC or TiVo is plugged into the wall most of the time, they wouldn't have drained much and probably measure as identical to brand new batteries.


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## tvmaster2 (Sep 9, 2006)

coredump4 said:


> I recently replaced some CR2032 batteries and found a deal at my local Office Depot. They have a 4-pack of Duracell 2032's marked at $6.99 on the shelf (not half bad at that price) that rang up $3.11 at the register (a really good deal). It wasn't advertised, so ask for a price check to be sure. I'm in northern Virginia, for what it's worth.


The best place to buy CR2032's? You'd never guess, so here you go:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80291156/

Update: and, I found six-packs of CR2032's the other day at....Bed Bath & Beyonc, for $3 I think....


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## bgazsy (10 mo ago)

A2JetGuy said:


> While up-grading the hard drive in my TiVo HD, I noticed a wafer battery on the mother board near the cable card slots. (Picture attached below)
> 
> What does it power?
> Should it ever require replacement?
> ...


Fyi...I have a Roamio that is probably 9 years old. This AM it quit working and would not reboot until I replaced the CR2032 wafer battery. BTW I recently purchased 10 CR2032 batteries on Amazon for $5.25.


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