Topic: Gameboy Colour battery connection

Hello, brand new here.

Planning to gift my old GBC and games to someone [but am open to buying a GB Boy for example as a marked improvement].

My GBC seems to not have a snug fit to the springs for batteries. When playing, the connection + - will often be prone to stopping after a while, and this doesn't seem related to the loose cover, it seems to be lack of load pressure against the springs. That is, the lower spring doesn't keep the + end connected to the plate during regular gameplay and will short out after a while. Have tried to use tweezers to pull the springs out but to no avail. I'm unsure whether new spring plates will fix this.

Am wondering does anyone else have the same experience, cos I don't wanna buy another used gbc to find the same. I have zero experience of modding except for tinkering with old console controllers. Any solutions that are easy or is it best to just buy new hardware?

You can use a small thick-ish piece of folded aluminum foil.

That doesn't sound safe? In any case what I was more interested in, is whether anyone else has the same problem with the connections, is this a common GBC problem?

@NuclearHyrule
It's not unsafe, but it will vary in how effective it is.

As to your main question, it's not necessarily a common problem, but it is not especially unusual for any older electronics equipment that is battery-powered. I've had similar problems develop with older battery powered radios/walkmen, etc.

It sounds like the springs are simply worn out. That happens. But those systems are pretty common and still pretty cheap, you can probably pick up another one for 20-30 bucks at a good retro game store.

@NuclearHyrule My man: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Game-Boy-Color-New-Battery-...

Right there. Looks incredibly easy to switch out, too. Plus fixing stuff feels great.