The reason that the zBitx is not supplied with a battery is because of shipping restrictions on lithium batteries. The shipping time would be much longer if the battery were included because it would have to be sent by ship, not air. CR2032 batteries are inexpensive and readily available just about everywhere.
Hello Ragav,
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I bought a "CMOS BIOS CR2032 battery" for the real time DS3231 clock in the zBitx (BTW: a Raspi Pi5 rechargable battery will not work, as the DS3231/zBitx will not charge it!).
To be on the safe side, I checked the orientation of the J7 connector on the zBitx PCB against the +/- connectors of the battery:
The J7 connector was incorrrectly oriented! Perhaps this was the reasone, why no battery has been delivered with my zBitx.
If I would have just plugged in my battery, it might have killed the RTC in the zBitx.
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As a workaround, I cut the battery wires and swapped them. With this change, the RTC is now working.
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I was also considering to desolder/resolder the J7 battery connector on the zBitx PCB, but the zBitx is NOT made for disassembly:
You cannot unscrew the PA MOSFETs and the 5V voltage regulators, as you cannot reach the screw heads to hold them for unscrewing...
Trying to unscrew the nuts just rotates the screw as well. For unscrewing holes in the PCB to reach the screw heads would be required.
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73, Joerg - DB2OO
Shirley Dulcey KE1L