A little over a year ago, I picked up a Sega Nomad on craigslist for $10. In case you’ve never heard of it, the Sega Nomad is a handheld system that plays full-size Genesis cartridges. They are semi-rare and I was lucky to find one so cheap. Next, I bought an NOS battery pack for it on ebay. I couldn’t wait to play Genesis games on the go.
Unfortunately, the battery pack was DOA. After doing a little research on the world wide interwebs, I found that all of the battery packs for this system are DOA because the Ni-Cd rechargable batteries inside just don’t hold up for over 15 years.
During my research, I came across a YouTube video that suggested a battery pack mod which would bring it back to life. I am the proud owner of a soldering iron and a foolish level of self-confidence, so I figured I might as well give it a try. After all, I took an Electronics class in high school. What could go wrong? Here’s a video of the result:
As you can see, it actually works like a charm! I used the same battery pack as the original youtube modder, a Sony NP-F550 and a cheapo charger, both of which can be purchased on Amazon for very little money. A fairly simple mod for anyone willing to risk $25.