It may be that Stern has the batteries oriented in the holder differently than WMS.

Stern

(-) (+)
(+) (-)
(-) (+)

Williams

(+) (-)
(+) (-)
(+) (-)

You can check the voltage right at the RAM chip, I believe it is p28.

Also, I have NVRAMs for this system for $12.

http://nvram.weebly.com

Andrew

Just throw in an nvram and be done with it, no more batteries!

I have them for sale on my website
http://nvram.weebly.com
6264 NVRAM - FM1608 - Tested used pulls 1pc - $12 free shipping

You will have to remove the original 6264 RAM that is a 28 pin IC in an socket and plug in the FM1608 replacement. It works like the original RAM, but needs no batteries to hold settings/scores.

Yes. All the Sega/Stern WhiteStar games are compatible and the RAM comes in a socket from the factory.

Andrew

I really want to put the NVRAM in all my pins but I will lose my scores

Well, take that as an opportunity to start fresh and challenge yourself to get better scores. Sterns are the easiest to put nvram in as they are socketed. It's literally pull, place it, play it. 30 second job.

Write the score down and then score them back with glass off.

Lost high scores is a lot better than a battery damaged cpu board.

Here is how it looks on a whitestar mpu. The fm1608 on the right side is the nvram.

20150828_162429.jpg

The batteries fit different so you need the bottom right and middle right you can actually see the plus and minus screened on the board there.

Still going to suggest getting an nvram. Save your time, money, and worry about ever having issues with batteries as they can leak even before a year has passed and unless you are checking you might not know till it's too late.

ok... I just bought a 6264 NVRAM - 10 pack.

So these will work with all my pins but wont work with: System 11, Gottlieb System 3, Bally MPU AS-2518-133, Gottlieb System 80A and RFM "Of course, RFM doesn't need one"

And if you really want to roll the dice you can even import the FM1608 yourself from China/HK..

$23.75 free shipping for 10pcs here:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10PCS-FM1608-120-PG-FM1608-120-P-DIP/32413906510.html

Oh so tempting. I bought some SIMTEK DIP parts one time that wasn't what it was supposed to be, but many times this stuff is fine and works. Not something I'd want to buy and resell or use in a product though. But as far as cheap nvram goes, $23.75 for 10x is about as cheap as it's gonna get if it's functional stuff and you're just upgrading your own machines. All we need is a volunteer with $25 to burn

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NO IDEA IF THE $23.75 NVRAM ABOVE IS LEGIT. I may order it sometime to find out though if no one else wants to be the guinea pig. Also import some of those new PCD5101P's that are suddenly available everywhere today. Been meaning to do that and report on it..

I believe somewhere in the threads the changes needed to use these for Sys 11s is posted. Not sure about the rest.

Anyone not wanting used pulls or the risk of Chinese junk, I now have brand new NOS Ramtrom FM1608 NVRAM available from my site for only $12.99.

Again, these are brand new and fully guaranteed.

www.LockWhenLit.com/products.htm

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

To use the FM1608 reliably as a replacement for 6264 RAM in System 11 games, jumper D1. You can remove D1 and put a jumper wire in its place, or simply add a jumper wire to the top of D1 for an easily reversible mod.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Hey your picture for the new RAMTRON looks familiar http://tinyurl.com/oh6zxrl

Anyway, those are FM1608B-PG's I sell. Not sure if yours are FM1608B or a regular FM1608? There's a slight difference in some of the specs, but the FM1608B-PG should work fine as well. I probably should have just posted the FM1608B DIPs a few years ago on Pinside.. back then what I bought was the only remaining stock out there & I bought it from a US electronic distributor. None listed on eBay and no distributor stock ANYWHERE. They only made the DIP chip in limited quantities and then went fully smd. Interesting how you can now import any amount of FM1608 DIP you want.

Well anyway, the imports may work and may be the absolute cheapest option for some people. Some of the stuff being sold today is imported anyway.. used/new.. including some of the PCD5101P's that are available everywhere now I'm sure. Unobtainable a few years ago and $10.00ea from anyone that still had remaining stock. It is what it is though. Can't tell what's real and what's not when it's just a black box with markings on it and tests fine in a RAM tester or works fine in the machine. That's good enough for most people.

Just my 2 cents

That's funny! A google search brought up the photo, I'll update tonight when I get back to the shop and can take my own photo. My stock is years old, and direct from Ramtron, no issues of counterfeit at all. Been using them for years.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Really no big deal, you can use it if you want.. you have my blessing lol. Just wanted to point out the "B" though, in case yours wasn't FM1608B. Kind of comical how you can recognize your own images even if they're just quick shots of something.

I saw you mention somewhere you had been using the DIP NVRAM for years. No worries there =) Seems like enough of us bought it when we could before the nvram manufacturers went fully smd.

Let's just say it's great for anyone wanting to get rid of batteries that these are reasonably available from you guys. I've no longer got batteries on any of my games and any game that comes in, that is the first thing that is out. I've also been talking friends into replacing all their batteries so perhaps I'll just order a few from everyone and all can be happy

That is funny. When i first started selling FM1608, Borygard was on a crusade to tell everyone they do not work as to protect his Anypin product sales. Guess he is selling them now too. Nice!

Yep. Anyone's NVRAM will do the job. Remote battery packs also work well enough for a bit, but at some point it just becomes more cost effective to get the NVRAM and be done with it.

In response to recent competition. I have lowered my price on FM1608 to starting a $8 for 1 piece. See my thread...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-6264-nvram-fm1608-new-low-price

OP, I lowered the cost on my 10 packs to $70 with free shipping. I will refund you $10.

Thank you,
Andrew

To be fair, there was some information out there about jumpering a diode because on some machines the RAMTRON DIP part was skirting close to minimum operating voltage. That was part of why I never sold a huge amount of the FM1608B-PG parts I had.. I always cautioned that the diode may need to be jumpered. Never really took voltage measurements or tried producing an issue to see just how prevalent it was. Just took someone selling them in bulk with some reasonable idea that it wasn't going to cause a problem to not jumper the diode and enough people using them like that to actually confirm it wasn't needed in most cases.

Your reality is incredibly skewed, and very interesting.

In the real world, Borygard was and is on a crusade to state factual information. You listed the FM1608 as an FM16W08, it's not. Then you backtracked when corrected and stated the "W" meant it was a surface mount part, it doesn't. All of the information I post is correct and factual, yours rarely is.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Quote from Borygard on RGP.

"This part(*FM1608) will test and work fine in the limited ways you've tested it. It will fail at writing in certain conditions in some of our pinball boards though. Someone using it may never notice that these write cycles are failing, but the part will not work as you're advertising. The FM16W08 does not have this compatibility issue and that's why it's used by everyone that offers reliable NVRAM devices. "

Yes, that's a factual quote. If you had any idea what you were selling, you'd know that.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

So you were trying to beat around the bush and say they won't work in sys 11 games? Because I have proven that be false. They work fine with voltage drop across D1 as did a normal 6264 or 6116 SRAM. Are you sure your motive wasn't to cast doubt to protect anypin?

I am selling the same thing you are friend, just less expensive.

Anywho, back to the topic, any game with socketed RAM, DE v3, Whitestar games, it is sooooooooo easy and inexpensive to change to the NVRAM, it should be as no-brainer as "rebuild your flippers" and "put in new playfield glass".

It's incredible bang for the buck.

RussMyers

Yeah, but see you're not. You're selling used ICs pulled from an unknown environment, I'm selling NOS parts.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

So now that all these nvram pieces have been out for awhile... what's the consensus on how long they will hold settings without play?

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/82469.pdf

As long as you power up your game once every 45 years you should be good.

RAMTRON/CYPRESS changed their estimates on data retention from 38yrs (in some cases 40yrs on data sheets) to I think 100yrs. Even with heavy use they should be good for many many years.