This sounds like a really good idea! 
Rework Instructions for 11th Gen Mainboards to enable powering the RTC circuit from the main battery
I finally installed it the RTC Battery Substitute – more or less drama free!
The Substitute was definitely a very tight fit and I can see why it caused problems for people. It doesn’t quite hook under the two prongs on the north side when you’re trying to pivot it in. I hooked it under one retainer and then used a spudger as leverage to lift the other one up away from the motherboard just a little and rocked it around a little until it snapped under.
After getting The Substitute under the north clips it was still a bit of a tight fit to get it under the south retainer fingers – but a little coaxing with the spudger got it in on that side quite a bit easier than it was on the north side.
I’d recommend that people not try to force it in – just take the time with as many tries and as much jiggling to get it to seat easily without forcing.
The rest was pretty easy – a bit of time to get the wire taped in just the right position for soldering. The soldering space is pretty clear and relatively large. I got a friend with more soldering experience to do it for me, but I think really not anything for anyone with some soldering experience to fear.
Works flawlessly now – back to unconditional love for Framework! (Well, you know what I mean.)
ps. the “more or less” drama was I stripped one of the motherboard mounting screw inserts out of the chassis when re-installing the motherboard. Just careless over-torquing, really – no fault of the hardware. I was originally going to try gluing the threaded insert back into place but I wasn’t sure that I could definitely get it to drive past flush (which it definitely needs to be) without the adhesive setting so I decided to just leave out that screw. Definitely not ideal … but I’m pretty easy on my laptop and don’t carry it around a lot so pretty sure it will be fine. If/when I ever replace the MB I’ll probably try harder to repair that.
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For anyone in Germany i have spare Battery holders soldering them on is not easy but doabel.
I ordered 5 or so i can send them per Post i can mail them for the cost of shipping plus 1€
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Where did you get the battery holders from?
Digikey
I just saw an AD that reminded me of your post.
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Bad news on my front – my laptop doesn’t hold a charge, even when fully powered off / shutdown. I haven’t used it much since the replacement so not much details on it – just that the battery is fully drained after sitting overnight, either in suspend or fully powered off. It works fine and fully charge/holds a charge when left plugged in. It seems like it discharges at a normal rate while unplugged and running. I haven’t taken it apart or looked at the replacement or soldering, etc. I’ll take a closer look at it soon (within the week, anyways) and report back if I find anything.
But if anyone that’s done it has seen similar and any tips about what to look for please let me know.
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Richard,
Wish you all the luck, no idea what went wrong, but perhaps contact support to see which way to go.
Even after the re-work and BIOS updates and fresh installs of Windows or Linux, my 11th gen still loses about 1% per hour when it’s shut down and unplugged. My partner finally gave up and just leaves hers plugged in.
This rework has nothing to do with the laptop’s main battery discharging during standby or while powered off. This is to fix an issue where the RTC battery would die, preventing the laptop from powering on without a mainboard reset.
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No kidding. I did two of them. I was responding to the comment that a laptop wouldn’t hold a charge. Maybe I misunderstood and he was saying his cmos battery wouldn’t hold a charge.
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Well, he did say “after the replacement” so the obvious inference would be it was an issue with the dummy battery. Who knows?
To clarify, I guess, the problem I have now is that after soldering in the battery replacement I have =rapid= discharge (100% in 12 hours) when unplugged and in standby. I don’t think it’s the same as the common complaint about poor standby performance – also because the other day it =didn’t= do this – I lost a typical amount in a 12 hour period. But then it was totally drained the next day. Unfortunately still haven’t really taken a good look or done formal testing (I’m just getting by leaving it plugged in).
I won’t pollute this topic about the rework procedure with a somewhat specific problem I’m having – I mostly just wanted to check and see if anyone else had the same problem after the replacement.
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Let us know how it goes. Sounds like the solder might be the problem as the resulting discharge just ain’t right.
Do the 11th gen mainboards still have this issue? If I plan to buy an 11th gen framework 13 would I need to perform this fix?
Yes, as far as I’m aware. I don’t think there’s been a revision or anything.
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Guys, try to keep the conversation around the rework – there are other threads for discussing the battery issue in general if you still want to talk about that.
Off-topic messages have been removed. This thread exists as a community resource to ask questions about the rework. I do not want to close it, but if it continues to be derailed, we will be forced to do so. I have warned this many times already.
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RTC battery got some problems while switching Windows and Linux. When I use only one system, the time is always correct, however when I switch, the time always got wrong and I have to sync it manually (in windows).
That’s normal Windows weirdness and not related to the Framework laptop or the RTC battery.
I’d like to thank everyone for their comments on their experience installing the replacement module. It helped me avoid issues I wouldn’t have been aware of without your warnings. I thought it might be useful to others if I documented the process I used to avoid damaging the battery holder.
Before starting the replacement process, I measured the dimensions of my RTC battery and the replacement module with calipers. The replacement module was slightly smaller than the battery in both thickness and diameter (by about 0.1 mm). This might suggest that the replacement module should fit more easily into the holder. However, their side profiles differed: the RTC module was cylindrical, whereas the RTC battery had an angled bottom edge.
This difference became significant during insertion because the components slide into the holder at an angle, impacting the fit. When inserting the RTC battery, a gap appeared between the top and the lip of the holder.
This was not the case with the original replacement module. Its 90-degree bottom corner increased the effective height of the module during insertion. As seen below, there was no gap between the top of the module and the holder’s lip; instead, the module was higher than the lip and did not fit under the retaining fingers.
I reasoned that adding a small angle to the bottom of the replacement module would allow it to fit under the top lip fingers. This modification would reduce strain on the fragile fingers and lower the risk of damaging the holder. I used a diamond knife sharpener to sand one edge on the bottom side of the replacement module, creating a slight angle. This edge was then inserted first into the holder. Note: When sanding, I ensured the gold coating on the side of the cylinder that makes contact with the electrode remained intact.
After this modification, the replacement module fit under the fingers, and I was able to gently complete the insertion using a SIM Eject tool without damaging the holder. The sanded corner did not affect the final fit once the replacement module was fully inserted.
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