[Darr247]

the early THX Series 3 are actually more money

A working OLED front panel goes for almost $100 from parts dealers. :-|

So I imagine that explains why those are more.

 

[Darr247]

Back on 03/28,

said in post# 9591253
[snip] I went to replace the CR2032 battery on the mother board and snapped the positive arm off the battery holder. Can this be soldered back together or do I have to replace the entire battery holder (by removing the motherboard!)?

I don't see where that part ever got a reply, so...

I think replacing the holder would be as easy as trying to repair it... probably the same amount of work either way.

Besides there being at least three different S3 models (I think they were called THX, HD and XL, with the XL being a THX with the card slots in front like the HD, and no OLED panel), there were numerous revisions also, so I'm not even going to pull my S3 THX apart to see what style of mount its battery holder uses, because yours might differ... but googling "CR2032 PCB Mount Battery Holder" I find dozens of different styles ranging from $1 to $4 each for singles, so it should be fairly simple to procure the correct replacement once you've ascertained which style you have, exactly.

I imagine that as long as you don't lose power, not having that battery backup wouldn't matter a whit; in the intervening months, what side-effects did you observe? (or haven't you lost power since then?)