Battery Question - General Music SK760

Hi Sam and the Synth Wizard Gang!

I loved the latest “Synth Wizards” video. That Yamaha CS80 looks like 1,000lbs of pure analog bliss! The end of the video was a little sad, as we bid farewell to Cody, but I hope he has a great new adventure ahead. (My son is 17, so it won’t be long for us either I fear.)

Quick question: I have a General Music SK760 workstation and it uses a battery very similar (if not identical) to your part number 1974. I haven’t opened up my SK760 yet to see, but I hear these tend to leak over time and mine is from 2000 or so. I know the power from the wall would charge this battery over time and there was a little “health meter” that came up on the display. If I let the synth sit for three weeks or so, the battery would completely discharge and I’d simply have to reload my settings from floppy. So, this battery acted like a short-term rechargeable, and that was “normal” for this synth.

My question is, should I replace with the exact same style and let it continue with the “rechargeable” behavior like normal, or is there something else you guys use in these cases? Like replacing old caps with some newer technology, is there a newer battery type I should consider that doesn’t discharge like that?

Thanks in advance! I’ll probably get that synth on my work bench in the next couple weeks or so to have a peek inside and check that battery for any damage.

Dave Bailey