Odin/Dallas RTC module…from AliExpress (WHL #107F1)
Two weeks ago, I wrote about a Dallas/Odin RTC module with integrated battery that caused me some trouble on an old Pentium board. The BIOS defaults to no hard disks, and the module isn’t rechargeable, so once it’s empty, the board will no longer be able to boot directly from hard disk. So I checked my options…and bought from AliExpress, because I was feeling adventurous 
2.14€ and a tad over a week later, this “OEC12C887A” module (matching the old one) showed up on some pink ESD-ish foam:
I mean…it does say Odin OEC12C887A on the housing, and they sure got a nice laser labelling machine…but…
Aren’t they ashamed of their shoddy refurbishment? I wouldn’t actually mind someone digging out the battery of old RTC chips on an industrial scale (meaning they know what they’re doing, as they’re doing it all day, 5-6 days a week for thousands of units at a time), adding in a new one and then re-potting the darn thing, but that’s just amateurish. I bet I could do that better, and at least I would square up the thing…
Bottom print and stamps say “17 375AA Korea”, and my guess is that this is from the original chip. Could be a date code, but not an obvious one. If 5 is the year, that could be 2015, or 2005, or worse. But with a new battery present, that doesn’t really matter, does it.
Now I’m debating if I actually should put that thing in…the IC would be no big loss, but the board… 
