Batteries..What are the odds?

[roccobladr]

So before my last gig I went over to home depot and got some new 9V batteries so I wouldnt have to worry about anything.

Now last time I bought a pack of batteries from home depot and did the same thing-put them in my bass before an important show. It was an Ibanez bass and through the first set it crapped out on me. They were energizers.

So i made sure this time to try some Duracells. Of course, same thing- first set I am having problems. I switch out cables and that seems to do the trick. That was tuesday. I havent played my bass since and today I hook up my SR5 at practice and its making that crapping out sound and then dies. BRAND NEW DURACELL BATTERY!!!

What are the odds that I could buy 2 different Brands of 9V batteries and have them be dead from the box on 2 different basses!?

 

[justscotty123]

Sounds like you have a parasitic drain somewhere in your system, how much time are we talking about from install to death? Either that or you have some super crap luck. Keith Mcmillen makes a product called a battometer that supposedly test how long any given battery has left without removing it from your bass/pedals. Hope this helps!

 

[rhythmCity944]

It may not be the battery. You might want to inspect your preamp and jack. I assume you are leaving your bass unplugged when you are not playing it.

It also could be just luck of the draw...or the way that Home Depot stores the batteries before they put them on the self...keeping batteries in extreme conditions will greatly affect the life of the battery.

 

[Powman]

What are the odds that I could buy 2 different Brands of 9V batteries and have them be dead from the box on 2 different basses!?

Pretty slim. Something's draining the batteries. I would investigate further.

 

[Vintage7]

So before my last gig I went over to home depot and got some new 9V batteries so I wouldnt have to worry about anything.

What are the odds that I could buy 2 different Brands of 9V batteries and have them be dead from the box on 2 different basses!?

If you have a voltmeter, test the battery after this happens.
How tight is the 9v. connector (the part attached to the red/black wires in the batt. cavity)?
Check the one that has the slots and gently squeeze to tighten it.
Do the same to the slotted connector on the battery.
Check for any tarnish on the batt. connector and a weak solder connection there too.
Also: several times I've bought new batteries, only to find them doa.

Jim

 

[roccobladr]

Im just running
- my SR5 which has the slot loading kinda battery compartment thing.
- monster cable to a Boss tuner pedal
- monster cable to my markbass cmd121p

i always have my stuff unplugged in between sets and when not using it. my pre amp on the bass is usually set flat with a slight boost to treble and bass. middle selector switch.

i dont really see where a power draw would be coming from.

 

[shakinbacon]

Im just running
- my SR5 which has the slot loading kinda battery compartment thing.
- monster cable to a Boss tuner pedal
- monster cable to my markbass cmd121p

i always have my stuff unplugged in between sets and when not using it. my pre amp on the bass is usually set flat with a slight boost to treble and bass. middle selector switch.

i dont really see where a power draw would be coming from.

By "unplugged" do you mean 1/4" cable removed from the SR5?

That is the only way to drain the bass.

 

[slucas]

What are the odds that I could buy 2 different Brands of 9V batteries and have them be dead from the box on 2 different basses!?

Go buy yourself some lottery tickets tonight!

 

[roccobladr]

By "unplugged" do you mean 1/4" cable removed from the SR5?

That is the only way to drain the bass.

yea i unplug the monster cables from each end of the pedal and from the bass

 

[rhythmCity944]

assuming that the cable is unplugged after use, then the battery should still be good but alas it is not. Still it is odd that it happened with 2 different bass guitars and two different brands of batteries.

I think there may be a short somewhere in the electronics in your bass if the problem persist. Maybe start at the input jack and work your way back. Use a volt meter and test for resistance. Correct me if I'm wrong but if you have little or no resistance than you have an issue or vice versa? I'm not sure about the exact specs but if I get a moment I'll open my stingray up and get an idea. Maybe you got some "Smoke" via Lucas the Prince of Darkness in your electronics. You can buy some replacement smoke on ebay Also bad input jack can cause a number of problem.

It may be a good idea to remove the battery box and check the (+) and (-) wires to see if they are shorted together. If they are, then that is most likely the battery drain problem since you are creating a loop for the battery causing the drain. how old is your SR5? if it is an older model the heat created by electricity over the years may have weekend the coatings over the wires allowing them to dry up and break apart off the wires possibly allowing the 2 wires to make contact.

I'm just speculating. I cannot say for sure without looking at the actual bass guitar as to what is happening.

 

[roccobladr]

assuming that the cable is unplugged after use, then the battery should still be good but alas it is not. Still it is odd that it happened with 2 different bass guitars and two different brands of batteries.

I think there may be a short somewhere in the electronics in your bass if the problem persist. Maybe start at the input jack and work your way back. Use a volt meter and test for resistance. Correct me if I'm wrong but if you have little or no resistance than you have an issue or vice versa? I'm not sure about the exact specs but if I get a moment I'll open my stingray up and get an idea. Maybe you got some "Smoke" via Lucas the Prince of Darkness in your electronics. You can buy some replacement smoke on ebay Also bad input jack can cause a number of problem.

It may be a good idea to remove the battery box and check the (+) and (-) wires to see if they are shorted together. If they are, then that is most likely the battery drain problem since you are creating a loop for the battery causing the drain. how old is your SR5? if it is an older model the heat created by electricity over the years may have weekend the coatings over the wires allowing them to dry up and break apart off the wires possibly allowing the 2 wires to make contact.

I'm just speculating. I cannot say for sure without looking at the actual bass guitar as to what is happening.

Good thoughts. My concern is that I played a show a few days before and there was no problems. Got the SR5 in jan/feb and have been playing ever since with the same battery. it still sounded fine, but i just wanted to play it safe and replace it with a new one for the big show i had. so with the new battery it crapped out.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Try buying a couple of batteries from somewhere else. HD and Costco buy batteries by the zillions, so they may be stored in poor conditions.

Two different basses won't have electrical problems. Gotta be bad batteries.

Oh, and forget licking a 9v to measure its voltage. Unless your tongue is a calibrated voltmeter, all you're doing is putting corrosive saliva on the contacts---and maybe getting jollies from the little shock.

 

[ivbenaplayin]

I wanted to replace the batteries in my new bongo before our gig saturday night, so I bought a 4 pack of the regular duracells at the local Wal-Mart, and guess what... not one of the batteries in the pack would fit in the holders! I instantly got out my caliper and measured them, and measured the the ones that were in it from the factory. What I found: Apparently where the outer case is crimped over the bottom plate of the battery, it wasn't crimped-over far enough, which made the batteries almost 1/16" longer than the others. Anyway, back in went the old batteries and up on stage I went. Yesterday I finished crimping the new batteries all the way with a few light taps with a hammer and they went in just fine, although I didn't leave them in for fear of leakage... Just figured I'd share... Love the new Bongo 5 to pieces!

 

[Vintage7]

Here's a thought:
Did you buy both replacement batteries from the same store, or even the same chain of stores?
Could be a bunch of old batteries from the same store.

 

[Vintage7]

I wanted to replace the batteries in my new bongo before our gig saturday night, so I bought a 4 pack of the regular duracells at the local Wal-Mart, and guess what... not one of the batteries in the pack would fit in the holders! I instantly got out my caliper and measured them, and measured the the ones that were in it from the factory. What I found: Apparently where the outer case is crimped over the bottom plate of the battery, it wasn't crimped-over far enough, which made the batteries almost 1/16" longer than the others. Anyway, back in went the old batteries and up on stage I went. Yesterday I finished crimping the new batteries all the way with a few light taps with a hammer and they went in just fine, although I didn't leave them in for fear of leakage... Just figured I'd share... Love the new Bongo 5 to pieces!

B-stock or rejects that Wallymart got for cheap?

 

[Bobster]

This is known. There are multiple Duracell plants and there are size differences in their batteries.

EverReady Energizers (and some others) are more a constant size. Might want to try those and don't mess up the battery box.

Bob

 

[ivbenaplayin]

B-stock or rejects that Wallymart got for cheap?

Could very well be the case... I traded the whole pack to one of the guitar players in the band for a couple of beers... he can use them in his pedals!

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Yesterday I finished crimping the new batteries all the way with a few light taps with a hammer and they went in just fine, although I didn't leave them in for fear of leakage...

A 9v battery is made from six cylindrical "AAAA" cells, so the outer case doesn't form a seal that you need to worry about.

 

[rhythmCity944]

too bad batteries can get expensive