Author Topic: Battery Life (Read 1056 times)

rustyg61 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 27, 2011, 09:49:25 AM »

I think Don King got his start as a battery tester!

lbpesq · « **Reply #16 on:** April 27, 2011, 10:21:58 AM »

dfung60 · « **Reply #17 on:** May 01, 2011, 10:19:59 PM »

Hey, battery testing nerds... If you want to build a plug in tester, you need a STEREO 1/4 tip/ring/sleeve plug (like on the headphones in your studio). You should be able to read the battery voltage between the ring and sleeve (the tip is audio!).

The way that the jack switches power is that you bring the - battery terminal to the ring connector (the one in the middle). When you plug in a regular mono guitar cable (which is tip/sleeve only), the longer sleeve conductor of the plug touches both the ring and sleeve conductors on the jack. This connects the battery - to ground and power starts to flow through the circuit.

This won't work on a Series bass which has a more complicated 1/4 output jack with uses the tip/ring/sleeve for stereo output and has separate physical switches for the onboard batteries.

David Fung

rustyg61 · « **Reply #18 on:** May 02, 2011, 09:20:33 AM »

Thanks for the info David, but I tried it on my SC Signature Deluxe & it only read .08 volts.

dfung60 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 03, 2011, 10:40:59 AM »

rustyg61 -

Interesting. I didn't try this out before I wrote it, but just went and did so. The first test was on a Modulus Bassstar (basically a P Bass with and EMG pickups) and reading from ring to ground did show the battery voltage. This is the normal active wiring with a Switchcraft stereo 1/4 jack.

But I tried it on a Musicman Stingray and it didn't work. I pulled the jack to see what was going on, and it turns out that this bass has a plastic 4-pin output jack. On this bass you can't read the battery power externally because it has a discrete battery switch.

Anybody have a picture inside the cavity on a Sig Deluxe like this? I'm curious if it's a 4-pin jack on Alembics now!

David Fung

rustyg61 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 03, 2011, 01:18:49 PM »

Mine has the 4 pin jack. When you plug the cable in it pushes the 2 contacts together completing the battery ciruit.

terryc · « **Reply #21 on:** May 04, 2011, 06:05:22 AM »

Here's one for you..was at a gig on Monday, heard this really horrible fuzz sound coming from amp, now I use extremely high quality(they were very expensive!) rechargeables as the SIMS LED's run of the same battery. Anyway back to the fuzz sound..SO I thought change the battery..same fuzz sound..change bass..same fuzz sound...answer..speaker blown in combo..ARGHH.

rustyg61 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 04, 2011, 10:51:22 AM »

I HATE it when that happens! Sorry about your luck!

terryc · « **Reply #23 on:** May 04, 2011, 11:00:57 AM »

rustyg61..all fixed now, Ashdown sent me a new one even though it wasn't covered in the warranty, anyway 4 screws and two solder joints later and it's fixed

rustyg61 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 04, 2011, 12:47:57 PM »

Cool! I love a happy ending! We did a New Years gig 2 years ago in an airplane hanger & we unknowingly tied our power distribution box into 330 instead of 220, so instead of having 110 on each side of the circuit, we had 220 on one side & 110 on the other. Unfortunately I was the 1st to power up & was hooked to the 220 side! I thought I blew my whole rig up, sparks & smoke went everywhere! Luckily it just fried my power conditioner! I upgraded to a Furman that will shut itself down if it detects high voltage. So it protects itself as well as my equipment.

sonicus · « **Reply #25 on:** May 04, 2011, 01:05:13 PM »

Rusty , I am curious what kind of plug outlets were in this distribution box. The kind of temp box on a construction site has round twist locks for anything over household 11O AC volts. All the 220 AC volt outlets can not be connected to with a house hold plug. Did some one defeat such safety and NEC code features or modify adaptors ? Even the 110 AC volt 20 amp are twist lock on most temp boxes What kind of box was this ; not to code ?

rustyg61 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 04, 2011, 01:15:25 PM »

We have a power distribution box with pigtails that we hardwire into the main power terminals, then it splits into several different 110 circuits to keep our PA & lights on a seperate breaker than the stage. In this hanger they had lathes & drill presses that ran on 330, so there was 220 on one lug & 110 on the other lug where we tied our distro into. We learned a hard lesson to test the lugs now before we tie into them! I had never even heard of a 330 circuit!

sonicus · « **Reply #27 on:** May 04, 2011, 02:07:21 PM »

Rusty______ PIGTAILS ! hard wired ! OK now I under stand ! _____ Sorry to hear of the result. It is a good thing you guys did not get hurt. Oh well, I once got a big zap from a flyback transformer (25,000 volts) that made me look like the the guy in your post number 128 above , and I made sure that would not happen again . We learn from our own experiences , the good thing is we get better as we get older ; LOL____ I have to write that to make my self feel OK having turned 55.

rustyg61 · « **Reply #28 on:** May 04, 2011, 02:55:26 PM »

Hey Wolf, I have seen the result of getting zapped from a flyback transformer! I took radio & TV repair in high school, & a guy grabbed the 2nd anode to disconnect it from the CRT & he got hit with the 25K! It turned his arm purple! I turn 50 in 16 days, so I'm fixing to join you old guys! LOL!

sonicus · « **Reply #29 on:** May 04, 2011, 03:08:44 PM »

Well ___Pre-Happy Birthday to you Rusty!