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Location: sitting at my computer | Anybody using the rechargeable kind? If so, got any recommendations on what brand and which charger to buy? Or which to avoid!
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Takamine makes a terrific DI+ box that has a number of useful features, perhaps the most useful and cost-effective of which is the phantom power it sends back to Takamine's CoolTube preamps. The CoolTube runs on 4 AA batteries which don't last long at all, but with the DI+ and a stereo cord, the batteries last forever. I wonder if Ovation could do something similar for its 9-volt preamps? |
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Location: Ohio | There is a surprising lack of rechargeable 9 volt batteries to choose from. They are none nearly as advanced as the newer Sanyo Eneloop batteries. But their only 9 volt option is specifically for pedals and pretty darned expensive at that.
Edited by aaronharmon 2012-05-10 12:41 PM
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | The brands that I just bought are Tenergy.
They work well enough. I use them in my preamps.
I have a rechargeable in my one-knob 1612 that has been there for a year.
You will want something with high milli-amp/hour rating.
They will discharge faster than single-use batteries, but they are rechargeable.
And they will totally die eventually.
THIS was the last batch that I bought.
[about $16... Delivery from CA in about a week]
-edit for spelling-
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2012-05-10 1:02 PM
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Location: sitting at my computer | I'd been trying to compare the pros and cons (price, usage time, recharge duration, overall lifespan (# of cycles), etc.) between the various types... Alkaline - Lithium Ion - Lithium Polymer - NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) - NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydrid) - ??? ... but I just get dizzy... eh... dizzier. ProfessorBB, that is indeed a nifty feature Takamine has. hint, hint, Ovation.  aaron, I see that the Sanyo Pedal Juice rechargeable uses a Lithium-Ion 9 volt, so I'll assume Lithium-Ion is the current winner (pun intended) among rechargeables. Thanks OMA. Tenergy is a brand I was considering... their TN141 Smart Charger with 9 volt NiMH 4 pack. A bit more money, ($27 @ Amazon) but I liked the self-discharging, auto shut-off safety feature. Some other brands have higher price chargers and batteries, but didn't know if they were really any better.
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I highly recommend that everyone check out the Batt-O-Meter. I got mine from Al a year or so ago and it has saved my bacon numerous times when I was unsure about how much life a battery still had. http://www.keithmcmillen.com/batt-o-meter/overview/
Edited by stephent28 2012-05-10 4:43 PM
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Location: NW Washington State | I bought a couple of 9 volt rechargeables- Harbor Freight cheapies- but haven't used them yet.
Some "9 volt" NiMH rechargeables are actually 8.4 volts. Probably not the best choice. But there are some "9 volt" rechargeables that are 9.6 volts. Another thing to look for is a a "precharged" or "low self discharge" NiMH battery. These don't run down so fast when they're just sitting around.
So a battery like this might be really good: http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/rechargeables/9v-batteries/powerex... But I haven't tried one or purchased from this vendor. You might also need a different charger to bring them up to full capacity.
-Steve W.
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Location: Ohio | SOBeach - 2012-05-10 4:07 PM
I'd been trying to compare the pros and cons (price, usage time, recharge duration, overall lifespan (# of cycles), etc.) between the various types... Alkaline - Lithium Ion - Lithium Polymer - NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) - NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydrid) - ??? ... but I just get dizzy... eh... dizzier. ProfessorBB, that is indeed a nifty feature Takamine has. hint, hint, Ovation. aaron, I see that the Sanyo Pedal Juice rechargeable uses a Lithium-Ion 9 volt, so I'll assume Lithium-Ion is the current winner (pun intended) among rechargeables. Thanks OMA. Tenergy is a brand I was considering... their TN141 Smart Charger with 9 volt NiMH 4 pack. A bit more money, ($27 @ Amazon) but I liked the self-discharging, auto shut-off safety feature. Some other brands have higher price chargers and batteries, but didn't know if they were really any better.
The reason the Sanyo Eneloops are the cat's pajamas is because they hold a charge for a long time (discharge slowly while not in use), loose their maximum capacity very slowly (NiCads are terrible for this it's called memory) and can be recharge many many times while wearing out much more slowly than other batteries. |
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Location: NW Washington State | aaronharmon - 2012-05-10 8:53 PMThe reason the Sanyo Eneloops are the cat's pajamas is because they hold a charge for a long time (discharge slowly while not in use), loose their maximum capacity very slowly (NiCads are terrible for this it's called memory) and can be recharge many many times while wearing out much more slowly than other batteries.
The Eneloops might be great, but I only see AA and AAA types available. The Eneloop Pedal Juice doesn't replace a 9 volt battery inside a guitar (and it's expensive!). I'm assuming that the original question was related to the preamp in an Ovation.
NiCD batteries had charging problems that many people called "memory effect", but current NiMH batteries are much better.
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Location: Ohio | Yeah, I know I mentioned in an earlier post that the eneloop version was for pedals. I was just discussing rechargeable battery technology in general. My guess is that the reason you don't see more hi tech rechargeable 9 volts is from makers like Sanyo is because they are simply not nearly as profitable as the market is much smaller. |
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Location: Australia | Are 9 volt batteries a big issue?
Maybe they run down quicker in the modern style preamps with built in tuners etc. My O's have the retro engineered vol/tone preamps and the battery lasts for ages. With the guitar I gig with every week I change it out about every 6 months to be safe but I'm sure it would last a year easy. |
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Location: NJ | in a vip they have shorter life
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Location: sitting at my computer | richardd you're right, they last okay in my old 1617 which has a basic preamp with only a volume control. But my mill-CB and MOB 57 have preamps with tuners and they seem to drain 9Vs rather quickly. (IMO) And I've been considering rechargeables partly to save some cash (in the long run) and partly to be a bit more environmentally "green".
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Location: Sydney, Australia | I had a 9v battery die in the middle of a funeral (mid song: tic ... tic ... tic coming out of the speakers). There's something bizarrely ironic about that.
They probably last 6 months to a year in my VIPs at home, but I don't plug them in much. The one in my 1685 (two knobber) lasts longer. |
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Location: Jet City | I've never found rechargeable batteries I like. They're too unreliable.
It cost me about $1ea if I buy Duracells in bulk format (no packaging) by the dozen.
They're reliable and hold a charge for a long time. I'll go through a half dozen Duracells in the lifespan of 1 rechargeable, but I will have had to recharge that battery hundreds of times. What a hassle that would be.
No brainer. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | When gigging, I have always used fresh batteries in guitars and effects, DI etc... whatever... each gig. Maybe if I was playing back-to-back over a weekend I'd not change batteries, but if more than a week was going by... everybody gets a fresh battery. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I don't track track battery changes by date, so the rest of this analysis is very unscientific and anecdotal. Nonetheless, I estimate that I'm playing about 400 hours a year (most of which involve battery powered electronics). I also go through a 12-pack of 9-volt batteries in the course of a year. This means that I'm typically getting over 30 hours of use on each battery. I have no real way of knowing if some preamps use more power than others. When I start getting that characteristic broken signal suggesting a worn battery, I pull and check it. Anything below 9 volts shows that its clearly on its way to discharge and gets replaced. I also check the new batteries going in and they typically read between 9.4 and 9.7 volts. Professional sound engineers like Miles are much more proactive and cautious about replacing batteries in mics and other devices before the gig starts. The sound managers do the same thing at our local symphony concert hall. They have to. They can't afford even one bad device to rear its ugly head during a performance. All their used batteries go into a big container for recycling (maybe three or four dozen every weekend). I'm sure I could take those batteries off their hands for free (I don't know why this has never occurred to me before this moment). I don't know what the remaining life of those batteries are, but if I'm getting over 30 hours on a single battery, I suspect it would be significant for my use. |
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Location: Thredbo, NSW, Australia | I thought that I'd resurface this old discussion.
Has anyone tried the newer 9 volt rechargeable batteries that are available now?
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regarding our 9 volt batteries...
