Sans Amp power question...

[rosstanium]

Pardon the my ignorance on this question...still learning...

I own a Sans Amp 3 channel programmable DI. Really like it.

When you hit the ground lift on it, it also accepts phantom power. If I'm accepting the power from the board, should I disconnect the Sans Amp from my power brick? Or does it not matter...

And since I'm on this subject...I once heard it is not the most desirable thing to leave a battery in any pedal if you're supplying the power from another source (like a power brick or a One Spot). True?

Thanks guys. Really appreciate this board. I've had a few novice questions on things and ya'll have been great sharing your knowledge with me.

[rosstanium]

just trying to keep this alive in hopes for an answer

[Jazz Ad]

No need to disconnect. It the unit receives phantom power, it will automatically use it and disconnect battery and PS input.
Leaving the battery inside shall not matter. If you never use it, it may stay in for a very long time and eventually leak though.

[niftydog]

+1 - leaving the batteries installed should cause no issues whatsoever. Provided the pedal is designed and manufactured correctly it will disconnect the battery from the circuit when a DC jack is plugged into the socket. A similar arrangement should protect the battery from the voltage applied via phantom power.

FWIW, I've NEVER seen an alkaline 9V battery leak, ever. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it sure seems a hell of a lot less likely than other battery leaks IME.

[rosstanium]

thanks for the info guys.

[basadam]

I am not exactly sure (just wanna learn) that there will not be battery drain when using phantom power. Powering from a wal wart disconnects the battery lead but there is no disconnect with phantom power; so, at least to my electricity challenged brain, it seems the battery wil be drained. Somebody please explain...

[niftydog]

It would depend on the design in question, but since we don't have schematics for the BDDI I can only speculate.

I would think that a transistor, possibly a FET, would 'sense' the voltage coming in from the XLR connector and effectively 'switch' the connection from the battery off. Technically, there is probably still a minuscule current flowing from the battery but it's small enough to be insignificant.

[rockinthejoint]

I have posted a similar question elsewhere but never got to the bottom of it so hope I can hi-jack this thread :-)

I have the original sansamp bass di. It will not work with phantom power unless there is a battery installed and the problem I have is that the battery dies after only about 20 hours of use (even though in theory it is running on the phantom not on the batery at all). When the battery drops to 5v (which it does after a few gigs) or so the unit stops functioning (even when plugged into phantom). When I put a meter on the circuit it appears that the phantom is passing through the battery with over 40v either side of the + - batery terminals!!! I can't see this is correct, anyone got any ideas. Thx