18v

[dremy2006]

Good morning, I have 18 volts in my bass and my batteries are going dead quick. what can be some of my problems? trouble shoot

Thanks

[Maz]

Let's start with the obvious: are you leaving the jack plugged in when you're not playing?

[phangtonpower]

This happened to me once. Did a search on here and found that I wired my jack wrong. It played alright, but the way it was wired, it was always on. I think it was the ground and the 9 volt power supply leads were switched. You may want to look at that too.

[khutch]

You would need to tell us what bass and preamp you have. Some preamps draw a lot of current, some draw very little, so some basses will drain batteries rapidly and there is nothing to troubleshoot because that is just how they are. On the other hand as Maz says if you want to prevent rapid battery drainage you must unplug the bass when not using it. All active basses go through batteries much more rapidly if you leave them plugged in all the time.

Ken

[mystic38]

define "quick"..

150hrs is not uncommon for a pre-amp spec, which is less than a week if you leave it plugged in...or 6 months if you play an hour a day.

[dremy2006]

Originally Posted by Maz

Let's start with the obvious: are you leaving the jack plugged in when you're not playing?

Nope..

[dremy2006]

Originally Posted by mystic38

define "quick"..

150hrs is not uncommon for a pre-amp spec, which is less than a week if you leave it plugged in...or 6 months if you play an hour a day.

About 24 hours in a month.... 6 hours in a week...I've change the batteries out 4 times since mid December of last year...

[dremy2006]

Originally Posted by khutch

You would need to tell us what bass and preamp you have. Some preamps draw a lot of current, some draw very little, so some basses will drain batteries rapidly and there is nothing to troubleshoot because that is just how they are. On the other hand as Maz says if you want to prevent rapid battery drainage you must unplug the bass when not using it. All active basses go through batteries much more rapidly if you leave them plugged in all the time.

Ken

It's a custom made bass with bartolini preamp

[mystic38]

So, assuming you unplug your bass when you dont play, then it is most likely that it is wired incorrectly..

I cannot imagine any preamp lasting only 24hrs total run time.

Originally Posted by dremy2006

About 24 hours in a month.... 6 hours in a week...I've change the batteries out 4 times since mid December of last year...

[khutch]

Originally Posted by dremy2006

It's a custom made bass with bartolini preamp

I don't see any current information on their website and I don't have one. Probably someone here knows what they typically draw. A 9v battery has about 600mAhr capacity so it would have to pull 25mA to eat a battery in 24 hours.

Ken

[SGD Lutherie]

Another problem I have seen is the jack getting twisted and then having the (-) wire from the battery touch shielding paint or foil. That left the battery on all the time, even with the jack removed.

Something is surely mis-wired or shorted in that bass.