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Battery life?

F

facepalmmaster

Jan 4, 2012
441
3
#1
I own a, MXR Bass envelope filter and a Big Muff, and while the Big Muff has lasted about a month, maybe a bit less, the MXR lasts for about a week, and both take nine volt batteries. I dont even use them that often, maybe for 15-20 minutes a day, not even that some days. I just put in a new one for the MXR about 3 days ago, maybe 4, and its already not working, even when i tried unplugging them. Is this a battery issue or an issue with the effect pedals?
 
#2
Well, when you say "even when I tried unplugging them", it makes it sound like you usually leave them plugged in--and that means the batteries are being drained.

As far as the new battery in the MXR lasting only 3 or 4 days, with the pedal unplugged, that sounds like the pedal might have a problem that needs fixing. The input jack has a switch inside that turns on the battery, when you plug a cable in, so if that switch goes bad then it might drain the battery constantly. Or it could be a bad DC jack, or a handful of other small wiring problems.
 
#3
Some pedals require more current to operate than others. Higher current pedals will eat batteries faster than the pedals that need less current.

A simple way to approximate the battery life for a device is to take the fresh battery capacity and divide it by the pedals average current draw.

Fresh battery = 580mAh
Device draw = 30mA

580/30 = 19.3 hours

-Frank
 
#4
bongomania said:
Well, when you say "even when I tried unplugging them", it makes it sound like you usually leave them plugged in--and that means the batteries are being drained.

As far as the new battery in the MXR lasting only 3 or 4 days, with the pedal unplugged, that sounds like the pedal might have a problem that needs fixing. The input jack has a switch inside that turns on the battery, when you plug a cable in, so if that switch goes bad then it might drain the battery constantly. Or it could be a bad DC jack, or a handful of other small wiring problems.
Click to expand...

Is it only the input that does it, cuz i unplugged the cable from the amp to the pedals, thinking that would be the only way it would use battery, was that wrong, do i have to unplug everything?
 

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