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Cirrus battery life, Rechargeables

Plstrns

Plstrns

Feb 4, 2010
714
2
Texas
#1
I've searched, but I'm not satisfied.

I have 3 Cirrus basses that each eat 2 x 9 volts in 12- 15 hours of playing time- 18 or so with Duracells. They can go unplugged and the batteries last, so it's not an "always on" issue.

Does anyone have experience with rechargeables like the powerex true 9.6 NiMd's or the ipower li-polymer lithiums?
 
#3
centrefold said:
I personally JUST bought duracell NiMH batteries like 4 days ago. I haven't used them yet, but will be trying them out on sunday/monday for our long practices
Click to expand...

I see you play Spectors. I've had 3 Spectors, and they didn't eat batteries at all like the Cirrus.

Cirrus' eat batteries as if they have moving parts. Batteries are getting really expensive. It's $3 for a Crappy Rayovac now days, so that's $6 + a week in batteries in basses alone.
 
#4
centrefold said:
I personally JUST bought duracell NiMH batteries like 4 days ago. I haven't used them yet, but will be trying them out on sunday/monday for our long practices
Click to expand...

I use NiMH batteries in my camera that eats alkaline batteries for breakfast. In one sense, they work great. Lots of storage capacity. They have a great recycle life and last a long time. Bad news is that they lose charge sitting on the shelf. Hence, when I grab my camera and NiMH are in it, the thing is ALWAYS dead! Hence I keep some alkalines handy in case I want to grab a quick shot. The bottom line is that if you use these batteries in a bass you must BE SURE to ALWAYS put it on the charger before the gig!

Let me add that NiCd batteries are totally worthless. I got tired of putting them in my cordless phone here which is why it's unplugged and sitting over there.

Lithium batteries are pretty decent for capacity and holding a charge, but the storage capacity slowly drops over a few years and they pretty soon only run for a few minutes (like your laptop with old batteries).

So having cycled through this mess several times, I strongly recommend some sort of phantom power from your amp. That's what I'm setting up.
 
#7
low-discharge type NIMH rechargeable batteries are the soulution IMO, I bought one a couple of mounths ago, and it works fine for me. you can leave this in the bass for weeks/mounths, and it loses only a small amount of capacity. I hope they will be more standard, now I only know only 1-2 brands who make them.
(I'm converting to wire power though, but this battery is nice)
 
#10
Plstrns said:
I've searched, but I'm not satisfied.

I have 3 Cirrus basses that each eat 2 x 9 volts in 12- 15 hours of playing time- 18 or so with Duracells. They can go unplugged and the batteries last, so it's not an "always on" issue.

Does anyone have experience with rechargeables like the powerex true 9.6 NiMd's or the ipower li-polymer lithiums?
Click to expand...

I would estimate that I get something like 50+ hours on a set of batteries. Maybe 100+ hours. They last for months, so it's difficult to track.

How are you setting the controls on the Cirrus?
 
#12
Yeah, I've had 2 Cirrus. Still have one. Had the first one for a year. Put new batteries in when I got it and never had to change them. Had my other one for months now and haven't had to change them, either.

I read something here on TB recently that suggested that if you really crank the boost on the EQ that makes it chew the batteries faster (versus having the EQ flat). I have no idea if that's true. Is it possibly why yours is eating batteries so fast?

I put Millennium preamps in both my Cirrus and have never found any need to crank the EQ boost anywhere near all the way up. A little bit goes a long way.
 
#18
I use a flat eq, sometimes with a slight mid bump. Volume 100%, PU's center or just rear of center.

I have no idea what could be wrong. They can hang on a stand for a year and have a good battery, just don't play them.
 
#19
Wow. I've owned a couple of Jazz Deluxes, a couple of Stingrays, a Warwick, a 55-02, and an ESP that were active and I change the batteries every spring when I change the batteries in the smoke detectors. I don't think I ever had a battery run down on me, but I just change them to make sure they're "fresh".

Granted, I tend to play one more often then others for weeks at a time (still try to give all some playing time) before moving on to one of the others. However, I do use regular 9V batteries rather than rechargeables.
 

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