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Sire Marcus Miller V7 - Battery depletion rate?

Marc I

Marc I

Guest
Sep 18, 2017
5
2
France and Belgium
#1
Hi everyone...

I've been playing bass for 37 years, mostly on a 1970 non-modded/passive Jbass, sometimes on Ibanez (...) very occasionally on Yamaha (...) My favorite always remained the Fender - which got stolen. I used to be a professional (read, earn food for the table with my bass), but life happened and I switched to IT.

Now I own a Sire V7 four-string... Which I am very happy with, the action, sound, presence and versatility are simply awesome. But I do have one issue :)

My batteries seem to get depleted much too quickly, when I compare with my Ibanez. In general, even though I switch to passive an unplug the jack from my bass, my 9Vs last no more than a month. I play my bass an hour or two per day, never more. Do I have a technical issue, or is this the norm for the V7? Thank you for your answers !
 
#2
My first set of Batteries on my V7 lasted well over a year. as long as you don't keep the bass plugged in when you aren't playing they should last significantly longer than a month. i would say the same for the active ibanez i own.
 
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#3
Marc I said:
Hi everyone...

I've been playing bass for 37 years, mostly on a 1970 non-modded/passive Jbass, sometimes on Ibanez (...) very occasionally on Yamaha (...) My favorite always remained the Fender - which got stolen. I used to be a professional (read, earn food for the table with my bass), but life happened and I switched to IT.

Now I own a Sire V7 four-string... Which I am very happy with, the action, sound, presence and versatility are simply awesome. But I do have one issue :)

My batteries seem to get depleted much too quickly, when I compare with my Ibanez. In general, even though I switch to passive an unplug the jack from my bass, my 9Vs last no more than a month. I play my bass an hour or two per day, never more. Do I have a technical issue, or is this the norm for the V7? Thank you for your answers !
Click to expand...

Definitely NOT the norm - I have 2 V7's and the batteries last at least 10 months, minimum - and I typically play at least 2+ hours a day.

Hopefully its just a bad batch of (old) batteries or perhaps something is not wired properly internally. I occasionally hear TB tales of active basses being wired improperly which can cause battery drain to occur even when a cable is not inserted. One month battery life is insanely wrong. If it's under warranty - I would mention this to Sire's support and see what they think.
 
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#7
Found this right here, if I have wrong wiring (how can you get THAT wrong), wouldn't I also have preamp malfunction?

sire_preamp1-png.png
 
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#8
If it has only happened once it's likely a bad batch of batteries. If it keeps happening, yeah, something's wrong, maybe a bad solder joint or partial bridge somewhere. As the pic shows, it's not that complicated outside the board, the jack is the most likely suspect. Either way, I'd call Mickey, if only for advice (since it's out of warranty).
 
#9
bholder, thanks, unfortunately it's not a bad battery thing... tried a few brands and they all discharge as quickly.
Er... who's Mickey? I just got a (fast) response from Sire, but apart from giving me the wiring diagram, they don't really tell me where to start looking. What situation could cause a permanent discharge and allow the preamp to continue to operate properly? Which contacts on the output jack would need to be in contact? It may seem like a stupid question... But if I need to open her, I need to be sure I won't mess anything up :)
 
#10
Marc I said:
bholder, thanks, unfortunately it's not a bad battery thing... tried a few brands and they all discharge as quickly.
Er... who's Mickey? I just got a (fast) response from Sire, but apart from giving me the wiring diagram, they don't really tell me where to start looking. What situation could cause a permanent discharge and allow the preamp to continue to operate properly? Which contacts on the output jack would need to be in contact? It may seem like a stupid question... But if I need to open her, I need to be sure I won't mess anything up :)
Click to expand...
Sorry, Mickey Cho is the Sire USA service representative, he does (or did last I knew) handle the official Sire contact email. The way the plug is supposed to be set up, it's a stereo jack and a mono plug, so that the "ring" (of the jack's "tip ring sleeve" contacts) connects to ground through the mono plug's single shaft (this is what "turns the battery on", by connecting the negative pole to ground). So a stray strand of wire or solder splatter occasionally making that same contact (between the jack's ring and sleeve contacts) would cause this excessive battery drain. Of course, the same thing could be happening inside the circuit board, which you can't fix yourself (but Sire will replace for a reasonable service fee, even after warranty I believe). Hope that helps (kind of long-winded, sorry). I would contact Sire's email and ask for their advice / help.
 
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#11
When I had this issue with my tmb300, I needed to replace the jack. It had some sloppy soldering and the lugs were always connected. If your jack isnt cleanly attatched, that is most likely your problem. If you have soldering skills it's a 3 minute/$5 fix (cheaper than new batteries!) Good luck.

Edit: saw the the post above me LITERALLY said the same thing. :(
 
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#13
bholder said:
Sorry, Mickey Cho is the Sire USA service representative, he does (or did last I knew) handle the official Sire contact email. The way the plug is supposed to be set up, it's a stereo jack and a mono plug, so that the "ring" (of the jack's "tip ring sleeve" contacts) connects to ground through the mono plug's single shaft (this is what "turns the battery on", by connecting the negative pole to ground). So a stray strand of wire or solder splatter occasionally making that same contact (between the jack's ring and sleeve contacts) would cause this excessive battery drain. Of course, the same thing could be happening inside the circuit board, which you can't fix yourself (but Sire will replace for a reasonable service fee, even after warranty I believe). Hope that helps (kind of long-winded, sorry). I would contact Sire's email and ask for their advice / help.
Click to expand...

This right here.

The battery Most very likely, the battery isn't being disconnected because of a short somewhere in the path of the switch on the output jack. The short doesn't have to be on the jack itself. Could be on the board or the wiring going to the jack. I poke around my basses' electronics enough that I could probably find the problem. But you or I shouldn't have to on a new bass. (I had a brand new American Elite Jazz that I had to solve 3 issues with right off the rack. But I was capable, I had the time, and I liked the bass well enough, I didn't mind. Much...:eyebrow:)

It's also slightly possibly that there's a problem in the preamp circuitry, causing a tremendous drain on the battery when the circuit is powered up.

Either way, Sire should step up and take care of that problem.
 
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#14
Geri O said:
This right here.

The battery Most very likely, the battery isn't being disconnected because of a short somewhere in the path of the switch on the output jack. The short doesn't have to be on the jack itself. Could be on the board or the wiring going to the jack. I poke around my basses' electronics enough that I could probably find the problem. But you or I shouldn't have to on a new bass. (I had a brand new American Elite Jazz that I had to solve 3 issues with right off the rack. But I was capable, I had the time, and I liked the bass well enough, I didn't mind. Much...:eyebrow:)

It's also slightly possibly that there's a problem in the preamp circuitry, causing a tremendous drain on the battery when the circuit is powered up.

Either way, Sire should step up and take care of that problem.
Click to expand...
 
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#15
I had electrical issues with my Sire M7 "right off the bat" too when I received it last summer. The issues I had where (1) intermittent short in output jack; (2) bass cut/boost control wired backwards (and operated backwards compared to the other EQ controls); and (3) constant battery drain I found after the batteries were depleted in 30 days. I dabble in electronics so I replaced the jack, rewired the bass pot, and traced the constant drain to a wire connected from the back of the bass pot to the output jack. Once that wire was disconnected, the bass operated as intended: when cable is plugged in, 18V are activated in both passive and active mode; and when cable is disconnected the circuit in not energixed. There's a video on You Tube that walks you thru testing with a multimeter for those so inclined. The link is below. I hope that helps!!

 
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#16
Marc I said:
xrockstrongox, no harm done :)

Hmmm... Sire is being very proactive, but for some reason they're pointing me towards the blue screw underneath the pots, not towards the output jack. I'll open the jack this evening and take a look. And buy a soldering iron :)
Click to expand...

Like you Marc, I played a Music Man bass since 1980 and the batteries lasted forever. Sire on the other hand are crazy when it comes to their pre amps, my batteries only last 3 months and that's no good. I checked the pre amp wiring and jack socket. but all was fine, so I sent off an email to Sire and the reply came back stating, "to preserve battery life, unplug the lead when I'm not using the bass". They also said "the battery will run down regardless of what mode I'm using be it Passive or Active", when your guitar lead is plugged in !
Looks like they need a DPDT switch in the circuit to switch off the battery when in passive mode.
 
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#17
I just purchased a Sire Marcus Miller V3, and I am wondering about the battery drain. Could anybody check on the current draw of their Sire bass by doing the following: plug in a TRS cable and measure with a multimeter between the ring and sleeve of the exposed end using the DC amps setting on the meter. This completes the circuit (which would normally be open if you plug in a TRS cable into an active bass), and you can read how many mA are flowing in the bass. I got a number (2.24mA) at least 5 times higher than my other active bass, which would give me a little over 220 hours of battery life. Maybe this is acceptable, but is lower than I had hoped for. If anybody would be willing to check their Sire bass doing this test, that would be much appreciated.
 
#18
schwimbob said:
I just purchased a Sire Marcus Miller V3, and I am wondering about the battery drain. Could anybody check on the current draw of their Sire bass by doing the following: plug in a TRS cable and measure with a multimeter between the ring and sleeve of the exposed end using the DC amps setting on the meter. This completes the circuit (which would normally be open if you plug in a TRS cable into an active bass), and you can read how many mA are flowing in the bass. I got a number (2.24mA) at least 5 times higher than my other active bass, which would give me a little over 220 hours of battery life. Maybe this is acceptable, but is lower than I had hoped for. If anybody would be willing to check their Sire bass doing this test, that would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
If I read my meter correctly, I measured a shade under 2.5 mA on mine, this is with fairly stale rechargeable 9vs in for several months.

But how does the current measured when completing the circuit have anything to do with battery life? The circuit shouldn't be completed when not in use (not plugged in). Leave it plugged in all the time, I'd be surprised if you even got 220 hours of battery life. I recharge mine maybe once or twice a year (would be more often if I were gigging it).

Edit: Nevermind, I get that you mean 220 hours of playing time battery life. I haven't tried to measure how many "playing hours" I get (probably rather less than normal batteries).
 
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#19
I just estimated battery life by taking the given estimate of 500 mAh (milliamp hours) for a new alkaline battery being discharged at a fairly low rate (2.5 mA or 2.24 mA is still a fairly low current flow when considering discharging the battery) and then dividing that life expectancy by the actual current flow (the 2.24 or 2.5 mA). That is what would give 200 hours in your case, or 223 hours in my case of battery life (if you were playing all the time). If you or I played 2 hours per day (and had the bass cable unplugged when not playing), we would expect to have the batteries die in 100 or 111 days.

I'm thinking about wiring in an additional spdt mini toggle onto the control plate to be able to cut the connection between the batteries and the ring on the output jack, so that if you played in passive mode, you wouldn't be draining the battery. If you throw this proposed switch when the bass was switched to the passive mode, I think you wouldn't get the loud pop that would happen if all was wired into 1 switch (that changed mode from passive to active and vice versa, and also turned the current on and off). I'm also waiting to hear back from Sire about this stuff.
 

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