Sire Marcus Miller V7 - Battery depletion rate?

[whamni]

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.

Last year I talked about this very topic, I played a Stingray for 30 years and it's battery lasted for years and not months like the Sire. I soon discovered with the Sire, in Active or Passive mode and leaving the jack plug in, the battery lasted only a few months, so I replaced the switch to a mini DPDT switch, so in passive mode the battery is out of circuit. Happy Days

 

[Liko]

(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...)

On a $500-600 bass like a Sire, I'd expect to have to fix a few imperfections. On a $2000 bass like a Fender American Elite, the thing better be damn perfect off the rack.

Fender better watch it or they'll be where Gibson was a couple years ago (and honestly still is).

 

[Gohloum]

[RESOLVED with wiring explanation]

I know this thread is a little old, however I had the same issue with a 2023 Marcus Miller M7 6 string. Even though I bought it through Sweetwater, and they offered to send a replacement, it was easier for me to open the back and track it down myself. In my case, the negative from the pre-amp and battery were swapped on the input jack. The battery negative lead from the battery box was wired to the sleeve (ground) and the preamp negative was wired to ring (which breaks circuit from ground when no plug is inserted). By simply reversing these 2 wires on the jack with a soldering iron, the problem was solved. Also to note, with the MM preamps, the wiring setup is pretty simple for the jack. There are several mollex connectors on the preamp box which have 3 wires: Red, White, Black. Just track down the one which has a red lead going to the battery box red. This is your power circuit and output. Wires from this should be Red to battery hot, Black to input jack ground, White to input jack tip. Hopefully this helps anyone in the future.