Acoustic Electric Guitars and Batteries

Usually these guitars use a stereo jack to disconnect the battery when not plugged in. If yours is one, there is a way to power it from a wallwart without any permanent mods to the guitar. I seem to recall a commercial box which does it, but I can't find it right now. It would be cheap and easy to DIY if you know which end of a soldering iron is hot.
 
ashcat_lt said:
Usually these guitars use a stereo jack to disconnect the battery when not plugged in. If yours is one, there is a way to power it from a wallwart without any permanent mods to the guitar. I seem to recall a commercial box which does it, but I can't find it right now. It would be cheap and easy to DIY if you know which end of a soldering iron is hot.
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You can go the cheaper route and install a stereo jack, and use a wall wart.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)


Some examples.

A 3.5mm jack, also disconnects the internal battery, when you plug it in.

Several ways and points, to mount the jack.....
 
All good stuff and I hope the OP finds a solution but it really is time the guitar industry and guitarists weaned themselves off the handy but puny PP3!

There are now readily available quite cheap DC-DC converters on the market and so 4xAA is a viable option and supplies of 12 or 15volts easily achieved giving much more headroom and cleaner tone. The AA cell has a much higher mA/Hr rating for the volume and price than the PP3.

Then it would be very simple to incorporate a detector circuit that kills the power after say 10 minutes of silence. 21st century acoooostics!

Dave.
 
I have martin and taylor acoustic guitars. Replace my batteries maybe once a year. I do use energizer or duracell. Leaving guitars plugged or leaving tuner activated will use battery juice. Dont bother with rechargables. Not very dependable and loose power after they've been recharged several times.
 
My Yamaha gets a new battery every time it gets new strings...the battery is in the hole! I don't like surprises from dying batteries (as learned from my Headway bass when I played for my supper), so I always keep fresh in. But I go for usually 2-3 months between string changes (and I play often) and have never pulled a battery I couldn't use later in an RC or my headset. The batteries usually last quite a long time. I've always used Energizers and I DO check expiration dates on several packages before choosing. My acoustic/electric bass gets a new battery about once a year and never has a problem.

There is a medical condition (that I used to have) that produces excess static electricity in your system. This actually drains batteries. If you have a hard time keeping your wristwatch batteries for more than 6 weeks you may have this condition. Your contact with the instruments may be causing the drain.

..I always blamed the Norwegian electronics in my Headway, but learned later that it was my own condition causing the problem. :guitar: Either it's you, or you're getting lucky enough to buy close to expiration batteries (assuming you're not checking). Other than that, I don't know why you'd lose battery life after only a few days/weeks.
 
We're talking 30 years ago in the haze of military life. I'll see if I can piece together an answer.

I believe the official diagnosis for me was narcolepsy (which is a form of epilepsy without the seizures and often goes undiagnosed). Basically, there is a ground point at the brain (in the case of narcolepsy, usually on the brain stem, other places for epilepsy) and your body produces excess electricity which builds and then discharges there. If the point on the brain where the discharges occurs causes physical seizures it is epilepsy, narcolepsy (as the narco pre indicates) causes you to sleep (or become unresponsive). Anyway, there are many location in the brain which may not cause ANY symptom, but you would have problems with batteries just the same.

It's been a lot of years since I dealt with the problem. So I'm foggy and my knowledge of physiology and etc. is not good. But if you think that's a possible a doctor can probably verify.
:yawn: Boring medical stuff...
 
Slowrider said:
Take those batteries out of the guitar when you are not playing.

Those circuits continue to drain a few mA, (Milliamps), even when they are turned off...

Those mA's really add up after a while.
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I thought this was odd when you said it, guess I'm gonna have to file this under 'it depends. We've been all acoustic and/or mics around here and I hadn't plugged this Taki in in several months.
After our prep for our Eclectric in the Park Wed coming up, 9.27 volts.
 
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