Is checking a battery a waste of time?

jjbigfly · #1 10-01-2022, 08:29 AM

I could have this wrong as I am old, weird and never did study to be a scientist.
I have been given to believe that the only way to REALLY test a battery is to “load” test it. And that involves putting a serious draw on it, which uses the battery to it’s fullest. And if it is a disposable battery then you have used a good deal of it’s stored power to determine if the battery is good. Yes, shortening its life…..
I know you can check the voltage easily, but having, say, a 9 volt battery that testing indicates it has 9 volts available does not have much to do with the condition of the battery. I think the issue is that a 9 volt battery can show that is has 9 volts, but this says nothing about how long it can supply that voltage.
And testing it under load may only tell you that the battery WAS good 😬, before you used it up in load testing….
I will replace a battery that is suspect with a new one, and if nothing changes then I will put the old one back in, simply so as to not toss a good battery.

I AM balding too, so that may make a difference…..

L20A · #2 10-01-2022, 09:57 AM

Batteries for guitars is something new to me.
Until recently, I didn't have pickups in my guitars.
Now I have 4 guitars with pickups and 2 of them require a 9 volt battery.

I have wondered how long the batteries last myself.
One did on me a few weeks ago during a gig.
It was quick and easy to replace it but also a bit annoying.

It would probably be a good idea to replace the battery once a year.

rmp · #3 10-01-2022, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L20A

Batteries for guitars is something new to me.
Until recently, I didn't have pickups in my guitars.
Now I have 4 guitars with pickups and 2 of them require a 9 volt battery.

I have wondered how long the batteries last myself.
One did on me a few weeks ago during a gig.
It was quick and easy to replace it but also a bit annoying.

It would probably be a good idea to replace the battery once a year.

really depends on the pickup

ES2s tend to consume more from a 9volt than your average Fishman (like an Infinity)

Using coated strings mostly so the changes are about once ever 4 months on the guitars I have those on I will change the battery (If I remember) every other change.

I have a tester, and they do seem to have a lot of life left, but to have one go dead right in the middle of a performance is a real buzz kill.

Murphy Slaw · #4 10-02-2022, 05:13 AM

I didn't change the battery on my J-45 for nearly 8 years.

I mic'ed it...

Harmony123 · #5 10-02-2022, 06:09 AM

I suspect you might be overthinking things. When I test a 9v battery, I hook it up to a little lightbulb which is commonly used to light up a car's interior when the car door is opened.

If the light is strong, the battery is good. If the light is feeble, the battery needs to be recharged or replaced. The whole process takes less than a second, so the drain on the battery is pretty minimal.

ps: leaving the cord plugged into your guitar will drain the battery pretty quickly, so unplug it when it's not in use.

hubcapsc · #6 10-02-2022, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harmony123

I suspect you might be overthinking things. When I test a 9v battery, I hook it up to a little lightbulb which is commonly used to light up a car's interior when the car door is opened.

If the light is strong, the battery is good. If the light is feeble, the battery needs to be recharged or replaced. The whole process takes less than a second, so the drain on the battery is pretty minimal.

ps: leaving the cord plugged into your guitar will drain the battery pretty quickly, so unplug it when it's not in use.

I don't use guitar batteries

but I do use a lot of AAA batteries in the
light I wear on my head... there's no exterior lights on my 20 acres.
When the light starts getting dimmer, I put in new batteries... similar to
Harmony123's load test...

-Mike

Mandobart · #7 10-02-2022, 07:44 AM

A couple second load test will not appreciably drain the battery. If the voltage drops significantly with a normal load applied for a few seconds that battery was toast before you checked it.

I don't like batteries in instruments - I use only passive pickups and separate external preamps. My favorite is my phantom powered RedEye.

varmonter · #8 10-02-2022, 09:21 AM

Anything that requires a battery I generally try to make sure I always have spares at a gig.
I have rechargeable wireless guitar
Dohickys that I use.. but I always have
A cord nearby at gigs. Batteries at best are unreliable and can fail at the most inopportune times. Tuners stomp pedals preamps
I have spares for anything I use.
Most of my stuff i buy i try to buy
Either phantom powered or hardwired.
The barn door preamps in guitars are
Pretty efficient and usually need only replaced yearly..

lkingston · #9 10-06-2022, 07:14 AM

I have a Yamaha NTX3 which is a nylon string crossover. It uses three AA batteries. It has a simple feature that I didn’t think about before I bought it, but that I absolutely LOVE now. That is that an LED comes on when there is a half hour of battery time left. This means no guessing. You play it out until the LED comes on. When it does, you just change batteries after finishing whatever set you are doing. All guitars should do this!

Rudy4 · #10 10-06-2022, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lkingston

I have a Yamaha NTX3 which is a nylon string crossover. It uses three AA batteries. It has a simple feature that I didn’t think about before I bought it, but that I absolutely LOVE now. That is that an LED comes on when there is a half hour of battery time left. This means no guessing. You play it out until the LED comes on. When it does, you just change batteries after finishing whatever set you are doing. All guitars should do this!

What if the light comes on at the start of a set? I don't know anyone who plays sets that are a half hour. I'd feel more comfortable with a hour notification by the LED indicator.

Rudy4 · #11 10-06-2022, 07:45 AM

I'm surprised no one has had damage from a leaking battery. I have had batteries leak in the past that damaged the battery clips. I don't have any instruments that require an internal battery... partially due to that possibility.

Al Acuff · #12 10-07-2022, 04:21 PM

Years ago I bought this ZTS pulse load battery tester. If I lost it I would buy another to replace it. Highly recommended!!!

ZTS Pulse Load Battery Tester

Rudy4 · #13 10-07-2022, 06:45 PM

Nobody checks their 9 volts by a quick tongue across the terminals?

Lost Sheep · #14 10-07-2022, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Nobody checks their 9 volts by a quick tongue across the terminals?

I do. Drives my girlfriend crazy. But it only tells you if the battery is very close to unusable. A load test by tongue is not something I am willing to endure.

Lost Sheep · #15 10-07-2022, 07:27 PM

Remember that there are many sorts of dry cell batteries, using different combination of metals and other chemicals batteries (alkaline, nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, litium-ion, etc). Some sustain their voltage until the amperage (and voltage) drop off suddenly and some keep putting out power, but the voltage falls off slowly.

Lighting an old-school light bulb some burn brightly and then goes dim to dark quickly and others burn brightly and slowly go dim over a much longer period of time. The one type will work electronics until it suddenly doesn't. The other type may or may not slowly show loss of fidelity or gain as the battery dies.

Choose carefully.