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Active electronics battery drain


NasalFloss
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Hi there, I'm used to purely passive instruments up until now. I purchased a V7 recently and the batteries are dead already. I've been using it in passive mode and leave it plugged in when I'm not practicing. Does using the bass in passive mode still affect battery life, or does leaving it plugged in when the amp is off cause drain? Thanks in advance. I'm completely ignorant when it comes to electronics and like I said, it's all new to me!

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2 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

The battery drain is tiny if you leave it plugged in in passive. Leaving it plugged in in active causes much more drain.

If the battery is powering the active electronics is switched on by plugging in the bass, it makes zero difference whether or not they are connected to the output of the bass. Switching between active and passive only changes the signal path, the pre-amp is still on whether or not the signal is passing through it.

In theory it would be possible to also make the active/passive switch also turn off the battery, but I don't know of any manufacturers that implement this.

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5 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

In theory it would be possible to also make the active/passive switch also turn off the battery, but I don't know of any manufacturers that implement this.

I was just writing a response to this thread and saw this pop up and this is exactly what I was going to say. The active/passive switch should switch the audio path and kill the battery - you would have thought...?

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Then the battery stays connected and using charge, even if the bass is unplugged, if it’s in active mode.

Unplugging the cable is the simplest, most reliable and obvious way of connecting and breaking the power circuit. It’s physical switching, so little can go wrong - user excluded.

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3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

If the battery is powering the active electronics is switched on by plugging in the bass, it makes zero difference whether or not they are connected to the output of the bass. Switching between active and passive only changes the signal path, the pre-amp is still on whether or not the signal is passing through it.

In theory it would be possible to also make the active/passive switch also turn off the battery, but I don't know of any manufacturers that implement this.

I was told that by Dan Lakin so...

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It doesn’t disconnect that battery when you use the switch because if it did you’d get a loud pop when you switch on. I think. Also battery life should be thousands of hours in any case so just change it when you change strings or have a spare in your gig bag.

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24 minutes ago, ped said:

It doesn’t disconnect that battery when you use the switch because if it did you’d get a loud pop when you switch on. I think. Also battery life should be thousands of hours in any case so just change it when you change strings or have a spare in your gig bag.

No reason why it should. The power-on circuit could be buffered in the same way that many amp manufacturers do with a "soft" power up and shut down.

Also battery life very much depends on when the pre-amp was made. My 1985 Overwater needed new batteries roughly every 3 months, and if left plugged in would drain the battery over night. More modern pre-amps are much more energy efficient and can last well over a year with normal use.

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