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Low Battery light?


Jerry C
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I am wondering if anybody else feels that an active bass should have a low battery indicator. I have been putting one in all of my basses for many years. I just don't find it acceptable to wait until it sounds broken (or no sound at all), and use that as an clue that the battery is finished.

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37 minutes ago, itu said:

You can have a reminder twice a year in your phone. Should we have official 9 volt days? September 9th could be one.

Seems wasteful, could end up throwing away batteries with useful life left in them if you replace them on arbitrarily decided days 6 months apart.

If I was playing at any level that wouldn't tolerate waiting for me to sound crappy long enough for me to clock that the problem is the battery and waiting for me to change said battery then I would also like a low battery indicator in my active basses.

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OK, let's make a guess. You change the battery @ 0909. A battery lasts around 500 - 1 000 hours, or 100 - 200 gigs. If you play around 3 times more as during gigs, this is 25 - 50 gigs and rehearsals. This does not sound so bad for one year (except right now, #¤%/&%#! quarantine).

If you have a DMM, you can also check the batteries at the same date - and make a decision whether you have played or not with a cable attached.

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My first Bass was a Hohner Professional JJ. This had a front mounted LED that glowed when the bass was powered up. I noticed that the light faded a little towards the end of a battery and served as a useful reminder to change. More importantly, it reminded me to unplug the bass to stop wasting the battery!

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13 minutes ago, Jerry C said:

Sounds like people can't be bothered. Oh well, I guess I'll keep putting them indicators in my own basses and not offering them to others. I must be a unique snowflake or something...

Sorry if people not wanting one has somehow offended you!

Whereas I think they are pretty good ideas, and would be happy if they were built in, I have a lot of basses, I bought 10 alkaline 9v batteries for a tenner, and i have never had an issue of a battery running out on a gig (one that went before a gig but it was a new bass and I didn't realise it was wired wrong). I don't tend to change them that often, but I tend to play with the ones I am gigging.

I do always have spare batteries though, and as almost all but one basses have a battery compartment that doesn't need a screwdriver, it is a 30 second job to change it, so it seems like an overkill to retrofit.

So not a problem of not being bothered, more a question of the cost and inconvenience of putting one in is vastly more than the inconvenience of not having one.

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6 hours ago, Jerry C said:

Oh, I'm not at all offended, I'm sorry if I gave that impression.

the 'oh well'.. 'people can't be bothered'.. 'i'm a unique snowflake'.. passive aggression thing gives that impression :D

6 hours ago, Jerry C said:

I was just trying to get an idea if anybody else might be interested. It doesn't look like it, and that's fine.

I did consider putting on in my 5005, partly because it doesn't have a battery compartment, and partly because there was a hole where a switch used to be!

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9 hours ago, Jerry C said:

Sounds like people can't be bothered. Oh well, I guess I'll keep putting them indicators in my own basses and not offering them to others. I must be a unique snowflake or something...

You came to that conclusion in 8 hours?  I see you're new.  This is a forum, it isn't YouTube.  You are talking to an potential audience of thousands, not millions.  People take their time to reply - you're not going to get someone commenting "FIRST" 3 seconds after you submit something then a bunch of sycophantic "me too" comments interspersed with whatever variant of "your mom" is currency this week.  Slow your roll, let your thread marinade in the slow cooker that is Basschat.  If you get no replies in a week then sure, take the hump, but not after 8 hours!

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I quite like the idea personally, and would be tempted to have one if I was building a bass or having one made (although I'd never personally order a custom bass). I probably wouldn't retrofit one to an existing instrument.

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Furthermore, it seems like you're trying to gauge interest in something you make/obtain and wish to sell?  I'm guessing as it's still unclear.  That only became (kinda) clear after you waved a "look what you could have won" picture in our faces.  Again, I refer back to my "Basschat != YouTube" comment - just be straight up here and tell us what you're doing - we don't need to be teased and we don't need to be baited.  Some, in fact don't take too kindly to that.  If you'd come to us with a more straightforward "Here's this cool thing I make and put on all my basses, <show thing, explain what's so cool about it>, was thinking of making them available to others, <price>, who's interested?" type approach, I think you would have gained more traction.  In a week.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick on this, please feel free to grab the stick off me, orientate it the correct way then slap me silly with it :)

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Bernie Goodfellow (GB Guitars) includes a flashing LED in his preamps. It flashes intermittently when the battery is strong and speeds up when it's getting low. I find it quite useful. The LED is visible through a smoked perspex cavity cover on the rear of the bass. A lamp on the front would be preferable, but still a good idea. Not sure I'd retrofit one on a bass unless I was having other surgery carried out on the instrument and could justify adding one then.

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21 minutes ago, itu said:

How much is this? Looks neat.

+1 - there is someone else selling these isn't there? But I think those ones require some setting up. I was thinking if the LED was recessed into the cavity cover could be good.

 

10 hours ago, Jerry C said:

I'll keep putting them indicators in my own basses

How does the indicator work? Light comes on when battery nearly dead or vice versa?

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12 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

+1 - there is someone else selling these isn't there? But I think those ones require some setting up. I was thinking if the LED was recessed into the cavity cover could be good.

 

How does the indicator work? Light comes on when battery nearly dead or vice versa?

It flashes green about once a second when battery is good (over 7V), then turns solid red when the voltage drops below 7V. It only draws 30 microamps while flashing green (and only half a milliamp when red). 

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12 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

Yes - you really just want to be able to get a visual check at the beginning of a gig, preferably without hauling out a multimeter!

My gadget flashes green every second whenever the bass is powered and the battery is good, while drawing flea power (30 microamps). This way you can always tell when the bass is on, so you'll remember to unplug the cable when you're done. When the battery drops to 7V, it turns solid red (with a pulsation on top of it every second, just to catch your eye). The led is 3mm diameter, you barely notice it unless you look for it when it's off. Can you see it? (it's not the big hole, that's a missing pot) 

IMG_20210402_160056.jpg

Edited by Jerry C
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14 hours ago, neepheid said:

Furthermore, it seems like you're trying to gauge interest in something you make/obtain and wish to sell?  I'm guessing as it's still unclear.  That only became (kinda) clear after you waved a "look what you could have won" picture in our faces.  Again, I refer back to my "Basschat != YouTube" comment - just be straight up here and tell us what you're doing - we don't need to be teased and we don't need to be baited.  Some, in fact don't take too kindly to that.  If you'd come to us with a more straightforward "Here's this cool thing I make and put on all my basses, <show thing, explain what's so cool about it>, was thinking of making them available to others, <price>, who's interested?" type approach, I think you would have gained more traction.  In a week.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick on this, please feel free to grab the stick off me, orientate it the correct way then slap me silly with it :)

I think I made a cool thing that others may or may not find useful. While I built a few for myself, I went ahead and made a few more, that I am offering on eBay for what I think is a very reasonable amount, that barely covers the parts and the half an hour it takes me to build one. Basically beer money, that I don't even need, since I quit drinking a year ago... I'm new to Basschat, didn't know if it would be acceptable to promote a "product" - if you can even call it that. It's more of a hobby with sometimes some benefits. My day job takes care of my finances, not this. 

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