9v batteries.

[giginthesky]

is there a better brand? duracell, energizer, rayovac? rayovac's are half price this week at a local store. and, i don't want to use cheap quality batteries for my active pickups cause you know it's a pain in the a$$ to change them.

[sonserve]

Duracell has the best rep. My daughters did a science project a few years back and they say Rayovac beat all the others in longevity...

[giginthesky]

interesting! thanx for that sonserve.

[Robbied_216]

I have always found the duracell ultra's to be good. Better than standard duracell.

[cowboytwang]

One of those "consumer, saving you money" segments on the news, awhile back, did a test of disposable batteries.
They bought everything from the cheapest alkaline to the most expensive. One by one they would hook up the battery to a little DC motor, start a timer when they turned it on and stop the timer when the motor stopped running. Almost every battery was within a minute, four of them within seconds, of each other, and the most expensive(Duracell) wasn't even in the top 3.
Their conclusion for Alkaline 9volts is to buy the cheapest you can find, because the difference in lifespan doesn't justify the higher price.

For high drain digital use it was different, and for that they were testing AA batteries. The absolute clear winner was the Panasonic oxyride battery, it lasted over twice as long as any other, and was only a few cents more per battery then the alkaline.
The bad part is they don't make it in a 9 volt. In fact it looks like most new battery technology is skipping over 9 volts and the lager C & D cells. Everything is going to AA & AAA.

[cband7]

Ought to be a Federal law that any musical instrument that uses batteries has to have the pop open battery box on the back!


.

[Dirty Steve]

But which brand of 9 volt tastes better? Is there a tongue-tingle test?

[morroben]

Whatever Costco is selling at the time...usually Duracell.

[cowboytwang]

I almost forgot about Lithium 9 Volts. Some have a 10 year self life and can last 4 times longer than an alkaline. They do have a little lower voltage, than an alkaline, when new, but have a much higher milliampere-hour rating.

I bought some lithium 9v batteries for about $6-$7 a piece. One has lasted 8 years in a smoke detector and is still the same voltage as when I put it in.

[MondoGuitar]

Rechargeables are the only way to fly. Buy two, rotate them -- with proper care they last a long time. If you use a solar charger you can just leave it on a window sill and get free refills. :)

[Stratotwanger]

I have never met a rechargable that has worked. That is my own experience with them. Well, not my own, just other folks in different bands of mine who would have half a dozen chargers sitting on top of thier amp and the red light coming on in their wireless every fifteen minutes. It seemed the same thing always happened in every situation involving the rechargables. But, if they work for anybody....good for you. I'm just not carrying around that much extra junk when I can just pop in a new Duracell and be off to the races. Don't forget that Energizers are slightly larger than other batteries and that after using them, you'll need to put your contacts back in place to allow for other batteries to reach them. Kind of like being the last guy on the football team to visit the only hooker in your town after the big game.

[MondoGuitar]

I have never met a rechargable that has worked. That is my own experience with them.

10 years ago maybe. Things are different now, there's some good ones. I've relied on rechargeables for years without a single fail. Give this a shot:
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ip...le-battery.php

If it fails in 15 minutes I'll send you $18.

[cowboytwang]

9 Volt rechargeable kind of suck. They drain almost as fast, when they aren't being used, as they do when they are being used. If you used them with active pickups, you would have to change every gig and that would be a PIA.

There are some new hybrid Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) cells, that they are using for AA and AAA rechargeable. They ship charged and can hold 85-90% of a full charge after a year of storage, and don't have the memory problem as other rechargeable. They can be recharged 1000 times, with no loss.

[MondoGuitar]

I don't know about that cowboy, this one has essentially same power:
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ip...le-battery.php

Works well in high drain applications supposedly. Test it and do a write up for TDPRI and I will happily pay the $18. Time to bust this myth lads.

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by MondoGuitar

10 years ago maybe. Things are different now, there's some good ones. I've relied on rechargeables for years without a single fail. Give this a shot:
http://www.atbatt.com/product/5318.asp

If it fails in 15 minutes I'll send you $8.

That link is for the lithium 9 volt I mentioned earlier, it's not a rechargeable.
There are some rechargeable lithium-Polymer 9v on the market that are a big improvement on the standard NiMH rechargeable.

Here is the Lithium Polymer link

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by MondoGuitar

I don't know about that cowboy, this one has essentially same power:
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ip...le-battery.php

Works well in high drain applications supposedly. Test it and do a write up for TDPRI and I will happily pay the $18. Time to bust this myth lads.

Even those best "hybrid" rechargeable only have a 500mAh(milliampere per hour use capacity). The non-rechargeable Lithium 9Volt is 1200mAh, that makes a difference how long a pedal or active pickups will last on a gig.

[Alamo]

Originally Posted by cowboytwang

One of those "consumer, saving you money" segments on the news, awhile back, did a test of disposable batteries.
They bought everything from the cheapest alkaline to the most expensive. One by one they would hook up the battery to a little DC motor, start a timer when they turned it on and stop the timer when the motor stopped running. Almost every battery was within a minute, four of them within seconds, of each other, and the most expensive(Duracell) wasn't even in the top 3.
Their conclusion for Alkaline 9volts is to buy the cheapest you can find, because the difference in lifespan doesn't justify the higher price.

For high drain digital use it was different, and for that they were testing AA batteries. The absolute clear winner was the Panasonic oxyride battery, it lasted over twice as long as any other, and was only a few cents more per battery then the alkaline.
The bad part is they don't make it in a 9 volt. In fact it looks like most new battery technology is skipping over 9 volts and the lager C & D cells. Everything is going to AA & AAA.

Spot on!
I read a similar german test report with the same conclusion.
"the difference in lifespan doesn't justify the higher price."

the price difference can be up to 5x

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by MondoGuitar

I don't know about that cowboy, this one has essentially same power:
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ip...le-battery.php

Works well in high drain applications supposedly. Test it and do a write up for TDPRI and I will happily pay the $18. Time to bust this myth lads.

Sheesh, that $19 battery requires a special $35 charger:

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/ip...ry-charger.htm

[MondoGuitar]

Even those best "hybrid" rechargeable only have a 500mAh(milliampere per hour use capacity). The non-rechargeable Lithium 9Volt is 1200mAh, that makes a difference how long a pedal or active pickups will last on a gig.

540mAh actually. Standard Coppertop is 580mAh my friend.

If you can't get a gig done with a coppertop then god bless you. You've obviously made up your mind, and no amount of reality will change it. Oh well, I tried.

To the OP, don't believe the hype -- I use them, not one fail ever. And I have more devices here than a Japanese calculator salesman. As you can see I offered to pay for the batteries to prove the naysayers wrong but they ignore that for some mystifying reason, the rest is TDPRI history. Fact = you'll be just fine with quality rechargeables, you'll save lots of money (Lithium Polymer recharge hundreds of times with no memory effect) -- and always have fresh stock on hand with no trips to the store. And you'll be creating less garbage for the landfill.

Peace.

[MondoGuitar]

Sheesh, that $19 battery requires a special $35 charger:

Sheesh, for $54 total you get hundreds of recharges. Know anywhere you can buy coppertops for .25 cents each? And still be left with a recharger when they're gone?

For $73 you would get at least the equivalent of 400 coppertops. Even at $1.99 each you would save $725 at minimum on only two batteries! And I've seen big league talent using coppertops in their pedals, so... At least compare apples to apples man... The amount of cash you save with rechargeables is astronomical. If you're a family man I'm sure you can find someplace better to spend it.

I do believe I've stumbled upon "the wall" that marketers rely on to keep you at the trough, i.e. no matter how much benefit there is to changing your behavior you will reject that change to your own obvious detriment because you have been successfully programmed to do so. What can I say...

Best of luck on everything. Personally I know of no good reason to fear rechargeables in 2010 -- you guys probably used cheapies. You get what you pay for. Technology changes. Things improve. They work fine for me in everyday real world music industry applications without a hitch today -- and I will never go back to disposables. Peace.

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by MondoGuitar

540mAh actually. Standard Coppertop is 580mAh my friend.

If you can't get a gig done with a coppertop then god bless you. You've obviously made up your mind, and no amount of reality will change it. Oh well, I tried.

To the OP, don't believe the hype -- I use them, not one fail ever. And I have more devices here than a Japanese calculator salesman. As you can see I offered to pay for the batteries to prove the naysayers wrong but they ignore that for some mystifying reason, the rest is TDPRI history. Fact = you'll be just fine with quality rechargeables, you'll save lots of money (Lithium Polymer recharge hundreds of times with no memory effect) -- and always have fresh stock on hand with no trips to the store. And you'll be creating less garbage for the landfill.

Peace.

I really have no problem with rechargeable, I use them in my camera, MP3 player, and wireless gear. As long as you get the ones without memory and use them right they are great.

The thing I was trying to point out is the disposable lithium 9V is 1200mAh, and can last over 4 times longer than a single charge on a rechargeable. When you have an active pickup with a hard to access compartment, like EMGs or some acoustics, that is a major selling point.

[MondoGuitar]

disposable lithium 9V is 1200mAh, and can last over 4 times longer than a single charge on a rechargeable.

For 10 times the cost (not counting environmental costs associated with packaging and disposal) and your time spent shopping is all I'm pointing out. And FWIW it's a good example to set, i.e. I try not to teach my kid to use disposable products where non-disposable products function well.

Cheers man.

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by MondoGuitar

For 10 times the cost (not counting environmental costs associated with packaging and disposal) and your time spent shopping is all I'm pointing out. And FWIW it's a good example to set, i.e. I try not to teach my kid to use disposable products where non-disposable products function well.

Cheers man.

I agree and applaud you on that, but remember ALL batteries are disposable. It's just a matter of how much use you can get out of them before they are gone.

Also "environmentally" the lithium Polymer battery is the most expensive to make and has a higher cost-to-energy ratio than lithium-ion(non-rechargeable), in terms of manufacturing. However most of that is because it's not as popular, and the more people that do use them, the more economical it will be to produce them.
Also battery technology is changing fast right now, so who knows it may be a whole different thing in 5 years.