Simple Battery Check Mod

[daveplaysbass]

I went to pull the battery and the clip came apart. I also have a scratchy bass pot. And the series mode and the bridge pickup did not work with the original wiring. Not sure of the history of my new Tribute but it appears the Indonesia QC was not up to par.

I put on a new battery clip and drilled a strategically placed 3/16" hole so I can measure the battery voltage without removing the back cover. There needs to be a cable plugged in, and the battery needs to be placed inside with the "+" terminal up. I put in a new battery and will track the battery decay. The math says the LM4250 should last at least 6 months with continuous battery drain. We shall see.

[Karl Kaminski]

Nice! a simple, practical innovation. I was about to build a battery level led (already bought the parts from digikey) but I like the simplicity here. I may go this route!

kuddos

[Ken Baker]

Dave doesn't mention it in his post, but a battery tester needs to place a light load on the battery under test to get an accurate reading. I'm not sure if the preamp is enough of a load, though I admit that I don't know how much of a load it provides. Doing this with the bass in active mode and a cable plugged in to power the preamp may well be enough load.

Why do I say this? Because an alkaline battery that is effectively discharged and not useful will usually measure at full voltage by testing with just a voltmeter and no load.

Ken...