Battery question

[Kipper4]

Guys this might not be possible and might be a dumb question but
Why in this day and age of high tech wizardry is it not possible to run effects pedals off of those ion batterys found in phones cameras etc?

[Gus]

There have been posts about things like this in the past.
IIRC People have posted about using C and D cells in a enclosure to power effects
and using rechargeable battery packs and voltage regulators to power effects

Question is why would you want a Li battery pack?

I would do some searching

[Kipper4]

Because from what i've seen of these batterys they are much smaller than conventional 9v batterys. Unless im mistaken.
I got to thinking smaller battery footprint means more room in the box for board componants, switches, etc

[psychedelicfish]

Go to your nearest battery shop. Compare the price of an alkaline AA and an Li AA.

[pappasmurfsharem]

Also typical lithium batteries tend to be lower voltage. Around 3.7 to 5v. And they are expensive

[psychedelicfish]

Also typical lithium batteries tend to be lower voltage. Around 3.7 to 5v.

I think that's mainly because the only things that really need betteries with that long of a life are digital devices like phones, cameras etc. that run on low voltages.

[R.G.]

It is possible. As noted, the LiIon batteries are expensive (although light!) and don't come in a handy "9V" size that I know of.

However... one of my favorite things I never got around to turning into a product is:
Find a cordless drill/driver with snap-into-the-handle rechargeable packs. LiIon battery packs are common for these. Take it apart, remove the motor and trigger, then cut off the handle. You want the handle for a socket. Mount the socket on your pedalboard where you can trade packs easily. If you get a 12V version, you can put a 7809 after it and have regulated 9V for your entire pedalboard. Play. Many hours. When the battery gets weak, swap packs from the separate charger.

[Kipper4]

Fair enough but wouldnt the possibilty of being able to make rechargable effects pedals be a good value long run thing.
When you think some giggers change the battery every gig. it may be a great saving for them.
Just curious.

[Gus]

I was thinking more about liability issues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery#Safety
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicle_fire_incidents

IIRC People have posted about using a greater than 9VDC battery and a 9VDC regulator to power effects

[R.G.]

Fair enough but wouldnt the possibilty of being able to make rechargable effects pedals be a good value long run thing.
When you think some giggers change the battery every gig. it may be a great saving for them.
Just curious.

It's a big issue economically.

Lithium 9V rechargeable batteries cost about US$10-15 (EU7.5 - 11.25) each, and need a charger that's about $10-15 as well. They're getting better, but still expensive. And if you have ten pedals on a pedalboard that need batteries, that's ... US$100-150 for the batteries?

An AC power adapter can be had for US$25 or so, and runs as many as 100 9V battery-style pedals (I know of a unit that will do that, anyway). A kW-hour of electricity costs about $0.20 currently, and that's 9V at 1A for 111 hours - essentially free, compared to the cost of running an amp.

The economics are all in favor of the wall-wart adapter at present. In fact, making pedals with no battery clip inside might be a bigger favor to the steady giggers.

[R.G.]

Here's another question:

How come all guitar amps don't have an isolated 9V dc output jack as part of the amp?

[Tony Forestiere]

Here's another question:

How come all guitar amps don't have an isolated 9V dc output jack as part of the amp?

Great question! Did the VS Workhorse Amp Series have that option? Would have been a no-brainer to include a OneSpot on board.

[pappasmurfsharem]

Here's another question:

How come all guitar amps don't have an isolated 9V dc output jack as part of the amp?

It funny you say that. I was thinning the exact sanme thing when I was alligator clipping the crap out of a wooly mammoth build right before I started writing this post. I let my cousin borrow both my adapters for testing the earthquaker hummingbird build I walked him through. Realized I didn't have any power source to test my pedal

[Kipper4]

That mammoths a great project. Shame you can't hear it Papa.
Wanna borrow a battery dude?

[pappasmurfsharem]

That mammoths a great project. Shame you can't hear it Papa.
Wanna borrow a battery dude?

I find one in my dead Multimeter

Wool pot should definitely be rev log though instead of linear

Sounds cool with my geddy lee jazz. Not so much with any of my guitars

[Mac Walker]

I was thinking more about liability issues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems

I smell an MBA degree in there somewhere....  They chose the highest energy density chemistry for this application, which also happens to be the riskiest.  Still not clear who did the engineering, my guess is there would be an "out" and a "sourcing" involved in it somewhere, lol....

If one wanted to duplicate the Sanyo battery back system:



then the best place would be hobbyking.  You could easily come up with something for half the cost....

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__86__85__batteries_accessories-li_poly_all_brands_.html

For Li Ion a smart charger is absolutely mandatory.  Each individual cell MUST be monitored and equalized during the charging process.....

[R.G.]

Great question! Did the VS Workhorse Amp Series have that option? Would have been a no-brainer to include a OneSpot on board.

Oddly enough, they did!   

It wasn't a 1Spot, exactly. We just put another winding on the main PT and took off a voltage to regulate to 9Vdc, then brought it out to a DC jack right next to the input jack. Easy enough to tape/cable tie a DC power cable in parallel with the input  signal cord out to the pedalboard. We even included a 12 foot/4m DC cable with the amp.

What I can't get over is that this is such an obvious thing to do. I can't believe that more of the boutique amps haven't picked it up. Even putting a tiny 12V/1A PT inside the amp, or a whole wall wart is cost effective. And it gathers up all the stuff you'd otherwise have to schlep around.

But that's just me.