How do you increase battery length in active pickups.

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Munchy5150
hey Guys, just bought a new MX-250 with the active EMGs, the guitar is fantastic im so happy with it, trouble is the batteries keep going flat on me, which is a pain in the ass! It seems that the main problem is, the battery is staying live whilst im not playing and so the battery has run low when i come to play it a couple of days later. Ive am turning the volume knobs down every time when the guitar is not in use to see if this will do the trick! i was wondering if anyone else has had the same problem, and if so if there was any way to correct it or lessen this effect. this is the first time ive used active pickups, its not a massive problem, just annoying....:mad: Any advice would be great! Thanks.
MV-CTM

the batteries should never discernably lose voltage like that, unplug the guitar though as that disconnects the circuit so the battery won't be drained at all

Munchy5150

No thats what i thought! I thought that they would only be used whilst playing as then then battery would be boosting the sound created by the pickup. ?????

lol I dunno...

5150-Viper

^so you are unpluggin your guitar after playing everytime (unplugging from the input jack on the guitar)

Munchy5150

yeh ive always done that, never always turned the volume pots down, im trying that at the moment to see what effect that has on things

metalhobo

Unplug the cable from the input jack whenever you are not playing. That cuts off the pickups from any current. Turning the volume down won't do anything if you have the cable unplugged.

Munchy5150

I always Do! thats the problem! Its somehow draining the battery length without even being plugged in. Does anyone know what the average battery life of a battery in an active pickup is? it may be that im just expecting more juice to come from the battery?!

explder

I always Do! thats the problem! Its somehow draining the battery length without even being plugged in. Does anyone know what the average battery life of a battery in an active pickup is? it may be that im just expecting more juice to come from the battery?!
I think its supposed to be around 100 hours.
Usually if you disconnect it stops the power... thats what i do and it works

MV-CTM

"If you left your guitar plugged in day and night, the battery should still last a month."

from EMG

Pharaoh

If you're still draining batts and the thing has been unplugged, I'd check the wiring on your jack and see if it's been done wrong...they use a stereo jack so that the connection is only made when the cable goes in and bridges it.

emg32

"If you left your guitar plugged in day and night, the battery should still last a month."

from EMG

That's BS. I've accidently left mine plugged in for a day or two and a new battery was junk after that.

To the OP. If you don't feel confident in doing the wiring yourself just take it to your local guitar shop. It's a easy fix since you have all of the correct parts and they would probably not charge you much at all to fix it.

LordCliffton

.they use a stereo jack so that the connection is only made when the cable goes in and bridges it.

THIS.

You NEED a stereo jack.

/thread

WildeStarr

Sounds like something is wrong with the wiring. You might want to post pics so we can see the electronics, the input jack wiring in particular.

MarkUK

what sort of battery are you using?? To be honest I usually change mine every second gig on tour but thats pretty anal on my part :)

I mostly use the energizers and they last ages for me.....if not then wiring for sure

marauder

Sounds like the previous owner had jack problems and changed it for a regular mono one. There's no switching when the plug is inserted so its always on. Even so it should last 1000 hours.

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Munchy5150

they are a bit blurred, i will try and get some clearer ones up on here.

splinter_ESP

looks to me like theres only 2 connections to the output jack, dont stereos jacks have 3? ring (battery ground) sleeve (main ground) and tip (hot)? it appears like you have a mono jack bud...

again though, we need better pictures of the jack connections!!!!!!

alternatively (one in a million shot) if you bought your batteries wholesale and all the ones youve tried are out of the same box/batch there's a chance theyre out of date or a dodgey lot, but like I say- but this is about as likely as your mx250 turning into scarlett johannsen and begging you to practice your fingering all night long ;) (get your mind out the gutter, its a guitar reference, lol)

IMO:
i) try a totally different batch (even brand) of battery
ii) GET US BETTER PICS!!!!!!! IT LOOKS LIKE A MONO!!!!!!!!!

Munchy5150

looks to me like theres only 2 connections to the output jack, dont stereos jacks have 3? ring (battery ground) sleeve (main ground) and tip (hot)? it appears like you have a mono jack bud...

again though, we need better pictures of the jack connections!!!!!!

alternatively (one in a million shot) if you bought your batteries wholesale and all the ones youve tried are out of the same box/batch there's a chance theyre out of date or a dodgey lot, but like I say- but this is about as likely as your mx250 turning into scarlett johannsen and begging you to practice your fingering all night long ;) (get your mind out the gutter, its a guitar reference, lol)

IMO:
i) try a totally different batch (even brand) of battery
ii) GET US BETTER PICS!!!!!!! IT LOOKS LIKE A MONO!!!!!!!!!


HAHAH! that made my day! Ok i will get some better pics, thanks fellas i really appreciate the help, ill get some pics up soon, its 11:30 here (UK) but ill have some up by tommorow.

Ill try my best to get some clear ones of the jack wiring, my cameras not great at close range but ill try my hardest and leave a descriptions.

thanks again!

Fikealox

Invest in a cheap multimeter, too. It'll make your fault finding a lot easier :)

splinter_ESP

I doubt it mate, my eclipse has one of them and I believe it is a ground thats permanently wired to the bridge just in case u wanna change to passives- active pups dont use this ground as they are internally grounded, but as soon as you put passives in your gonna need that wire to stop your guitar humming like a bumble bee on meth :lol:.

you dont sound like you have too much experience with guitar wiring so I would use this problem as a learning experience- get a diagram off the EMG website, desolder all your connections and rewire according to the diagram- this way you'll know exactly whats wrong if it goes arse over tit, plus you learn what's what ;)

Munchy5150

I doubt it mate, my eclipse has one of them and I believe it is a ground thats permanently wired to the bridge just in case u wanna change to passives- active pups dont use this ground as they are internally grounded, but as soon as you put passives in your gonna need that wire to stop your guitar humming like a bumble bee on meth :lol:.

you dont sound like you have too much experience with guitar wiring so I would use this problem as a learning experience- get a diagram off the EMG website, desolder all your connections and rewire according to the diagram- this way you'll know exactly whats wrong if it goes arse over tit, plus you learn what's what ;)

no i dont have much experience with wiring, I know what the wires do and im familiar with electronics but i dont know where everything should go u get me?

I dont know whether i should tackle it myself or get someone to fix it, i know a guy whos really good with anything guitar based and he'd probably do it for me quite cheaply.

but yeh ill leave that earth wire where it is then! thanks for the warning!

Mr Walley

Hell if you lived near me I would do that shit for free, mainly because I love wiring up guitars. Once you know how everything works, there is little difference between pickups, less color code.

Munchy5150

you live anywhere near, Oxted in surrey in the UK!?! lol

yeh, im sure i could do it, id just be scared id fuck up the guitar!

thanks for the offer mate

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