Count Bassy Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Just thought I'd share a really odd problem that I've just had: I was getting irregular and very loud pops from my active bass. To cut a long story short it turns out that I had an intermittent contact [b]inside[/b] the PP3 battery (or another internal problem giving these symptoms). This was Duracell, so not a cheapo, with loads of volts left when checked with a meter. Changed the battery and everything is rosy again. Because I'd never come across an internal battery fault like this before I spent quite a bit of time messing about with everything else (Battery connector, wiring etc.) before trying a different battery. Doh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 How odd. I've never come across that sort of thing before, but I guess that it's possible because a battery is just a collection of individual cells connected in series. I wonder if the actual intermittent connection was something to do with the internal wiring to the two connectors on the top of the battery or the connections between individual cells? I'd have taken the thing apart to try to find out! Another thought is that perhaps the negative connector (not the 'stud' like one) on the battery had been deformed? It's possible (though pretty unlikely) for the 'petals' on that connector to be opened out a bit so that the mating 'stud' doesn't make a physically tight contact and in an extreme case it's possible for the stud to just lie inside the 'petals' and not make any contact. A quick squeeze with a pair of pliers would fix such a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) That's definitely weird. Thanks for the gen Edited January 5, 2014 by alyctes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 [quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1388963989' post='2328303'] Another thought is that perhaps the negative connector (not the 'stud' like one) on the battery had been deformed? It's possible (though pretty unlikely) for the 'petals' on that connector to be opened out a bit so that the mating 'stud' doesn't make a physically tight contact and in an extreme case it's possible for the stud to just lie inside the 'petals' and not make any contact. A quick squeeze with a pair of pliers would fix such a problem. [/quote] That was my first thought, but I definitely had to press hard to engage each stud, especially after I had pinched them up tighter. I even resoldered the wires onto the connector part, but nothing changed until I actually tried a different battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) [quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1388963989' post='2328303'] in an extreme case it's possible for the stud to just lie inside the 'petals' and not make any contact. A quick squeeze with a pair of pliers would fix such a problem. [/quote] F'narr, f'narr. Er - Sorry about the derail... Edited January 6, 2014 by skankdelvar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 [quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1389015032' post='2328749'] That was my first thought, but I definitely had to press hard to engage each stud, especially after I had pinched them up tighter. I even resoldered the wires onto the connector part, but nothing changed until I actually tried a different battery. [/quote] Fair enough. What's that Sherlock Holmes saying? When you've eliminated everything else then what remains must be the actual reason, no matter how improbable it may seem! Many years (*cough* decades *cough*) ago I had to fault-find an V24 serial connection (look it up kids ) between two computers and it took me ages because nothing I tried made any sense. Long story short, it turned out that two of the wires in the multi-way cable actually [u]swapped colours[/u] within the overall cable sheath! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepbass5 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Yep - I have had a couple of issues with PP3 similar no connection to one of the poles. I usually buy a large box of these at a time from Battery force. I used to get through a few with Radio mics, 18v basses and an electro acoustic guitar. I Have a battery tester and found whilst testing twisting the battery just gently on the test pins clockwise and anti clock the voltage would disappear, assuming a faulty connection to one of the pins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Also there are a lot of fake Duracells around, especially on t'internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I experienced exactly the same thing with a Duracell in my Shuker 6 I used to have (EMG pickups), although mine was more a static crackle that came and went. A valuable lesson learned - change the battery first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 [quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1389028994' post='2329027'] Fair enough. What's that Sherlock Holmes saying? When you've eliminated everything else then what remains must be the actual reason, no matter how improbable it may seem! Many years (*cough* decades *cough*) ago I had to fault-find an V24 serial connection (look it up kids ) between two computers and it took me ages because nothing I tried made any sense. Long story short, it turned out that two of the wires in the multi-way cable actually [u]swapped colours[/u] within the overall cable sheath! [/quote] I had a similar problem with a multi-core (around the same time), 24 or 36 core 0.25mm, and found that it had two green cores !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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