Battometer

[Pete Academy]

Anyone else think this is a great product?

[url="http://www.samash.com/p/BattOMeter_-49951552"]http://www.samash.com/p/BattOMeter_-49951552[/url]

[JakeBrownBass]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='925741' date='Aug 15 2010, 06:36 PM']Anyone else think this is a great product?

[url="http://www.samash.com/p/BattOMeter_-49951552"]http://www.samash.com/p/BattOMeter_-49951552[/url][/quote]

I like the idea of it, but every preamp is going to draw different amounts of current. So surely its going to give an incorrect value of how long you've got left??

Edit: Plus it doesn't work with 18v setups.

Edited August 15, 2010 by J.R.Bass

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='J.R.Bass' post='925746' date='Aug 15 2010, 06:39 PM']I like the idea of it, but every preamp is going to draw different amounts of current. So surely its going to give an incorrect value of how long you've got left??

Edit: Plus it doesn't work with 18v setups.[/quote]

Thanks for the info. I'm on 18v.

Might give it a miss.

[Doddy]

I like the idea.They could prove to be a very useful piece of kit.

Plus,Victor Wooten advertises them

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Doddy' post='925748' date='Aug 15 2010, 06:45 PM']I like the idea.They could prove to be a very useful piece of kit.

Plus,Victor Wooten advertises them [/quote]

Well. that's what swayed me.

Is Vic a 9 volt man?

[Waldo]

Seems utterly pointless to me.

But I suppose it does have a gold plated connector....

[Buzz]

Smells fishy to me if I'm honest.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Waldo' post='925778' date='Aug 15 2010, 07:29 PM']Seems utterly pointless to me.

But I suppose it does have a gold plated connector....[/quote]

Gold...the bling factor.

[peteb]

Would be a great idea if you could calibrate it for the preamp in your particular bass and if it worked on 18v!

[Waldo]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='925791' date='Aug 15 2010, 07:43 PM']Gold...the bling factor. [/quote]

It's just that when I see marketing blurbs that talk about 'gold plated connectors', 'precision' and how you can 'save the environment', alarm bells start going off in my head.

That, and I don't really see the point. I've never not had an active bass and when the battery is starting to go it's obvious and they last bloody ages anyway. Not really sure how this device will cut down on my battery usage...

[Doddy]

[quote name='Waldo' post='925778' date='Aug 15 2010, 07:29 PM']But I suppose it does have a gold plated connector....[/quote]

Which means nothing unless your jack socket is also gold.

I still think that it could be a handy little device though.

[WalMan]

I've seen these advertised too in Bass Player and wondered, but it does seem a tad expensive.

I'm sure there's a perfectly good scientific reason as to why not, but why can you not achieve a similar result by putting the probes of a battery tester or multimeter to the tip and sleeve of a lead plugged into the jack socket?

[Dood]

[quote name='WalMan' post='926064' date='Aug 16 2010, 03:04 AM']I've seen these advertised too in Bass Player and wondered, but it does seem a tad expensive.

I'm sure there's a perfectly good scientific reason as to why not, but why can you not achieve a similar result by putting the probes of a battery tester or multimeter to the tip and sleeve of a lead plugged into the jack socket?[/quote]

Hmmm, i'm having trouble understanding *how* this device can make a true reading based on the picture.

Firstly, I see a *mono* 1/4" jack plug in the picture. This means that the probe is trying to take a reading from the tip and sleeve connections from the bass output. There SHOULD NOT be a DC current available at this point. It's a bit like trying to take a battery reading for your car via the speaker output of the car's stereo. It just aint gonna happen.

The correct way to derive a current reading from around 90% of active bass circuits would be to take a STEREO jack plug and use the RING and SLEEVE terminals, NOT the tip. (The tip should be audio only) Inserting a reading at this point will put a meter in series with the active circuit and thus taking a current (not voltage) reading.

Now this is where I have my second point of issue - There is NO WAY, based on a current reading alone that this device can form an accurate reading of the 'amount of time left till your battery expires, mate'. Does it know if I am using rechargeable batteries? Does it know what the capacity of my batteries are? Can it tell that '9V' Rechargeable batteries only charge to about 8.4v nope.. nope... nope...

The better option is to buy one of those cheap battery testers from maplin, physically remove the battery from the active circuit and test it stand alone, certainly not whilst it is connected to another circuit. daft daft daft . com!

[Dood]

p.s. $28????? I bought a multimeter from maplin for a £5er!

[WalMan]

[quote name='dood' post='926410' date='Aug 16 2010, 01:28 PM']p.s. $28????? I bought a multimeter from maplin for a £5er![/quote]
I can beat that with a tester from Robert Dyas a couple of weeks back for £2!! I'll stick with that I think

[MB1]

MB1.
...So If youre Running 18v... its twice as inaccurate?

[Wil]

Just think how many 9v batteries you could buy instead.

[tauzero]

[quote name='dood' post='926408' date='Aug 16 2010, 01:27 PM']The better option is to buy one of those cheap battery testers from maplin, physically remove the battery from the active circuit and test it stand alone, certainly not whilst it is connected to another circuit. daft daft daft . com! [/quote]
No, the better option is to buy cheap battery tester/reasonable multimeter (look on it as an investment), leave the battery connected, plug a lead in, and then check the battery voltage. The voltage on an unloaded battery will be higher than a loaded one, sometimes by a large margin (depends on the current draw of the circuit).

[tauzero]

PS. The plug is a TRS one, it just doesn't look like it in the Sam Ash photo. Check out the [url="http://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/batt-o-meter/"]maker's website[/url] where its TRSishness is visible in the gallery (I suspect it's deliberately shaped that way to avoid the plug tip contacting the signal contact on the socket). There's also some extra information in the FAQ - looks like it will sort of do 18V but its maximum reading is 10.23V (if only they'd extended it to 20.47V).

[Mykesbass]

I thought it was going to be a device that warned you when a Katie Melua or Wombles record was about to be played

[hubrad]

20 quid plus postage plus you might have to pay duty... buy a large amount of chocolate and 2 spare batteries!

Edited August 16, 2010 by hubrad

[Pete Academy]

Cheers...I'm convinced!

[Doddy]

[quote name='hubrad' post='926735' date='Aug 16 2010, 06:23 PM']20 quid plus postage plus you might have to pay duty.[/quote]

Or £34.99 from Mansons.
Suddenly a multimeter sounds like a better idea.

[Dood]

[quote name='tauzero' post='926572' date='Aug 16 2010, 03:35 PM']No, the better option is to buy cheap battery tester/reasonable multimeter (look on it as an investment), leave the battery connected, plug a lead in, and then check the battery voltage. The voltage on an unloaded battery will be higher than a loaded one, sometimes by a large margin (depends on the current draw of the circuit).[/quote]


Actually, I just had a thought - if there is no lead plugged in when you take a reading from the battery terminals - then that will be an unloaded circuit as the ring and shield terminals won't be 'closed' or 'shorted' to complete the circuit. So I guess to get a loaded circuit, you'll need to have a lead or dummy plug inserted as well!

Just a though, info' really.

[flyfisher]

Come on, honestly now, how many people on here have not realised when it was time to change a battery?

How did the world ever manage without such devices?