Lithium and Rechageable Batteries

I have never seen this mentioned in any guitar forum I have been on.

Never use Lithium Batteries or Rechargeable batteries in the pre-amp of an acoustic/electric guitar.

Here are the reasons:

[1] Lithium Batteries run hotter in most instances. Bad for pre-amps.

[2] Lithium Batteries put out more voltage, not much but enough to fry a pre-amp.

[3] Rechargeable batteries usually run a little less voltage that their throwaway cousins. This can cause your battery light to come on. Draining them faster.

[4] Rechargeable batteries when drained down enough dump all remaining power at once. Digital cameras and the like are designed to handle this. Guitar pre-amps are not.

I recommend a good brand of alkaline battery. Check it often. Pay a little more for a good brand. Your guitar is worth it. I have a young ladies guitar here that I am trying to fix because her father put in a rechargeable to save a little money.

Hope this helps someone.

Good post! Thank you. :)

I would like to add:

Be very cautious about using Lithium Ion batteries made in China.

There have been a lot of product recalls by major companies because of problems with poor manufacturing quality exhibited by rechargeable Li batteries made in China. My own lab had a HazMat incident last October caused by Chinese-made batteries that ruptured during environmental stress testing.

This goes beyond simple inconvenience. A failing battery can explode, with attendant risk of physical injury, plus the health hazards posed by lithium contamination and the poisonous gasses associated with such failure.

Cool post, my 2c......

Can anyone say "Recalled Apple Powerbook batteries" or "my iPod has run out of juice" ! As one of Apples chief apologists on this board Id just like to take this opportunity to say...sort it out lads !!

As one who has avoided Apple products for as long as there have been such things, I feel I should point out that this problem has also caused massive recalls by Dell, HP, and IBM.

Originally Posted by: Dr_simonCool post, my 2c......

Can anyone say "Recalled Apple Powerbook batteries" or "my iPod has run out of juice" ! As one of Apples chief apologists on this board Id just like to take this opportunity to say...sort it out lads !!

Apple needs to figure out how to conserve Ipod battery life, or find a better battery. I'll have my Ipod fully juiced up and then I'll play a few songs by a few different bands and the battery meter will already have moved significantly.