Rechargeable 9volt batteries in an acoustic/electric guitar

[christinescoms]

Just finished giving a single mom the bad news about her son's Ibanez Acoustic/Electric guitar.

Seems that she tried to save some money by buying a battery charger and two 9 Volt rechargeable batteries.

Well, today the built-in electronics no longer work on all the amps I have tried it on. No battery light no nothing.

Called a buddy of mine who owns Texas Music here in Texas. He said that rechargeable 9 Volt Nimh batteries are like no other rechargeable in that when its power is almost all used up it can in certain brands discharge the remaining power EBL AA 1.2V battery, frying any really sensitive electronics.

It would not affect most CD players and such but it seems to have burned out the electronics in this guitar.

Since the guitar is less than a year old I have suggested that she get a hold of Ibanez, since Guitar Central says they will not warranty it since she used a rechargeable in it.

Just thought I would give you a heads up on this. If my memory serves me this is the second time I have seen this problem.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Are you sure it was NiMH and not a lithium type with built-in electronics??

There is nothing strange likely to happen with NiMH, they would just discharge and the voltage gradually drops.

However, I can imagine a badly designed lithium type with a boost converter doing weird things in a low-load situation such as that...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Just finished giving a single mom the bad news about her son's Ibanez Acoustic/Electric guitar.

Seems that she tried to save some money by buying a battery charger and two 9 Volt rechargeable batteries.

Well, today the built-in electronics no longer work on all the amps I have tried it on. No battery light no nothing.

Called a buddy of mine who owns Texas Music here in Texas. He said that rechargeable 9 Volt Nimh batteries are like no other rechargeable in that when its power is almost all used up it can in certain brands discharge the remaining power, frying any really sensitive electronics.

I agree with rjenkinsgb, it's impossible for any 'battery' to cause such an issue - if it's a Li-Ion cell with built-in boost converter then there 'may' be a slight chance of damage. But a plain NiMh or NiCd certainly can't.

It would not affect most CD players and such but it seems to have burned out the electronics in this guitar.

It sounds like a very poorly made guitar then.

Since the guitar is less than a year old I have suggested that she get a hold of Ibanez, since Guitar Central says they will not warranty it

Why tell them?, just say it stopped working? - do the instructions specifically ban the use of rechargeables?.

 

[Tony Stewart]

Ibanez warned of counterfeit guitars and also of battery reversal failures. http://www.hoshinogakki.co.jp/pdf/ibanez/manual/en/eg/EN_web_pl.pdf

Hmm no reverse protection diodes. Ni-MH Battery at 1.2V x N cells is not a problem. Nor is Lithium 9.0V

 

[eTech]

Why tell them?, just say it stopped working? - do the instructions specifically ban the use of rechargeables?.

Exactly!...