Variax 500 Lithium Batteries?

[murwin]

Can anybody confirm whether it is okay to use 6 x lithium AA size batteries in place of the recommended 6 x alkaline batteries in the Variax 500 guitar. I am hoping the lithium batteries will provide a longer playing time.

[silverhead]

It's OK to use lithium as long as they each actually generate 1.5v. The Varaiax requires a 9v charge to operate properly. You may have problems if the batteries decline to the point where, fully charged, they only deliver say 1.2v each for a total of just over 7v.

 

You will still need to replace your lithium batteries with a new set periodically but not as often as alkaline. Your first hint that your lithium batteries need replacement may be that your Variax starts misbehaving. Suspect the batteries first before speculating about hardware or software issues.

[Charlie_Watt]

Lithium are higher voltage so 6 is too many I believe.  You want a nominal total of 9V.  You want at least 2000 mAH of capacity as well.  One down side of using lithium batteries is that there is nothing to keep you from discharging them too far.  (Which renders them useless)  Units that are designed for Lithium batteries all have a low voltage cutoff to keep from ruining the batteries.

[murwin]

Thank you for your replies. It's more complicated than I thought! I think I might be best sticking to alkaline batteries, and using power via the footswitch when convenient.

[Charlie_Watt]

I would recommend rechargeable NiMh batteries.  They work great for me and they are cheap enough to get 2 or 3 sets.

[JTSC777]

I would recommend rechargeable NiMh batteries.  They work great for me and they are cheap enough to get 2 or 3 sets.

I will be using my Variax 500 with my HD500 most of the time but will use batteries sometimes too.

Which rechargables are you using Charlie?

[psarkissian]

Rechargeable batteries,... use caution!

 

Certain older CMOS chips do not like rechargeable batteries. In

certain CMOS input/output circuits in some older chips, if the volts

go down beyond a certain point, the current tries to go through the

CMOS elements in the opposite direction (as if there were a negative

bias on the chip, which digital chips in general don't want to see) and

the chip looses it. It's rare, but it happens.

 

I don't recall if that was the case with earlier Variaxes (like the 500).

But it would explain the owner's manual not talking about rechargeable

batteries and only mentioning alkalines. And it's probably why we never

use anything but alkalines with older Variaxes here in the repair area.

 

So,... rechargeable batteries,... use caution! Please.

[psarkissian]

Also a reminder about power,...

 

-If using the VDI connector, take the batteries out,... don't run them together.

-Batteries are used only when you are not using VDI or the XPS supply.

 

So use VDI, or TRS with battery, or TRS with XPS supply and none of them

in combination with another. Please.

[Charlie_Watt]

I have been using AA rechargables for 10 years on my Variax 500 and my Acoustic Variax.  Never had a problem.  You can use NiCads or NiMh.  I use AA NiMh batteries that are about 2200 mAH.  There is nothing that says these won't work and there were a bunch of old posts about them 10 years ago when the 500 first came out.

[psarkissian]

Oh good. Glad that's the case here. I've seen bad interactions with CMOS

chips and rechargables in the past, with other products, at other places.

Good, thanks.

[Charlie_Watt]

No need to remove the battery when running with VDI.  The battery is not connected unless a 1/4 cable is plugged into the Variax!

[psarkissian]

Yes. But it's a good habit to remove them anyway. We've had a number

of repairs in the past on earlier Variax guitars because of damage to that

part of the circuit when too many things are plugged in at once. 

 

So it's a good habit to pick one at a time.