Karaoke Forums

Tired of wearing out new expensive 9v batteries. I have 10,000 mAh d cell for my ipod boombox, what's the best for 9v?

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I've been looking as well. I just received my Shure PG288's today to replace my Vocopros and the Shure's take 9V (whereas the vocopros took AA's). From what I can tell 250-300mAh seems to be the top of the 9V chain. I'm surprised there isn't something better but that's the best I've found. I did find a site that sells a pack of 10 plus a 10 space intelligent charger as a package for around $60. Going to be ordering mine today. 9V's are waaaaay to expensive to keep replacing, especially when the only get half the life of a pair of AA's.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Hmm. I don't like 9v -- my Shure PGX/PG2 SM58s take two AA. We have the fast-charger, which takes 10 minutes to charge. We just plug in the charger when we start setup, then install fresh. A single charge lasts a show. Works great after a month.

Our AKG WMS40 don't work well with rechargeables, but they get 30 hours from a single AA alkaline.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Not much choice, both of mine are 9v. I'll try those, thanks for the tip.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

letitrip, where did you find this deal? Seems much better than ebay.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

These are the mics I have. What brand battery/charger are you using?

iPowerUS has Lithium 9V rechargeables with 500mAH capacity. A little more expensive than NiMH, but worth it. I tried using NiMH 9V on my Shure mic and was only getting around 1 1/2 hours continuous use. Now I am using the Li batteries and get near the same life as Alkalines 4-5 hrs.

You know, I don't know. They are at the venue right now and I won't see them until Saturday night. It seems like they are Energizer batteries and charger, but I can't be positive. I will see if I can remember to post when I see them Saturday.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Whoops sorry, forgot to include the URL. Meant to put that in my original post. Here's the link to what I just ordered:

http://www.all-battery.com/t-109ic-cont ... eries.aspx

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Here's a link for the 9V Lithiums.


http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/shop ... p-548.html


As for AA NiMH, I started using the IMEDION low-discharge batteries due to the fact that normal NiMH don't hold a charge very long and I'd often find that my Energizers would be discharged by the time I used them.
Probably not as much a concern for mic applications as you can have a set charged just prior to using them. But I really have had bad experiences with using Energizer, even having them not charge properly.

http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/maha ... ne7c2f6jf5

Aside from the cost, it is now illegal to throw away any type of battery where we are. You have to drive them to special collection places. So I am really keeping a close eye on recharging options. At the moment, we can get 9 volts at the Dollar Store so they are cheap but at a set per 5 hour show, it starts to add up in the waste stream.

The problem with most 9V rechargeable batteries is that they are really only 8.4 volts. The Li-Ion ones mentioned above fall into that category. The only batteries I have found that offer a true 9V are from Maha Energy.

Maha Energy

They offer both a 8.4V and a 9.6V. The 9.6V is rated at 230mAh but because of the higher voltage it lasts about the same as a regular alkaline 9V.

Link to 9.6V Battery

We have 4 Shure ULX Pros and we have been using the Maha Energy 9.6V rechargables in them for about 3 to 4 years without any problems. They can't be recharged forever, we have already disposed of our first set. They claim 1000 recharges but I suspect it's a bit lower than that.

Thomas Distributing carries the Maha Energy batteries.

For what it's worth, I used to have a Vocopro cordless mic set for my home system. It took 9v.

I use rechargables for everything, but I never tried 9v rechargables. I got some for this purpose. THEY DID NOT WORK WELL.

You will find that you can get 9v rechargables, but they are usually just a slightly different size, and it is hard to get them in and out of the tight microphone battery compartment, and to get a good connection.

In theory they should have been fine, but they weren't. After going crazy messing around with them, trying to keep a good electrical contact inside the mics, I ended up going back to regular 9v batteries. They have worked fine since.

I would use AA and AAA rechargables in anything, but I am going to steer away from 9v reghargables from now on!

I had that size problem a set of Lithium 9V batteries I bought... got 'em from Radio Shack and they wouldn't fit into the ULX mic... (these were the non-rechargeable type). I just took them back to RS and got a refund. Have used the iPower Li 9v's for a couple of years now, and they fit just as an alkaline 9V, no size worries with them.

I bought a set of 4 280 mAh along with a charge for 24 bucks including shipping. If they will last through a gig before needing charged again, that's good enough for me. Tired of paying 4 bucks a hit for duracells. The ones I bought for my altec lansing im7 ipod speaker worked awesome! In fact, I left the set in the player all winer, went golfing yesterday, got the player out, took it with me, hooked it to my 3 wheel push cart and it played the entire 4 hours. So to me the 24 bucks is a good gamble.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Maybe the size problem was just due to the manufacturer. Thanks for the post Murrlyn.

We haven't had any problem fitting the Maha Energy batteries into the Shure ULXP.

"Most people that have tried rechargeable batteries and chargers have gone to the most convenient place to purchase them - - Radio Shack, Wall-Mart, or other consumer-oriented stores. While these batteries may work for some consumer electronics, they do NOT work well with wireless microphones.

Why?

Wireless microphones and wireless in-ear monitors are high-drain devices. They go through alkaline batteries like candy. Low-power, low-capacity rechargeable batteries will only perform worse! Secondly, most consumer-grade battery chargers are not designed to handle higher capacity rechargeable batteries.

However, using high-quality, high capacity rechargeable batteries with a compatible smart charger will yield excellent results year after year after year at a fraction of the cost."

This I found at this site:


http://www.wirelessmic.biz/

Yes, they are promoting their own product, but they have some very relevant information there.

Dr.Rhythm, your findings seem to re-inforce what is said on the wirelessmic.biz site. I was reluctant to use the 9.6V batteries in my ULX mic due to concerns re the over-voltage. Obviously you have had no problems with this and I also read the Shure engineering report (link at top of above website), which seems to condone the use of batteries charged to 9.8V in their wireless transmitters.

One of my biggest concerns with NiMH is the short shelf-life, whereby a fully-charged battery quickly loses it's charge when not being used. This seems to have been addressed in the latest low-discharge batteries. Have you noticed this with the MAHA batteries? I'm guessing it's probably not an issue with your application as you probably use the mics soon after you've charged the batteries.

I know the frustration of having not used my camera for a while, and finding I have not enough charge left in the NiMh batteries when I do pick up the camera to use it. And that is why I've switched to using the IMEDION low-discharge NiMHs.... so far they have resolved that problem. The Lithium batteries I use in my ULX mic still seem to retain most of their charge even after 'sitting on the shelf' for a couple of months.