Is it possible to use a rechargeable battery in a strat for EMGs?

ToneControl

i.e. put the battery under the scratchplate, and have a recharging socket somewhere?

fretmeister

I don't see why not, but I think you'd need a switch to connect the charger and to disconnect the battery to the pickups while it was charging.

But I have to say - why?

As long as the cable is disconnected when it's not being played the battery will last for at least a year. Just do an annual swap at the same time as changing strings.

EMG specs for the pre made scratchplates show battery life of 1000-1500 hours for pickups with just normal volume and tone controls, and still 200-300 hours when there are the active tone controls like the SPC and EXG.

That's a lot of time for being actually plugged in and in use. Even with the current heavy Gilmore set that's about 4 hours a week every single week for a year. If you haven't got the SPC and EXG then it's 20 hours a week or more depending on whether you have 2 or 3 pickups in it.

guitarfishbay

Yes. You can use the Fishman universal pack if you want it on the scratch plate as long as you can find space, or you could use their backplate 

I have a guitar set up with the universal pack on the control cavity backplate and I use it for either EMGs or Fluences depending on what I need it to do at that time. 

Danny1969

If you use the Duracell pro available from places like CPC and RS components then you can easily go a couple of years without changing the battery… 
if you wanted to recharge an internal battery then you could put a connector for the positive terminal in the trem spring cavity and use the jack socket for the Neg … But it just isn’t worth it

monquixote

One thing to be aware of is I think the voltage of rechargeables is typically slightly lower than regular batteries so it might compromise headroom.

ToneControl

monquixote said:

One thing to be aware of is I think the voltage of rechargeables is typically slightly lower than regular batteries so it might compromise headroom.

yes, AA rechargeables are 1.2v, but PP3 ones are not so bad at 8.4v, although you could use 2 in series to get lots of headroom. I have 18v on one of my EMGs

ToneControl

fretmeister said:

I don't see why not, but I think you'd need a switch to connect the charger and to disconnect the battery to the pickups while it was charging.

But I have to say - why?

As long as the cable is disconnected when it's not being played the battery will last for at least a year. Just do an annual swap at the same time as changing strings.

EMG specs for the pre made scratchplates show battery life of 1000-1500 hours for pickups with just normal volume and tone controls, and still 200-300 hours when there are the active tone controls like the SPC and EXG.

That's a lot of time for being actually plugged in and in use. Even with the current heavy Gilmore set that's about 4 hours a week every single week for a year. If you haven't got the SPC and EXG then it's 20 hours a week or more depending on whether you have 2 or 3 pickups in it.

I know, I have a DG20 set on a strat, that came with it, and just has the battery under the scratchplate, It's not used often, and the battery lasted for many years