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Post subject: Fender Passport DC Battery Pack not holding a charge
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:42 am
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Hi! :D

Would somebody PLEASE give me some additional background and/or information on the Fender Passport 12V DC Battery Pack (part #069-9003-000)? :cry:

I was performing a great New Year's Eve show (only about 60 minutes' worth of music--my voice and my MP3 player with my Passport PD-250 system) recently, and on the very last song (the "closer"), the power from my battery started to fade in and out, and--eventually (after getting the PD-250 unit back home and settting it all up one more time)--I lost virtually all power to the unit (and, even when I wasn't using the microphone, the music hardly came through the system at all, and the red indicator light on the converter box was blinking now off-and-on; then, the power light on the battery, as well, was blinking off-and-on, until hardly any power was seemingly being transferred from the battery pack to the (PD-250) unit.

The instruction manual for the battery pack says that the "red" light means that the battery is charging; the "green" light means that there is a "full charge." Well, right from the moment I received the battery pack in the mail--and proceeded to charge it for the initial time (if I remember correctly)--I recall that not only the "red" charging light came on, but also the "green" full-charge light, too (which, as I understand it, the "green" full-charge light should NOT have already come on, since I was charging the battery pack for the very first time.

Now, when I do re-charge the battery pack after doing a show with it, I have not re-charged it until the night before I perform (about ten hours of charging in total). I notice that the instruction manual actually says to IMMEDIATELY recharge the battery pack after use. Does this really make a big difference--should I have IMMEDIATELY recharged the battery pack as soon as I returned home from my gigs (or, was I okay to wait a couple of weeks or so and only recharge it overnight before the next night's performance (again, of about 60 minutes or so--not much more than that)?

HELP! :cry:

I realized that Fender has discontinued the sales of this particular battery pack, and now I'm wondering just why. Did they find that these packs are of no good and full of problems or what?

I'm debating at this point whether to, one, take the battery pack to a (Fender-supported) service provider; two, this time (as I did last night) IMMEDIATELY charge the battery pack upon my return home; or, three, just simply purchase a brand new battery pack from a seller on eBay and start all over again and see if THIS particular battery pack will work as promised.

Any suggestions and pointers in this respect are greatly appreciated!

I've had this battery pack for about a year now, and it's the first time I ran out of "juice" at a show since I switched over to the battery pack from AC (wall outlet) power. In all, I was able to do about two or three shows prior to this one (New Year's Eve 2008) without any problems--but, now I'm wondering if not taking the battery home and IMMEDIATELY recharging it after each gig took its toll on the battery and simply "drained it down" or something weird like that.

I do have to admit, too, that about two weeks ago--while transferring my equipment from the car back into my house for storage--I briefly tripped over the battery pack (that was right out in front of me in the dark), knocking it down quickly, but not very hard at all (I took the brunt of the fall, not the battery pack, for sure). I can't see how such a quick knock-over of the pack would have damaged it to the point that it either is in need of repair or to be completely replaced altogether (as I'm sure that these batteries see much more abuse than that and keep working just fine).

Right now, I don't plan to take the battery off of recharging 'til its seen at least 12 hours' worth of charge time (though, the "green" full-charge light has been on since the time I hooked it all up last night 'til this morning). Even then, how the heck can I be sure that I'll have, at the very least, four-to-six hours' worth of battery power available the next time I do a remote show? That's my dilemma!

If any of you know what it's like to be doing all you can to close out a terrific show with the closer song--only to lose power (both voice and music track) and have to sing the rest without any track back-up whatsoever--you know my frustration here.

I've even searched and searched all over the Internet for ANY troubleshooting info' about this issue, and, so far, have come up empty.

Thanks for any and all help you might lend me in this matter! :)

DesertBiz
Victorville, CA


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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:11 pm
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Welcome!!!

Frankly, I don't think tripping over the unit affected it at all.

Some of the most common problems with rechargeable batteries are that:

1) They NEVER fully charge to the voltage they say they are.

2) They have a short duty life once charged.

3) Once they fully peter out, they cannot be recharged.

4) Typically, they only last a year.

There's obviously more drawbacks but you can see how unreliable they can be in general.

Although I'm from the old, "Plug In and Play School", still, I would never trust my gig to be at the mercy of any form of battery power.

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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:33 am
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Thanks for the heads up on all that. At first, I thought I was going nuts in just racking my brain as to why the battery pack just doesn't seem to be working per the (very short, very lame, very incomplete) instruction manual (if you could call three pages or so a "manual") accompanying the battery.

Yeah, you can bet that I'll be doing the plug-'n-play thing from here on out, and ONLY break out (and rely upon as little as possible) the battery pack IF I'm in dire straits and need it at the time. My shortfall is that I trusted that "green" little light that's supposed to tell me that the battery is fully charged (though, as my earlier narrative describes, this certainly was NOT the case after only about 90 minutes into my pre-show and show festivities).

Have you heard other owners of this (Fender-manufactured and sold) particular battery pack complain about similar mishaps? Just curious, that's all.

Maybe there's a reason why it's been so doggone challenging to find ANYBODY out there selling these things (saw one on eBay about a week ago, but it was very quickly snatched up before you could even consider taking it at the "buy-it-now" price).

I did charge up this battery pack for about 14 hours, hooked it all up to my (Fender) PD-250 sound system, and used both my MP3 player AND microphone for about twenty minutes or so, and this time the battery worked just fine (no blinking power lights or loss of power for either the music coming from the MP3 player or my microphone.

Go figure, huh?! :?

Is there ANY way possible I could maybe buy some sort of gadget or gizmo (from Radio Shack or elsewhere) that I could maybe hook up to the the battery pack to tell--at any given time--how much "juice" I have left in the battery and possibly decipher approximately how much time (in minutes or hours) I have left in the battery, as well?

Thanks for the feedback on this!

DesertBiz
Victorville, CA


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:06 pm
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You're quite welcome.

Generally speaking, I hear MANY owners complaining to one degree or the other about undependable battery packs, not just Fender stuff.

If a given rechargeable battery component is supposed to be say, a 5 hour charge for example, even if you keep it on charge for 20 hours, after that first 5 hours, that's it. Anything beyond that 5 hours does nothing except to heat up the charger.

A Volt-Ohm Meter (VOM) will tell you how much voltage a component is putting out. However, it cannot tell you for how long you'll be at whatever that current voltage is before it drops. The meter can only report the voltage at the time you attach the meter's probes to it. So, you would have to monitor the dwindling voltage at whatever intervals you choose and gauge it from there. Bear in mind too that even just taking voltage readings off a rechargeable battery will also help deplete the charge.

Your best bet all around: Instead of buying a VOM, buy a voltage converter so you can be done with batteries in their entirety.

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Last edited by Martian on Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: FENDER BATTERY PACK
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:33 pm
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Great! :D

Thanks, again, for the updates here. Bottom line is that it's just nice to know that I didn't just get a "lemon" of a battery pack, but that most--if not all--of any such rechargeable portable batteries just don't seem to be as dependable as maybe they're marketed to be.

And, the flimsy directions just say to "charge overnight." What the heck does "overnight" pertain to? How many hours? Do I simply stop charging the unit up once I see the tiny green light indicate that its now fully charged? How do I know if and when the battery's getting set to run out on me? (I know they--Fender--tell me that this is analogous to a marine-type battery, but, for performing purposes, you don't think they could have possibly placed some sort of "time-meter" on the battery to let one know how much juice/remaining time is left for the user!)

I don't know. I guess I just want my money's worth on this battery pack. If I have to flat out guess if its going to last for one, two, four, or six hours' worth of playing time, how reliable is that--especially if, say, I'm on a yacht singing somewhere and I need that doggone battery to last for at least three-to-four hours or so?!

(I have yet to find myself in such a situation, but my web site does indicate that I can perform just about anywhere--including if there is no AC power outlet source there to tap into.)

By the way, do you possibly know where I might be able to purchase a battery similar (at least) to the Fender battery pack I have now, and are the prices decent (for instance, anywhere between $130 and $160)? Might I go to some sort of marine (boats and such) supply store, an auto parts store, or what?

Thanks a bunch! :)

DesertBiz
Victorville, CA


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Post subject: Re: FENDER BATTERY PACK
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:41 pm
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DesertBiz wrote:
...By the way, do you possibly know where I might be able to purchase a battery similar (at least) to the Fender battery pack I have now...?

Thanks a bunch! :)

DesertBiz
Victorville, CA


As always, glad to help!

Rechargeable battery packs are like a PC's printer ink. Meaning, the appliance comes at a decent price and initially with a battery pack or ink included. And then, wait until you have to replace the battery pack or buy more ink! They don't even warn you that for the unreasonable, ridiculously overpriced amount you are going to have to pay for either replacement item, no vaseline is included!!

Again, I don't use batteries for any of my critical appliances but to answer your question, no replacement pack shall come cheap or even at a reasonable price. They are of all the same undependable ilk any way and are like guitar strings in the sense that they run the gammut: One person can get a month out of a set and the next person will only get two days.

If it were me and I had to pursue the battery pack for whatever reason(s), I'd try to buy a replacement set which meets military specifications. So, a surplus store might be a good start. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact spec for rechargeable batteries any longer. (It's been 31 years since I got out of the Service!:shock:) With any new unit, you have to be careful so to match the voltage, polarity and amperes of the replacement unit to what is labeled on your current pack.

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Post subject: Battery Power
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:38 am
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Hi.
I have a Fender Passport 150 and 250 systems. I organize a street Salsa dance club in Santa Monica, Ca. on the 3rd Street Promenade. Performers are not permitted to plug equipment into any city power source without expensive city permits. All of us have to bring our own batteries. I used to use up to 4 Fender Power Packs for an average of 6 hours of play time. The batteries were I adequate. When I went to the 250 system... Well let's just say forget it. The Power Pact could only last a few minutes. If you are going to perform where plugging into a wall socket is an impossibilty a deep cycle marine battery and inverter works best. Be prepared to pay up to $300 for a battery that can last with 6 or more hours of playing on the Fender 250. It eats up a lot of juice especially if you want to hear bass sounds.
I hope this helps. I am searching for an additional battery as I post this.
Phillip Cohen


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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport DC Battery Pack not holding a charge
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:31 am
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I realize this thread is pretty old but since I have some info about the topic, I thought I'd chime in.

I've had a Passport PD250 for probably about 10 years. It does not get used very often, maybe 6 times a year and 1-2 hours of "on" time when it is used. But every once in a while I use it for extended periods of time... basically until the battery depletes itself and that is usually after at least 4 hours, in not a bit more.

I have not been fastidious about charging the battery immediately after use. Usually I charge it a couple days before I know that I'll be using the PD250.

Well, the last time I used it, I inadvertently switched the light on as I was packing up and did not notice until today.... two weeks after it had been left on. Obviously the battery was completely drained and I feared trashed. But I put the charger on the battery pack and after two days later, the charging light was still on but the "ready" light never lit.

I measured the voltage and it appeared to be 12.5 volts so seemingly had a full charge. But how long would the battery last now that it has been deep, deep, deeply discharged? Car batteries that have suffered a similar fate are usually irreversibly damaged and unusable, So anyway I've got the speaker cranking away right now and it's been playing for 30 minutes so far, still cranking away. I'll measure the battery again in another hour and see what the voltage is. Maybe I'll be lucky and the battery will be fine,

FWIW the Passport Battery Pack is no longer available anywhere that I can find, However the battery itself seems to be readily available on Amazon and elsewhere for about $40. It's the BB BP-17-12. 12V, 17AH/20HR. The batteries I find online have the same number, BP-17-12 but are rated at 18AH which is actually a bit larger capacity.,

So in the worst case scenario, I'll buy a new battery and that should end the issue, But then again, my old 10 year old battery may still have some mojo. Time will tell.


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