Question - low battery on 110e

[10987]

Hello everyone, I am looking for information about how the 110e handles drained batteries. I recently bought a 110e and I love it, I know it's a basic Taylor model but it was a big step up from my previous acoustic and I'm really enjoying it. The only "quirk" I've found so far is what happens when the battery has run out. Rather than just letting the signal fade out, the guitar output suddenly produces a loud, constant bass note, even if I'm not playing.

Is this normal? If so it seems like a slightly ungracious design choice. Also how does the low battery indicator LED work? I didn't notice what it did when the battery ran out. With a full battery the LED is constantly on when the guitar is plugged in. Does it go out when the battery is about to fail, or start flashing or something? What should I look for? Or do you just have to check the battery with a voltmeter?

The reason for the post is that my first experience of the battery running out was in church a few weeks ago when I was playing in the band. My habit is to leave the guitar plugged in with the volume up between songs, otherwise I'd forget to turn it up again. It happened during the sermon, towards the end just as the pastor was getting to the climax: suddenly, out of nowhere, the church filled with an almighty "BRUHHHHHH" like some demented fog-horn. It kept going until the sound guy muted the desk a few seconds later after scrabbling around in a panic trying to work out what was going on. Needless to say, we all had a bit of a laugh about it! Then at the final song I discovered my guitar had been turned off...

[BobSol]

Hi
      Taylor reckon on about forty hours of battery life and most folks "plan" the change rather than suffer what you had happen. They're inexpensive things really and not worth the hassle of dragging out their life.

[CharlieRay]

From what I understand, as long as the red LED indicator is lit - then the battery life is fine.  As a matter of fact, I seem to remember Bob responding to a similar question that the pre-amp will still function for a short time even after the LED indicator goes out - but with no details of for how long.

It's a poor design for a couple of reasons;  first of all, the LED is at the top of the guitar (as in inside the sound hole looking towards the top), up close to the control knobs for the ES/ES2.  This means that as you're playing, you can't see if the light is on or off.  Secondly, as previously mentioned, there's no "battery life indicator" which tells you whether or not you have 10 hours, 10 minutes, or 10 seconds left before it all goes wonky.  Personally, I'd like to see Taylor incorporate the battery LED into the volume knob - that way you could at least monitor the situation.

So all we can do when in doubt is change the battery.  On the positive side, it's much easier to change the battery in a Taylor than it is in other brands - where strings have to be loosened and hands stuck inside the sound hole to pry out a battery compartment........

[10987]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I'll just change it more often. The thing I really don't get is, why the fog horn sound?