Has your radio mic died on you at the wrong moment?

[soundmaster mobile disco]

Question for those of you that have \ use radio mics.

Has your battery died at the wrong momment

I was doing a wedding last saturday and later on in the night was calling out the dances for the ceilidh.One dance was finished and i was about to start announcing the other when my battery died on me.

Yes the amber light indicator was on but i thought i would ok for a while.Obviously not.Anyway i had to quickly nip out to the van and into the toolbox for a new procell.Lesson learned,if your not sure just change the battery.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Every gig I use the the radio mic I put fresh batteries in and a backup pair with me around the console area. I use the old AA's for home use in a remote etc..

[Excalibur]

All depends on the mic. My Shure that runs on PP3 uses them up at a fair old rate, so if it's going to get any prolonged use, it gets changed for a new one beforehand.

The Shure on AA's just eats them, so they are changed before it ever gets switched on.

The AT on AA's runs forever, so tends not to get changed religiously.

Buy the Duracell packs when they're on offer, AA's are cheap enough to change virtually every gig. I always have more than a few in the mic box.

[Vectis]

I used a dual receiver with two colour-coded handhelds. One was always mine, and the other was the 'roamer' - the roamer was the one given out for speeches etc.. Mine always had new batteries at the start of every gig, and the part-used ones were marked with a permanent marker pen to show they weren't 100%. As Neil says, these then got used around the house in clocks, remotes, Apple trackpad etc..

But I wouldn't dream of running a "proper" gig (ie a wedding or corporate event) without a corded mic within grabbing distance

[DazzyD]

My radio mics use 9v batteries and I always use new batteries at the start of every gig. I factor in the cost of batteries when I'm quoting for the gig and only ever use Duracell Ultra which I get them at ASDA as they sell them 2 for £5.

As per Martin, I always mark the part-used ones with a Sharpie that I carry in the bits and bobs box and these get used round the house - usually for practising karaoke at home (or giving them to dad to use in his radio mic at home).

As per the OP, I've never had a radio mic die at the wrong moment but I have had the battery power drop when I've had karaoke singers using it. My receiver is a dual-channel one that picks the strongest signal over the 2 channels. When the battery power drops, this sometimes causes the receiver to switch from A to B channel which then causes a very slight (fraction of a second) drop in signal. Others have said they haven't noticed this but I can, and do, notice it and I think it's a slight design flaw in the receiver. However, when I'm using the Shure or Carlsbro radio mics, this loss of signal doesn't happen when the channel switches. However, I tend not to give these mics to just anybody - most karaoke singers only ever get the cheaper ones.

[Larry B Entertainment]

New battery's for every event here but its not often the radio mics go out TBO, most of the time I use corded.

[ppentertainments]

Blimey - I normally get at least 3/4 gigs out of a set of batteries. Even when I am compere for a charity event or race night where the mic gets used a lot more than a disco I get at least 3 gigs out of a set of batteries.

Must admit though, when doing all day weddings I do always put fresh batteries in for the speeches.

[Jiggles]

For those who go thought batteries at a rate of knots go for procells (CPC sell them for not many pennies) they are the pro version of Duracells. They are exactly the same but aimed at the pro markets etc.

[DazzyD]

For those who go thought batteries at a rate of knots go for procells (CPC sell them for not many pennies) they are the pro version of Duracells. They are exactly the same but aimed at the pro markets etc.

Thanks for that tip, Callum. I've just googled them and Amazon do a pack of 10 9v ones for just £7.25. That'll save me an absolute fortune!!

[Matty12]

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!