Uhm, I recently bought a polytune 3 tuner pedal and it’s gone through 2 9v batteries in less than 10 days. Does that sound normal to you?
I keep everything plugged when I don’t play (and the amp is off too):
I also just now noticed that while everything is supposed to be off, the screen flickers! I managed to grab a pic but obviously in the pic it appears static but in reality the screen flickers all the time!
This is probably your issue. Try unplugging the lead from the tuner’s input jack. Note that the Polytune 3 user manual says “If the pedal runs on battery power, we recommend removing your instrument from the audio input to preserve battery power when you don’t play.”
Yeah, I sympathize (I rarely read my manuals very carefully either). It’s an easy thing to overlook. I think we all learn the “unplug it or lose the battery lesson” at one point or another, and it’s almost always from accidentally draining the batteries.
Yes. The pedal is still “on” even when bypassed. All True Bypass does is route the input jack signal directly to the output jack.
If bypassing also turned off the power, then it would be difficult to engage the pedal without some sort of “thump” or click noise as the pedal powered up. And with many pedals, there could also be a small delay before the pedal started processing the audio.
The power circuit is normally controlled from a simple switch on the jack socket which makes contact when the jack is physically inserted.
Thanks for the explanation Keith, I find it very useful as I’m not very good with electrical circuits and electronics.
I have a plan to get better though. The plan is to build a DIY pedal so hopefully, I’ll get up to speed at some point!
It’s an easy thing to overlook. I think we all learn the “unplug it or lose the battery lesson” at one point or another, and it’s almost always from accidentally draining the batteries.