On 05/24/2016 07:22 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

At the risk of being simple minded, I see a couple
posible reasons:

1) Low quality battery, doesn't have much
energy to begin with.
1a) You do use alkalines, yes?

2) Problem with the machine, excess current
draw. Possibly dried out capacitor.
2a) I don't know the normal current draw. But
with a VOM and devices using 9 volt battery
clips, not hard to check current draw.


Thanks for the quick turnaround, Stormin. (So use to you being over at
the locksmithing ng.) I did try fresh 9V alkalines. I wouldn't think a
dried-out cap would be a problem, but what about a leaky cap? A VOM in
series with the batt connected to the answering machine indicated a
current draw of less than 1 mA with the AC adapter connected. I'm
wondering why there should be any current drawn from the batt when
powering from AC. Sincerely,

--
J. B. Wood e-mail: