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Repairing a Crate TX15 Taxi amplifier battery

A friend gave me a Crate battery guitar amp that he used for busking. It is a nice 15 watt amp with an internal battery. Sadly it died, and its custom power adapter was misplaced. After several years the battery will fail, and it requires a functioning battery to work at all. Happily, new batteries are inexpensive, readily available, and easy to install.

Photo of Crate TX15

Obtaining a replacement battery for the TX15

The original battery was a 4+ pound, sealed lead battery. Any replacement battery should closely follow the specs of the original. I bought this MightyMax Battery on Amazon, which is a perfect replacement.

There are many batteries that conform to the needs of the TX15, and they can be found at local hardware stores as they are commonly used in lots of equipment. It pays to look locally if you need something faster than Amazon. 

The battery specs are as follows:

12 Volt, 7.2 Ah lead battery (mine was marked 1272).

    • Length: 5.94" (151 mm) 
    • Width: 2.56" (65 mm)
    • Height: 3.94" (100 mm)
    • 4 Lbs, 14.6 Oz
    • F1 terminals (which are a little smaller than F2 terminals)

Photo of the 1272 battery
My TX15's original (dead) battery.

Replacing the TX15's battery

My TX15 is made out of a vinyl-covered wood. To get at the battery:

  1. Unplug the unit
  2. Remove the six screws holding on the front grill (Note: this is a great time to clean up any crud that accumulated under the grill) 
  3. Remove the four screws holding the 8 inch woofer
  4. Remove the woofer. Note it has wires attached.
  5. Remove the speaker wires. Note orientation of wires (on mine, Blue+, White-)
  6. Remove the two screws that hold down the steel battery bracket.
  7. Remove the battery wires and withdraw the battery. Dispose of properly, It cannot go in the trash. Some places will give you a credit it you bring it to them.
  8. Install new battery, reversing the above procedure.
  9. Charge for 24 hours

Replacing the TX15 Power Adapter

Maybe you lost your power adapter or need a new one. The original one for my Crate is a 15 volts DC, 1.25 Amp unit. The center pin is positive.  Since the original adapter was misplaced, I bought this replacement power supply, which supports 15 volts DC and has the correct polarity.

Crate TX15 Power Adapter Label
Label of an original TX15 Power Adapter

 Testing

After charging up the battery for 24.. 28... 48 hours, I got... nothing. This unit will not work if the battery has completely failed, even if plugged in. Therefore I replaced the battery, as noted above, and I'm back in business.
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