Did I Cook My Amp?

[Mar]

Yesterday around 5pm I was hooking up my amp but didn't have a bolt to ground it to the frame so I left it ungrounded and went to go buy one. When I got home, I noticed the red light on the amp wouldn't go off so it was constantly drawing power but didn't have time to hook up the ground as my girlfriend called and was taking me out. So at 1am I get home from the bar (stupid me) and think I can pop it together before going to bed. After not being grounded for 7 hours, I bring the wire close to the amp and there's a huge spark and my carpet catches on fire. I pulled the wire back and blew out the fire and smoke started coming from inside the amp. So I unhooked the negative battery terminal like I should have in the first place, hooked it all back up again and put the terminal back on. A few seconds later I heard a pop and a lot of smoke came out of the amp so I unhooked it all and am taking a look at it after work today.

It's a Rockford Fosgate 250m Power amplifier. I bought it about 5 years ago and it's pumped ever since but does anyone know if I could have just blown a fuse in the amp? Do they have fuses? Would I get that much smoke? Damn, that was dumb, the thing was drawing current for 7 hours.

[Weapon_R]

The fuse should be right on the side of the amp. Chances are if you saw that much smoke, however, that you did ruin the amp. Try hooking everything back up while the car battery is disconnected, and then reconnect the battery and see whether it works or not.

[NATE0513]

Carpet caught on fire? .. Got pictures of that? lol!

Ok .. so tell me, during this time did you only have the positive terminal hooked up? Without a ground hooked up your amp was not "exactly"drawing current. Car audio installation 101, never be hooking up any electronics with live wires. <--- that my friend is what was stupid. Here is some steps for you to quickly look over before assuming its the amp.

1.) Grab a multi meter or test light, hook up the negative lead to your ground wire, and the postiive lead to the wire from the battery. It should measure in around the 12v area with the car off.

2.) If you get no voltage check your hood fuse, if you dont have one shame on you.

3.) Many amps have a overload protection "ceramic" resistor. I would however recommend attempting this yourself, as it appears you may be an amateur car audio installer. Take it to a repair shop, prolly $15 for the resistor and $60 for labor.


Good luck!

[Supa Dexta]

yeah, that pop sound was likley the transistors popping... they like to make the sound and smoke, well they don't like it but you know what I mean.. aka, I'm bettin it's fugged up..

[Mar]

But with the fuse in the amp and the inline fuse on the wire, shouldn't it have been protected from any surges? I'm not an amateur, just a stupid intoxicated mistake. Well not really a mistake, I was just too lazy to get my ratchet to take the terminal off.

[FivE.SeveN]

AAaahahahahah.


If there was a fire, and smoke coming from inside the amp, it's GONE. You can't just burn out electronic components, unplug it, and expect it to magically work when you apply electricity again.

Time to hit Visions.

[Supa Dexta]

fuses help, but if they worked all the time, there would never be a blown amp.. fuses only work when the amp is properly hooked up and theres a spike of power for one reason or another..

[FivE.SeveN]

Oh hey though, if you're good with electronics you could always take it apart, figure out what's blown (with a big spike like that, it's hard to say what went), and solder in a replacement. If you're lucky, it's something big and easy like a melted power resistor.

Just leave it grounded and unplugged from your 12V+ line for a while *before* taking off the case, it'll give the capacitors inside a chance to fully discharge.

FYI: Caps charge and discharge logarithmically (5*r*c), so the biggest discharge spike comes within the first few time constants. BUT, depending on how big the cap is, the remaining charge can still be dangerous to you. So give it time to discharge!

[tulit]

Originally posted by FivE.SeveN
Just leave it grounded and unplugged from your 12V+ line for a while *before* taking off the case, it'll give the capacitors inside a chance to fully discharge.

FYI: Caps charge and discharge logarithmically (5*r*c), so the biggest discharge spike comes within the first few time constants. BUT, depending on how big the cap is, the remaining charge can still be dangerous to you. So give it time to discharge!

Actually, they decay exponentially...

e^-(t/RC)

They only real way to discharge is to put some kind of load across it. Grounding one side will do nothing.

[tulit]

Originally posted by Mar
Yesterday around 5pm I was hooking up my amp but didn't have a bolt to ground it to the frame so I left it ungrounded and went to go buy one. When I got home, I noticed the red light on the amp wouldn't go off so it was constantly drawing power but didn't have time to hook up the ground as my girlfriend called and was taking me out. So at 1am I get home from the bar (stupid me) and think I can pop it together before going to bed. After not being grounded for 7 hours, I bring the wire close to the amp and there's a huge spark and my carpet catches on fire. I pulled the wire back and blew out the fire and smoke started coming from inside the amp. So I unhooked the negative battery terminal like I should have in the first place, hooked it all back up again and put the terminal back on. A few seconds later I heard a pop and a lot of smoke came out of the amp so I unhooked it all and am taking a look at it after work today.

It's a Rockford Fosgate 250m Power amplifier. I bought it about 5 years ago and it's pumped ever since but does anyone know if I could have just blown a fuse in the amp? Do they have fuses? Would I get that much smoke? Damn, that was dumb, the thing was drawing current for 7 hours.

Sure you hooked up the power the right way?? Sounds like you reversed it. Leaving the ground floating wouldn't destroy it like that...

[Mar]

I just went and checked. Holy shit, I had the fucking things on backwards. So how does that change things now? That means I actually had it grounded all night and was completing the circuit on the positive with no fuse? That right? I'm just trying to think how the electronics would interpret that.

[tulit]

Originally posted by Mar
So how does that change things now?

Nothing. It's still toast

As soon as you completed it backwards it was a goner. No fuse in the world will save you (it will only protect against shorts).

[MudCrawler]

Originally posted by FivE.SeveN
AAaahahahahah.


If there was a fire, and smoke coming from inside the amp, it's GONE. You can't just burn out electronic components, unplug it, and expect it to magically work when you apply electricity again.

unless its a jeep

[Mar]

So.....uh......does anyone want to buy an amp? Works perfect, I swear.

[Graham_A_M]

Its probably not worth fixing, but if you do decide to get it fixed, ARA automotive accessories does car audio repairs.

[Mar]

I'm going to fire it up after work and see how it sounds. There's still a very small chance it could work. And if it doesn't, I'll take it apart to check and see if there's visible burning. If not, I'll pick up a used monoblock somewhere. My first amp....RIP.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

If it doesn't work, could I have it? lol I wouldn't mind taking it apart and fooling around (i'm an electronics student)

[Mar]

I'll throw it on Ebay and if it doesn't go for more than a McValue Meal, it's yours. I just realized I got a ratchet in the car so I'm going to fire it up on my next break at 3:15. Wish me luck. No, I mean it.

[Mar]

Oh ya, it's toast. I hooked it up correctly, no complaints, the little LED even came on. But the sub hardly moved at all.

[Unknown303]

As far electronics go. Once you let the smoke out, its stops working forever. Buy new amp thats really the only option.