| Author |
Thread: Fix a car amplifier? |
    
Silver Member Username: Riskyb
Post Number: 526
Registered: Feb-06
|
| Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 07:40 pm: |
|
How hard is it to do this? I have a perfectly good hifonics sitting around that won't power up. I don't even get a 'protect' light. I opened it up and nothing looked charred or burnt. The fuse looks fine. Any ideas? |
|
|
|
Silver Member Username: Skies
Courtenay,
British Colu...
Canada
Post Number: 448
Registered: Aug-05
|
| Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 07:45 pm: |
|
Bust out the DMM?
Check for continuity on power/ground. Something just may have come loose and broke the circuit.
Possible the power supply could've been toast too.
How about a story on how it went? anything intesting?  |
Silver Member Username: Riskyb
Post Number: 527
Registered: Feb-06
|
| Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 07:52 pm: |
|
lol not really. My friend had a 1,000 watt hifonics and two of the wires touched to together and now it won't power up or it wouldn't power up when we tried it a year ago lol. It's been sitting in his garage ever since. I asked him about it today and he said I could just have it. Oh and he also gave me his sheisty blown volfenhag 15'' today too haha. I was trying to break the magnet off of it to just play around but I couldn't get it. I took a blowtorch to it but the magnet cracked because of the heat lol. |
Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18
Southeast PA
Post Number: 1150
Registered: Jul-06
|
| Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 07:55 pm: |
|
They're not easy to fix unless you have an extensive knowledge of electronics. |
Silver Member Username: Riskyb
Post Number: 529
Registered: Feb-06
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 12:55 am: |
|
I got it to power up. It won't output anything though : (....
Any ideas? |
Silver Member Username: Renegadesrun
Lafayette,
IN
US
Post Number: 664
Registered: Oct-04
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 02:55 am: |
|
Boat anchor?
Door Stop?
Wheel Chock?
Paper Weight?
Send it to T.I.P.S. |
Platinum Member Username: Chaunb3400
Huntsville,
Alabama
U.S.
Post Number: 11982
Registered: Jul-05
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 05:14 am: |
|
paper weight-ftw |
Platinum Member Username: Glasswolf
Wisteria,
Lane
USA
Post Number: 11747
Registered: Dec-03
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 12:03 pm: |
|
go to www.bcae1.com and buy his amplifier repair tutorial CDROM.
it teaches you all you need to know to repair amps, and tells you what tools you'll need. |
New member Username: Christogq
Post Number: 7
Registered: Mar-07
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 01:52 pm: |
|
Just take it to a flea market and let them repair it. $60-70 bucks well spent. |
Gold Member Username: Illuminator
USA
Post Number: 4868
Registered: Apr-05
|
| Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 10:54 pm: |
|
That's interesting that it powers up, it sounded like it was strictly a PSU problem, but apparently the damage is more extensive (and certainly the PSU could still be at fault)...speaking of which, how DID you get it to power on? It would be best to test out the mosfets etc. with a DMM on diode check...instructions for such are on www.bcae1.com, but as Glasswolf has mentioned, you should just get the amp tutorial on CDROM. It's awesome knowledge. |
Silver Member Username: Riskyb
Post Number: 534
Registered: Feb-06
|
| Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 03:20 am: |
|
It powered on when it got good and ready lol. After not even powering on it sat in a garage for a year. I hooked it up a few days ago and it magically powered up but didn't output anything. Maybe the part that the RCA wires are plugged into is messed up?
I would love to get that bcae1 thing but i don't want to spend the money and from the looks of it i would also need to buy a Digital Multimeter and an Oscilloscope. |
Silver Member Username: Riskyb
Post Number: 535
Registered: Feb-06
|
| Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 03:23 am: |
|
I have learned quite a bit of electronics from my physics class. How hard is it to fix an amp? Is it simple once you know the procedure or do you need to be a senior in electrical engineering? lol |
Silver Member Username: Jaguar600
Post Number: 135
Registered: Jul-05
|
| Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 01:49 pm: |
|
I am in the process right now of trying to repair my amp. I think I have found a transistor that is shorting? If the ohmmeter is reading an abnormal reading does that mean its shorted? |
Gold Member Username: Illuminator
USA
Post Number: 4894
Registered: Apr-05
|
| Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 03:00 pm: |
|
quote:I have learned quite a bit of electronics from my physics class. How hard is it to fix an amp? Is it simple once you know the procedure or do you need to be a senior in electrical engineering? lol
Not too bad, actually. You'll need a DMM and good soldering iron/soldering skills, and a scope would be a good idea in the long term. It's mostly just experience (know what parts are probably bad) and what parts you need to test and how to test them. Parts are relatively cheap and most can be purchased from digikey.com or mouser.com. Knowing how to read a schematic is helpful as well.
quote:I am in the process right now of trying to repair my amp. I think I have found a transistor that is shorting? If the ohmmeter is reading an abnormal reading does that mean its shorted?
If one transistor is bad, then it's likely all of the transistors in the row are bad, unfortunately. A better place to ask a technical question like that would be here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=38
 |
Platinum Member Username: Glasswolf
Wisteria,
Lane
USA
Post Number: 11758
Registered: Dec-03
|
| Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 11:04 pm: |
|
soldering station
oscilloscope
dummy load
adjustable switching power supply
DMM
spare parts
amp schematic
misc hand tools |
