Lightning Audio Amp

D

d03boy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
174
This could probably fit into the car audio forum, or this one, but I feel it belongs here.

My amp had the power and protect light on which sucks. Wouldn't play obviously. I opened her up and there were 2 leads (?) leading to and from a small capacitor. The leads (or bridges maybe, just 'bars' of metal) both seemed to be charred, and one of them was almost completely burnt through. I unsoldered them, cleaned up the board a bit which now looks fine. I am wondering what I could use to replace those 'bridges'. They're just U shaped bars of metal that are made to rise high enough over the PCB so they're not touching anything and circuits can pass underneath them. They are somewhat thick, obviously so the capacitor can pass a lot of current through them.

So basically I'm just wondering what I could use. I took those 2 bridges to an electronics guy who wasnt there, so I gave them to his wife and left a note. I'll probably talk to him within a few days. Let me know what your thoughts are!

thanks,
Joe
 
Wait...your location is the same as my last name.
eek13.gif


What is it like there?


Edit: haha it censors G*e*n*m*a*y*.*c*o*m
 
Originally posted by chopsuwe
Wait...your location is the same as my last name.
eek13.gif


What is it like there?
Click to expand...

pwnt by geoshitties :p


and, replace the cap and bridges and there shouldn't be a problem.
 
Nope looks like Kyle is now censoring gen*may*.*com. We can only wonder at the reasons
 
Originally posted by chopsuwe
Nope looks like Kyle is now censoring gen*may*.*com. Even the IP is gone!

We can only wonder at the reasons.
Click to expand...

well then... pwnt by improper use of edit button?
 
Those "bus bars" didn't just fail randomly... something's very wrong with that amp, and next time you hook it up it will probably blow up something else.

Look around the rest of the amp - something else is broken. I've seen power supply rectifiers fail in car audio amps and cause similar kinds of damage... you might want to check those, and check the output transistors while you're at it.
 
I dont know how to 'check the output transistors' and 'power rectifiers' and stuff. Someone told me that sometimes the outputs/inputs go bad because they have a shitty ground to the car, so all the power is trying to run through the RCA's or speaker outputs or something. So I might try getting a better ground, and replace these pieces and see how that works. If something starts on fire, then I'll get a new amp. Any more suggestions?
 
Originally posted by d03boy
I dont know how to 'check the output transistors' and 'power rectifiers' and stuff. Someone told me that sometimes the outputs/inputs go bad because they have a shitty ground to the car, so all the power is trying to run through the RCA's or speaker outputs or something. So I might try getting a better ground, and replace these pieces and see how that works. If something starts on fire, then I'll get a new amp. Any more suggestions?
Click to expand...
Yes, that happens sometimes... some retarded car audio companies (eg, pioneer and RF) decide that it's an incredibly good idea to connect together the RCA and power grounds. So if the ground lead for your amplifier comes loose and the RCAs are grounded at the head unit, current will flow that way and you'll burn up your RCAs and probably blow the shit out of the head unit as well as the amp. And even during regular operation, the RCA ground will conduct some current, developing a voltage across the cable and causing alternator noise to bleed in.

Any decent amp should have the audio ground and power ground *completely* isolated... alas, things like isolated feedback in the amplifiers' power supply require a 10 cent optoisolator, which is just too much cost for the amp makers to absorb... ;)

Anyhow, you any good at soldering? testing rectifiers isn't that hard if you've got a DMM with a diode test function on it. Or you can try putting reverse voltage on them with a current-limited power supply and see if they conduct. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'd give the amp to a repair shop and see what they have to say.

Or I might buy it off you for a few bucks :) I'm in the mood to put an insane class D amplifier in a cheap amplifier case for some reason.
 
Well gee, I mosied on over to best buy tonight and they said that I still have a 4 year warranty on it (I hope its not voided because I opened the amp). If that works out, I'll just get a replacement. If not, maybe we can see about hooking you up with this thing. I can solder, but I still dont own a DMM anymore. Anyways, thanks for the opinions and help and i'll post again once I find out whats going on.
 
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