Keeps goin into protect HELP! (really found THE PROBLEM this time pg 6)

[Jared420]

Thank you all I've been trying to say is it should work how it did before and I am displeased it doesnt

[Boon]

I'm 99% sure Chris @ db-r tests with a subwoofer and a battery bank. IIRC he got Sundown to build him some stupidly stiff musically useless sub for stress testing amps.

If it plays tones full tilt but can't play music... you're gonna be pushing shit uphill to get money back. I fix amps and compete in SPL, if someone said their amp could handle a tone at full tilt but not music I'd tell them to look at their batteries.

Check both the fuses on your main power wire from the front to the back. (If you don't have one at both ends then I'm walking away from this thread)

Especially if the amp shat itself, it's not uncommon to pop a power fuse and you're slowly running the yellowtop in the back flat. Maybe it has enough juice for a tone but not music.

Seriously, if you can play LOUD tones I'd look elsewhere. Amps that big very, very rarely fail just a little bit. They either work fine or the whole damn thing blows up in your face and smoke pours out the end plates.

[Jared420]

It is fused at both ends and on both runs of + to the amp all fuses are fine the amp was seeing 14.4 + last night everytime I tested it never dropping below 14

[NDMstang65]

completely understandable man. at least you arent being like WTF MY AMP ISNT WORKING IM NOT GONNA LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE HERE BUT STILL ASK FOR HELP ARGHHHHHHHHH. but try what Stang is telling you to do, he has learned much about amps over the past few days on Chat (LOL), but seriously hes a smart guy.

No..I'm trying to get answers from somebody who actually makes H-bridge "amplifiers"

I know exactly how they work...but nobody is willing to answer 95% of the questions I have because they think I'm an international spy trying to tell "the other company" their top secret stuff. I'm just trying to figure out why the damn things keep microwaving tinsel leads...I don't care about either of the companies or their tiffs between each other.

It's not hard to find out the answers to my questions, I'll just buy one..put it on a scope on the bench and educate people on what is really going on with these things...youtube can make you or break you these days. I hope it isn't the latter for them, because I know what is going on .

[NDMstang65]

stang - your argument is missing one fact. it was working before. yes it fried for some reason but if its fixed it should work the same as it did before. if it worked the same as before then it would run at .5ohm like it did before it smoked.

i think the opposite about wiring to .5ohm. i think its retarded to wire to 2ohm. 3x imp rise is very common so now you get 6ohm and almost no power. wire to .5, rise to 1.5, perfect. yes the amp has to be built well enough to handle .5ohm but thats just up to the user to buy the correct product.

My engine worked in my car too before I put a 300 shot of nitrous through it and hung a rod out of the side of the block...it should still work now too right? Or no? It's obvious my engine couldn't handle a 300 shot of nitrous even though I bought the Zex kit...an amplifier is no different, neither is impedance rise. If you are drag racing (or competing) then sure..worry about impedance rise. It is STUPID to try to cover your impedance rise in that manner for a daily driver.

Ok..real world scenario...ready?

Take a pop top on a can of coke.

Pop the can open..drink it...

Bend it back and forth within its mechanical limitations...and it will NEVER break.

Sure you can bend it ALL THE WAY 1 time...but after that it is inherently weak. That represents a lower ohm load in wiring, More current (HEAT) and less voltage. Sure you can bend that pop top back and forth all the way 1 time before it snaps. Yeah..you can also wire that amp at .5ohm and beat the piss out of it a time or two (you RARELY run balls out full bore power) and it'll take it..until something gets hot and melts something else and gets pissed off and that is the end of it. That pop top was fine before, and so was the amplifier, but you abused it..the pop top broke on the can, and the amplifier doesn't like .5ohm anymore because..you pissed it off.

Read what Stephen Mantz says about wiring these amplifiers like that (link at the bottom)....he straight up says anything less then 4ohms is retarded. (This is the guy that designed and built just about every united states built amplifier from the late 1980's through the 90's)

The deal is that it is MUCH cheaper to build a high current amplifier, versus a high voltage amplifier. (Hence 1ohm is king)

Read page 3, it is in BRIGHT pink letters. You may learn a thing or two about this stuff...and why these amplifiers are absolutely horrible.

Did it ever cross your mind what this could be doing to the speakers as well? Powersupply mosfets freaking out? Output transistors freaking out? Voltage dropping across the transformer and the power supply can't make the power it needs to make the output stage do what it is demanding?

Read this..learn something today

http://www.zedaudiocorp.com/PDF/ZedManual-A.pdf

[Jared420]

Ok I did read all the pink there, makes a bit of sense to me, I do plan to go back and read much more into it, I guess I can consider it a lesson learned, HOWEVER, I still do feel like i was given the short end of the stick here a bit because of these reasons. Yes i know what you said about marketing schemes, however the manufacturer condones running this amp at .5 ohms, It was NO secret, I was up front with dbr i gave them as much info as i could think of for the repair i told them I run it at .5 ohms he looked it up and said yes it does say stable to .5 so it should be fine. Now with his full knowledge of this the amp should have been tested at that ohm load and returned to me working at that ohm load. Never did they tell me listen, you cannot run the amp that low anymore, if they had told me that I would not have sent it for repair. Now like I said I spent around 475 with shipping costs that is useless now. I do want some type of a refund, I am not expecting to be refunded in full at all, I am not an unreasonable person but I do want a portion of my money refunded to help fund a new amp or amps. I do need to do a little more playing around to make certain it has nothing to do with my wiring or my woofers first, assuming it is an amp problem then yes I do want some money back. I do not think it is right to just tell me ok well even though I know you told me you run it at .5 and planned to run it at .5 when you got it back it will not work like that anymore. Like I said it should have been tested in a scenario that I use it in. That company knows worlds more and then some more than I do about amps, If they knew this amp should not be used in that way I should have been told. Now like I said lesson learned, Im hoping if the problem is the amp I can get a little money back for this trouble and I will go with something like 2 aq 2200s strapped so I can run it at 2 ohms and hopefully be getting over 4krms. Like I said I have more testing to do to make sure the error is not my fault.

[Jared420]

That being said I do appreciate the help and advice you guys are giving me, its all useful information thats why forums like this exist. I will keep you updated as I do some testing and troubleshooting to see what happens.

Just to double check, I can test my subs by rewiring them to 2 ohms and trying the amp but when I have the subs out rewiring them if I ohm them out on my dmm if all the leads read 4 ohms give or take .1 that means my subs are fine correct?

[Jared420]

Hey just an update on what I Did today, I took out the 2 subs I have the easiest access to and hooked them up each individually @ 2 ohms and cranked it, I am a little sketched about about blasting the sub free air just because i have never done it really and i dont know whats safe but i made them each move pretty good and the amp did not cut off, but the other 2 that I kept in the box are wired @ 1 ohm without the other 2 hooked up so I tried to run those 2 and the amp cut out at 1 ohm. Tomorrow I am going to test those 2 subs by themselves and then if those each check out fine i will wire all 4 up to 2 ohm final load and try that as well, can anyone make any sense out of cutting out with 2 at 1 ohm and not either 1 of the other 2 at 2 ohms? also is what im doing pontless in checking them all by themselves or am I right in thinking that if i check them all alone that means there shouldnt be any issues with the subs, no shorts or burnt coils or anything?

[finkster]

It is possible that one of the subs that are in the box are blown. In which case it wouldnt matter what impedance you hooked it up at, esp if the coil is shorted.

[Bigballa39213]

U.S.Amps could have fixed it. Sounds like a bad coil. Meter the coil and see if the OHM load stabilizes.