Amp sparks unhooked!

[dailyrider123]

OK as some of you might of seen I had a post selling two scv3ks, didn't sale them but traded them off for a mint dd m4a. During the trade the guy hooks it up to prove it works, even button out his sub showing me. So we exchange products I finally get home and while the amp is sitting on my deep freezer I decide to put the dual input terminals in it. I get to the last ground and sparks shoot off it! Why is this? And do you think it could've damaged the amp?

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[dmuney]

Amplifiers have capacitors inside them . And as we all know a cap is a device that stores energy. The caps just had some residual power left in them I would say you'll be fine I don't think that would cause for any concern. But others may say otherwise . Or just hook it up and find out for sure

05 Ram 5.9 Cummins Sundown Audio Old School PPI

 

[HI-C 10+ year member]

^^ it's true you should be ok!!

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

yep been there done that its ok. Just being a lil girl cause you don't wanna hurt that amp LOL.. Thing is I would too. That's an $$$ amp to screw up. GL bro.

 

[dailyrider123]

Tell me about it, lol I was like a little girl when I seen those sparks fly! Especially when I just drove a 12 hour round trip to get her too. Once I get my electrical put in I'll hook her up. Hopefully I'm not the guytgats going to make "the first time in history that's happened" kinda thing lol

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, internal capacitors in the amps................

Very common

 

[BoogerMan]

So does anyone know how to discharge the caps before hooking up the amp to prevent the sparks from happening? Is it even possible?

I remember doing this with a small light bulb and 2 wires when I had a 1 Farad capacitor way back when. Not sure if the same can be done with the internal caps in an amp?

 

[The Camry]

So does anyone know how to discharge the caps before hooking up the amp to prevent the sparks from happening? Is it even possible?
I remember doing this with a small light bulb and 2 wires when I had a 1 Farad capacitor way back when. Not sure if the same can be done with the internal caps in an amp?

Those caps are micro farads. Dont see why you shouldnt be able too

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

So does anyone know how to discharge the caps before hooking up the amp to prevent the sparks from happening? Is it even possible?
I remember doing this with a small light bulb and 2 wires when I had a 1 Farad capacitor way back when. Not sure if the same can be done with the internal caps in an amp?

No. Discharging the capacitors before hooking it up would cause a spark.

If they're charged before you hook it up, there won't be a spark.

There's always a spark when you ground a new amp for the first time, because the capacitors are quickly charging.

When amps sit for extended periods of time, the capacitors also self-discharge internally.

You're thinking about the charging/discharging wrong

 

[dmuney]

So does anyone know how to discharge the caps before hooking up the amp to prevent the sparks from happening? Is it even possible?
I remember doing this with a small light bulb and 2 wires when I had a 1 Farad capacitor way back when. Not sure if the same can be done with the internal caps in an amp?

You can use a resistor can't remember what size you can use it when removing from car (draining voltage) or installing (adding voltage) the one I remember using was a 1/4 watt not sure of the ohms and it came with a Phoenix Gold capacitor I bought back in 1998 or so or hook the wires to your amp first then connect the +to the batt and ground to the car very last seems to work great for me

05 Ram 5.9 Cummins Sundown Audio Old School PPI

 

[BoogerMan]

No. Discharging the capacitors before hooking it up would cause a spark.
If they're charged before you hook it up, there won't be a spark.

There's always a spark when you ground a new amp for the first time, because the capacitors are quickly charging.

When amps sit for extended periods of time, the capacitors also self-discharge internally.

You're thinking about the charging/discharging wrong

Thanks man I appreciate the explanation! Looks like you can use the light bulb method before putting the fuse in to charge the caps in the amp to prevent spark. Just had my buddy try it before he hooked his amp back up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

i really wouldnt discharge them, it just seems like a bad idea because you're technically shorting the power to ground with a small resistor which is still sort of a short. i just dont see a reason to. amps will still spark if you unplug and plug them back in shortly thereafter, unless we're talking like minutes of time. capacitors discharge quicker than you think, and its not because of internal resistance, its because of their very low capacity

i just installed a bank of capacitors i got a good feel for how they work, and even a large bank(much larger than the internal caps of an amp) discharges fairly fast with a very small load

if this helps, i charged a 400-500f bank of caps with a small light bulb from like 10v to 13v in about 45mins with a light bulb. i clamped it charging at .5 amps..

all in all it really doesnt matter lol

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Thanks man I appreciate the explanation! Looks like you can use the light bulb method before putting the fuse in to charge the caps in the amp to prevent spark. Just had my buddy try it before he hooked his amp back up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Yep, no problem.

Yes, a light bulb in series would work good to charge a bank of caps before installation

I wouldn't worry about it with amplifiers though