Fried my amps?

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

The other day, I removed the positive terminal from my battery so I could replace the retention screw and re-seat the terminal better to the battery. I didn't disconnect my amps from the power line, nor did I disconnect the negative terminal from the battery. When I went to attach the positive terminal to the battery, a big spark jumped from the battery to the positive terminal and the amps wouldn't turn on. The fuses in the power line and the amps are intact.

Did I just fry my amps?

Click to read more...

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

why didnt you take off the negative? if you are gonna take one off it has to be the negative. take your amp case apart and see if the board is fried. and did you check all the other fuses in your car?

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

why didnt you take off the negative? if you are gonna take one off it has to be the negative.

Because I needed to bolt the amp's power lead to the positive terminal's retaining screw to power the amp; I was under the impression there was no need to remove the negative terminal as well. Should I have also removed the negative lead and reattached it after I reattached the positive terminal?

take your amp case apart and see if the board is fried.

Look at the picture and see for yourself. I have no idea what to look for. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

and did you check all the other fuses in your car?

Nope! It's too cold and rainy out today. The in-line fuse for the amp's power lead is fine as are the fuses for both amps. Since the power for the amps are independant of the car's electrical/fuse system, it would seem irrelevant whether or not I blew the car's other fuses. Your opinion?

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

Oh, yeah, I forgot: I bought my other amp, an Infinity Reference Series 611a amp to power my subwoofer and stopped working, too (actually, it was slowly dying). They both died the same day at the same time.

BUT, I had just bought it at Best Buy 40 days ago and they still let me exchange it even though I was just out of the 30-day return period. I didn't even have to argue with them or anything; they let me swap out for another, brand new 611a, instead Yay!

+1 for Best Buy's customer service (even if they are a Big Box corporate store).

 

[crow 10+ year member]

Nope! It's too cold and rainy out today. The in-line fuse for the amp's power lead is fine as are the fuses for both amps. Since the power for the amps are independant of the car's electrical/fuse system, it would seem irrelevant whether or not I blew the car's other fuses. Your opinion?

Every electrical component in your car is drawing power off the same source. If the fuse to your head unit is blown and you are running a turn on lead from that head unit to your amps, the amps will not turn on. The same would be true of any component you tap into for the remote lead to the amps. It's also possible that it is not a fuse but a burned wire somewhere in the system.

 

[AT@T tech 10+ year member]

Oh, yeah, I forgot: I bought my other amp, an Infinity Reference Series 611a amp to power my subwoofer and stopped working, too (actually, it was slowly dying). They both died the same day at the same time.

BUT, I had just bought it at Best Buy 40 days ago and they still let me exchange it even though I was just out of the 30-day return period. I didn't even have to argue with them or anything; they let me swap out for another, brand new 611a, instead Yay!

+1 for Best Buy's customer service (even if they are a Big Box corporate store).

i am suprised they let you swap it. the best buy here won't deal with you unless you bought one of their stupid service plans.

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

Every electrical component in your car is drawing power off the same source. If the fuse to your head unit is blown and you are running a turn on lead from that head unit to your amps, the amps will not turn on. The same would be true of any component you tap into for the remote lead to the amps. It's also possible that it is not a fuse but a burned wire somewhere in the system.

Good idea, but I do not draw power for the amps through the head unit. Instead, I have the power leads converge in a Monster block and one wire goes stright to the battery and is attached to the battery's positive terminal. BTW, the head unit turns on fine.

How do I check for a burned wire?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

i am suprised they let you swap it. the best buy here won't deal with you unless you bought one of their stupid service plans.

I was hungover and just drove through rainy autumn weather, so I was in no mood to deal with anyone's BS. Perhaps that helped... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/toast.gif.bc0657bf54b9ee653b6438524461341e.gif

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Good idea, but I do not draw power for the amps through the head unit. Instead, I have the power leads converge in a Monster block and one wire goes stright to the battery and is attached to the battery's positive terminal. BTW, the head unit turns on fine.
How do I check for a burned wire?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

He wasn't assuming that you power your amps via the HU.

That would be an awful silly thing to do.

But! His statement, as written, was entirely correct. Everything that draws power in your vehicle, period, gets that power from the same source: the battery.

So if there is anything in your car that requires a constant draw ~ which there is ~ (the clock, radio presets, and EQ settings memory in the HU for instance...and/or a factory clock in your car...engine computer settings, etc) there is going to be a spark when you reattach the positive post after having it disconnected. It's unavoidable, really.

As to why your amps do not work now I'm not too sure, though...I've done the exact thing you did many a time with no adverse results.

Check all fuses...if nothing there pans out then try completely disconnecting the amps power and ground leads then carefully reconnect them then cycle the HU's power on and off a few times to see if it resets the possibly tripped protection circuits in the amps?? Outside of that I'm a bit lost //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

Some good news! I completely removed the amps from the car and disconnected the power lead to the battery a few days ago. Today on my lunch half-hour (I wish I got a whole hour //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif ), I reinstalled the amp which drives my 5x7's and...I got sound!

I got the Infinity amp sitting at home, waiting to be installed. I'll probably do that tomorrow morning before I go to work. Heh...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif