fuses pop when turning on amp - is it blown?

[mrpep]

I removed all of the speaker wires and rca from HU and have only power, ground and remote on amp. The amp has 2 20 amp fuses and as soon as I turn on the radio the fuses pop. What could it be? is the amp blown? Could it be a ground issue?

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Trace your power and ground. If they are fine the amp is blown.

 

[CSCStang]

I removed all of the speaker wires and rca from HU and have only power, ground and remote on amp. The amp has 2 20 amp fuses and as soon as I turn on the radio the fuses pop. What could it be? is the amp blown? Could it be a ground issue?

Does the amp smell at all? Doesn't sound good man.

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

Typical sign of a failure in the output section of the amplifier. Shorted outputs are causing the amp to pull excessive current and pop the fuses. She needs to be repaired

 

[mrpep]

I think shes blown too.... is it something I can repair myself?

 

[Staynlean 10+ year member]

Man that *****. Did anything you can think of you did lately that might have caused it?

 

[mrpep]

I caused it ... Its an old amp and you can barely read the symbols on it so I was trying to bridge it and I think I connected either positive to positive or negative to negative. Its not a huge loss , its not my Alpine , this is a beater I bought for 40$. I just wonder if it can be fixed.

 

[CSCStang]

Crack it open and look for burnt or discolored areas on the pc board. Its most likely fixable. It may have not been bridgeable at all.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i agree it is probably the output MOSFETs, one or more of them have shorted. it can probably be repaired but the cost will be greater than $40 if you have to replace all of the MOSFETs. you can do it yourself if you are familiar with board-level soldering work and have a steady hand.

this is a starting point:

Basic Amplifier Repair

you can buy his amplifier repair tutorial and it will give you enough information to attempt basic repairs. you'll need a good temperature adjustable soldering iron, flux, silver bearing solder, desoldering braid, a DMM, and clean and well-lit place to do the repair.

what model is the amp? reversing polarity won't cause damage - just an out-of-phase signal. if you mix up power and ground connections, then the repair is more invasive.

 

[mrpep]

its an old Orion Xtreme 400 . That just intimated the heck out of me , lol. I removed the 4 screws which were located on the side and it doesnt seem to open. This is one tricky assembly.

 

[CSCStang]

its an old Orion Xtreme 400 . That just intimated the heck out of me , lol. I removed the 4 screws which were located on the side and it doesnt seem to open. This is one tricky assembly.

Take the bottom plate off. The side has internals attached to it.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You might not want to attempt this if you can't even get the amp open.

 

[mrpep]

View attachment 26550134View attachment 26550135

looks like a resistor is burnt. How can i replace? radio shack?

 

[CSCStang]

Most likely online. The Radio Shack here doesn't carry much anymore. Is there a Fry's near you?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You can't just change the resistor. It popped for a reason, you need to find that reason