Help diagnosing an amplifier problem

[Strakele 10+ year member]

Hey guys,

As I was driving back to college the other day, my mono amp started freakin out on me. It worked fine for about 2 hours while I was listening to a live concert recording. Sometime after that, it started to go haywire.

Now, whenever I turn on my stereo with the mono amp activated, as soon as it turns on, my whole electrical system goes nuts. All the lights in my car begin to pulsate at a constant rate, like it's drawing a lot of current. While it's doing this, the power/protect light on the amp flash as well. While all of this is happening, it produces no sound.

I checked fuses, tried disconnecting and reconnecting everything, tried it with just power cables connected (i.e. no speaker wire or RCA's) and the exact same thing happens. The only thing I haven't checked is the ground point since it's not convenient and I haven't felt like ripping my car apart.

The amp is a DB Drive PD2000.1 mono amplifier. It's the older black version, not the new silver. It has a new board though. This is a beast of an amplifier that puts out well over 2000 watts at 1 ohm, and can be run at less than 1 ohm as well. I wasn't stressing it at all - it was being run at 2 ohms, just playing some Metallica.

I took it out today and opened it up. Nothing looks burnt or discolored. I can post pics if that would help. I can't think of anything else to check. I have a feeling it isn't the ground either, since my 4 channel amp is grounded at the same place, and it works fine.

Any ideas?

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[billjones42 10+ year member]

it's probably the one thing you didn't check. the ground.

 

[Qbenjamin 10+ year member]

Hey guys,
As I was driving back to college the other day, my mono amp started freakin out on me. It worked fine for about 2 hours while I was listening to a live concert recording. Sometime after that, it started to go haywire.

Now, whenever I turn on my stereo with the mono amp activated, as soon as it turns on, my whole electrical system goes nuts. All the lights in my car begin to pulsate at a constant rate, like it's drawing a lot of current. While it's doing this, the power/protect light on the amp flash as well. While all of this is happening, it produces no sound.

I checked fuses, tried disconnecting and reconnecting everything, tried it with just power cables connected (i.e. no speaker wire or RCA's) and the exact same thing happens. The only thing I haven't checked is the ground point since it's not convenient and I haven't felt like ripping my car apart.

The amp is a DB Drive PD2000.1 mono amplifier. It's the older black version, not the new silver. It has a new board though. This is a beast of an amplifier that puts out well over 2000 watts at 1 ohm, and can be run at less than 1 ohm as well. I wasn't stressing it at all - it was being run at 2 ohms, just playing some Metallica.

I took it out today and opened it up. Nothing looks burnt or discolored. I can post pics if that would help. I can't think of anything else to check. I have a feeling it isn't the ground either, since my 4 channel amp is grounded at the same place, and it works fine.

Any ideas?

The POWER SUPPLY inside of your amp has gone bad. It will need to be repaired, and I would highly suggest that you disconnect it promptly. That surge that it is doing will eventually destroy other electrical components in your car.

 

[Qbenjamin 10+ year member]

it's probably the one thing you didn't check. the ground.

Nah, I guarantee that it is a bad power supply problem. The surging/pulsating is a dead giveaway. Especially since there are no fuses blown either.

 

[Strakele 10+ year member]

Any idea how much a power supply would cost to fix?

 

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