Lucky s.o.b.- dls accident

[mile098 10+ year member]

ok so heres the deal, back in my country a guy wired a DLS A3 amp into a 1 ohm bridge, and it worked like that 4 about 5 months....well after that check the link as to what hapened

just look at the pics

so he emails dls about it and this is the email he gets back from them(if u dont feel like reading all of it just read the last paragraph)

------------I am really sorry to hear about this accident. I have studied your excellent photo documentation and I think I understand why this has happened.

- The A3 is a 1 ohm stable amplifier, or actually 0,75 ohm stable, but we normally dont recommend to load the amp so low because of the heat that this will generate. As I can guess from your photos you have connected the voice coils on each sub in parallel and then in parallel to the amplifier in bridge mode. This bridged 1 ohm load is actually a 0,5 ohm load to the amplifier. If you connect in stereo mode it is OK but bridge mode connection divides the impedance to half, meaning 0,5 ohm amplifier load. The amplifier can handle this without breaking for a short period but it will generate a lot of heat both inside the amp, and on the heatsink.

- Next problem is the placement of the amplifier between the rear seat and the sub box. The heat generated by the amp will not be able to dissapear in a correct way. Installations in narrow spaces requires external cooling by fans. I can not see that on your photos.

- I can see that the power cables are burned, this is very strange. Did you install a fuse close to the battery? This fuse has one task and that is to protect the power cables running from the battery back to the amplifier. If you have a fuse but if the value is too high, the cable can still burn without breaking the fuse. This is only a guess from my side becuse I have not seen any photo of the main fuse.

My final guess of what caused this fire is that the amplifier has been overheated inside for a long period causing the capacitors in the power supply to start to leak, and this has started the fire. It should not have happened if the amplifier was run under normal conditions, or better cooled. In the manual we have stated "Choose a location where air can circulate freely"

Regarding amplifier load we write in the manual "DLS A3 is 1 ohm stable. This means that you can connect two 4 ohm subwoofers in parallel without damaging the amplifier. Two 4 ohm subwoofers connected in parallel results in a 2 ohm load which the amplifier sees as a 1 ohm load".

To help you in the situation that has occoured we ant to send you a brand new A3 amplifier free of charge. You must promise to follow the advices regarding installation and connection in the manual

We hope that you will be satisfied with this solution -------------------------

no fail BS cuz as far as i know this shit is for real...lucky sob

Click to read more...

 

[Bloodstalker999 10+ year member]

lucky bastard got his backseat burnt and a new amp, thats awesome

 

[BASS_WARRIOR 10+ year member]

not very lucky if you ask me..."our amp set your car on fire, we'll give you another one."

 

[mile098 10+ year member]

well better that then nothing at all....here that amp new costs over a 1000$

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

that guy should have had to BUY a new amp.

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

ok so heres the deal, back in my country a guy wired a DLS A3 amp into a 1 ohm bridge, and it worked like that 4 about 5 months....well after that check the link as to what hapened
just look at the pics

so he emails dls about it and this is the email he gets back from them(if u dont feel like reading all of it just read the last paragraph)

------------I am really sorry to hear about this accident. I have studied your excellent photo documentation and I think I understand why this has happened.

- The A3 is a 1 ohm stable amplifier, or actually 0,75 ohm stable, but we normally dont recommend to load the amp so low because of the heat that this will generate. As I can guess from your photos you have connected the voice coils on each sub in parallel and then in parallel to the amplifier in bridge mode. This bridged 1 ohm load is actually a 0,5 ohm load to the amplifier. If you connect in stereo mode it is OK but bridge mode connection divides the impedance to half, meaning 0,5 ohm amplifier load. The amplifier can handle this without breaking for a short period but it will generate a lot of heat both inside the amp, and on the heatsink.

- Next problem is the placement of the amplifier between the rear seat and the sub box. The heat generated by the amp will not be able to dissapear in a correct way. Installations in narrow spaces requires external cooling by fans. I can not see that on your photos.

- I can see that the power cables are burned, this is very strange. Did you install a fuse close to the battery? This fuse has one task and that is to protect the power cables running from the battery back to the amplifier. If you have a fuse but if the value is too high, the cable can still burn without breaking the fuse. This is only a guess from my side becuse I have not seen any photo of the main fuse.

My final guess of what caused this fire is that the amplifier has been overheated inside for a long period causing the capacitors in the power supply to start to leak, and this has started the fire. It should not have happened if the amplifier was run under normal conditions, or better cooled. In the manual we have stated "Choose a location where air can circulate freely"

Regarding amplifier load we write in the manual "DLS A3 is 1 ohm stable. This means that you can connect two 4 ohm subwoofers in parallel without damaging the amplifier. Two 4 ohm subwoofers connected in parallel results in a 2 ohm load which the amplifier sees as a 1 ohm load".

To help you in the situation that has occoured we ant to send you a brand new A3 amplifier free of charge. You must promise to follow the advices regarding installation and connection in the manual

We hope that you will be satisfied with this solution -------------------------

no fail BS cuz as far as i know this shit is for real...lucky sob

am i missing something?

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

he doesn't deserve that equipment :-(

 

[Tonyguy 10+ year member]

wow, who knew DLS was so generous. I woulda told guy to **** off, it was not installed properly.

 

[plushDJ 10+ year member]

Good deal for the user but...wtf?? "You're an idiot, didn't install your equipment right, so we'll give you a free amp " I'm missing something here. BUT....did he install it himself or was it a shop that installed it?? Need a bit more info before judgement can be laid down.

 

[Canaan 10+ year member]

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I would like to see that WHOLE install.

It actually looks ok, but I'm betting there are some other faults in the wiring.

You would be surprised the kinda of stuff that comes through our shop...not too far from that.

That guy is LUCKY!

 

[diatribe 10+ year member]

Regarding amplifier load we write in the manual "DLS A3 is 1 ohm stable. This means that you can connect two 4 ohm subwoofers in parallel without damaging the amplifier. Two 4 ohm subwoofers connected in parallel results in a 2 ohm load which the amplifier sees as a 1 ohm load".

WTF is he talking about?

Two 4 Ohm woofers wired in parallel is NOT 1 Ohm at the amplifier.

 

[frzninvt 10+ year member]

am i missing something?

That is true for every stereo amp that you bridge out there you are combining two channels to create one channel. When you bridge at 4 ohms your amp is seeing 2 ohms on the L and R channels.

 

[frzninvt 10+ year member]

WTF is he talking about?
Two 4 Ohm woofers wired in parallel is NOT 1 Ohm at the amplifier.

It is for each of the stereo channels being bridged on that amplifier at 2 ohms bridged the stereo channels are at 1 ohm.

 

[audiobahnuser18 5,000+ posts]

Lucky 4 sure . i basically got my DLS amp 4 free all i had to do was cut the guy's grass.

 

[Ovitt 10+ year member]

Thats pretty lucky. And i agree with hatchet warrior when he says your an idoiot, heres a new amp. people are just retarded. do it right and that shit wont happen.