Blown Fuses = Blown Amp?

So I loaned my car to my dad for the day, and he manages to blow my amp. Seeing as he usualy heads strait for the audiobook playlist, I don't think he blew it out the tradional way. He says it let out a loud pop, and the only thing that was left was bass. The subs and bass amp are working fine, as reported. The 4 channel (Orion XTR 800, IIRC) had two of its three blade fuses blown. I replaced them with my handy spare fuse kit (bought after a very quiet drive to the auto parts store durring one of my upgrades) and it blew another one. I drove home in slience at this point, debating if I should hook the subs back up and listen to Gorilaz.

Once I got home, I of course tried out more fuses, which blew as soon as the amp remote line turned on. I'm out of fuses, so I figure I need to come up with a new plan of attack. Should I take the amp out and take it to a car audio place and have them check it out? What else can I do before resorting to such drastic measures? I've tried it with half of the speakers unplugged, and I suppose I could try unplugging the other two if that might make a difference. Of course, I'm leaving on my 30 hour summer car trip on Tuesday any my car audio budget is about $75 destined for robricc...

Matthew

Check to make sure that no wires have come loose and/or got accidentally grounded to the vehicle frame (such as through a break in the cable shroud). Make sure to check all wires: Speaker wires, remote turn on, power wires, RCA cables, etc. Also check the back of the player sled to make sure the "wires have pulled loose from my docking sled" problem hasn't bitten you.

Yes, it's possible the amp is bad, but remember that fuses are mainly there to protect against shorted wires.

remember that fuses are mainly there to protect against shorted wires.


I am pretty sure you are saying what I am saying here -- but here is a clarification or addition:

Fuses are not there to protect your amplifier. They are there to protect your car.

If your amplifier goes into melt-down mode and shorts out, the fuse won't help the amplifier. But what it will do is keep the wires feeding the amp from getting so hot that they catch your car on fire.

tanstaafl.

I do understand about fuses, so I'm not about to go trying higher amp fuses or anything. I've had some more time to try and fix it, and I'm really at a loss. I unplugged everything to the point where the amp has power, ground, and the remote wire. Plugging the power and ground in doesn't blow the fuse, but as soon as the remote wire goes high, the fuses all pop and the show's over.

Is there anything else I can try? Should I open it up and take a look at the insides? I'm tempted, but I need to find out if it's under warranty first. The amp is a replacement from my insurance company when the orginal was stolen over a year ago, so I doubt I'll have any warranty luck.

Matthew

Plugging the power and ground in doesn't blow the fuse, but as soon as the remote wire goes high, the fuses all pop and the show's over.

Assuming the power and amp remote wires aren't shorted anywhere along their length, then yeah, that's pretty F'd up. I'd say the amp is Tango Uniform. Time to go shopping.

Assuming the power and amp remote wires aren't shorted anywhere along their length

Even if they were, they wouldn't blow the fuses in the amp. The fault has to be after the fuses (i.e. in the amp).

Unplugging all but power is good idea. It would seem you have some sort of short in the amp. If you're sure it's out of warranty, see if you can pop it open and look for anything obviously dodgy inside. It could be as simple as broken power wire coming loose and contacting the case which is likely to be grounded.

I opened it up, and didn't see anything obvious. Called Orion, and they're replacing it with a refurb for $125, which for a $450-500 amp isn't a bad deal, so I'm gonna do that. Of course, mailing this hunk-of-heat-sink back to them isn't going to be cheap, but I don't have much of an option. Looks like i'm stuck with 30 hours of driving with two working speakers. At least I'll have a bit more trunk space with the subs out.

Matthew

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Look at it either as $125 to repair OR the amp is to be thrown out and a new one is going to cost $125 i.e. much cheaper than a replacement from the store.

I wasn't aware Orion has a policy like that. I guess they are taking a punt that it is fairly easy to repair.

Yup. It works for me, and it's a good enough deal that I won't hold this one's untimely death against them. As long as the replacement holds up, I'll be happy to buy another one.

Matthew

I guess they are taking a punt that it is fairly easy to repair.


More likely, they'll just bin it when it arrives. It isn't worth their time, trouble, and expense to repair an obsolete amplifer, and even if they did -- what would they do with it then? They can't sell a used amplifier...

I'd guess that the $125 represents their cost on the replacement amplifier, and what they're doing is gaining a lot of customer satisfaction at no out-of-pocket expense to them.

tanstaafl.