AMP has contant beep
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From: Mesa, AZ
AMP has contant beep After i ran my system for my truck, i went to hook up one of my amps. It is a phoenix Gold, not sure of model at this moment but when it is powered up it has a steady beeping noise coming from it. It still powered my sub and did what an amp should do but I cant figure out what the beep is. As for now i have another amp hooked up powering the sub and it sounds fine. Any ideas on what this beeping noise could be from? It coming from the RCA and adjustment ***** side also. Any help would be appreciated
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It has the beep as soon as its powered up whether or not the sub is hooked up. Does that make sense? But with the sub hooked up it still powers it like it should but has that beep also.
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Nope no fault lights or anything, powers up just like it always did. havent checked the load yet but would that matter if the sub wasnt hooked up yet and it still beeps? As for the ground, its fine, I have my other amp powering the sub now and its doin its job, just the amp isnt as powerful as the one that beeps constantly. Someone said phoenix gold has a tech line or website or something... Anyone know it?
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Originally Posted by fox_forma
Nope no fault lights or anything, powers up just like it always did. havent checked the load yet but would that matter if the sub wasnt hooked up yet and it still beeps? As for the ground, its fine, I have my other amp powering the sub now and its doin its job, just the amp isnt as powerful as the one that beeps constantly. Someone said phoenix gold has a tech line or website or something... Anyone know it?
PG tech support web site is http://www.phoenixgold.com/2004/techsupport.html
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Originally Posted by 2MuchRiceMakesMeSick
Possibly a transistor is shorted causing a 0ohm load. This can happen even with the subs not hooked up. Try putting a sub on it at 4ohms and see if that clears it up.
PG tech support web site is http://www.phoenixgold.com/2004/techsupport.html
PG tech support web site is http://www.phoenixgold.com/2004/techsupport.html
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figured i would bring this back again to see if anyone had anymore ideas. I used some advise from PG about the squeeling noise that is coming from my amp. The amp is a phoenix gold XS2500. They told me to put some hot glue on the inside of the voice coil in the amp becaus it was prob vibrating causing this squeel but that didnt work. Could it be I need to go to a thicker gauge wire for my power and ground? I'm running 8awg right now, but it works fine with my other amps when i tested them. It seems to get extremely hot really fast in the area of the coils and capacitors near the (+)
(-) terminals. Do I need to bump it down to 4AWG?
(-) terminals. Do I need to bump it down to 4AWG?
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From: Mesa, AZ
it just does it no matter what. As soon as there is power to the amp it squeels like that and gets extremely hot real fast. I had a buddy check the ohm load and he said it was ok, i dont remember it tho, i will try to find out anyways. I'm just confused to why it still works like it should, but it has that high pitch squeel/beeping noise
You're saying it get's hot REAL FAST. How fast? Like a minute? Quicker? Could be a bad amp. If the internals Short it'll send it into protection mode sometime or it can just get hot likt you described. The being hot part is saying it's has a TON of curent passing thru it.
Disconnect the Speaker Wires and see if it get's hot again or has the alarm. If it does it's the Amp.
ALso that is a Throidal Choke not a Voice Coil. It looks like a Coil though. He told you to Put hot glue on it???? WTF? I'm assuming it's not warrantied. They would never tell you to open an amp up and DIY repair it if it was. Wierd. I'm suprised he told you to do that. Usually if it's loose it'll Hum not really sqeak. I'm going to lean towards a bad amp.
Disconnect the Speaker Wires and see if it get's hot again or has the alarm. If it does it's the Amp.
ALso that is a Throidal Choke not a Voice Coil. It looks like a Coil though. He told you to Put hot glue on it???? WTF? I'm assuming it's not warrantied. They would never tell you to open an amp up and DIY repair it if it was. Wierd. I'm suprised he told you to do that. Usually if it's loose it'll Hum not really sqeak. I'm going to lean towards a bad amp.
Last edited by Richiec77; Jun 3, 2005 at 05:28 PM.
Also the area of the +/-? Power or speaker terminals?
Also check around the transistor bank for excess heat or loose screws. They need to be snug. Around 40 In/lbs. So basically snug not cranked down hard. Try putting a screw driver on the screws and tighten each one a little. Should move.
If the transistor area is the other HOT part it could be a shorted transistor. That means the amp would have to be repaired.
Also, does it smell like ionized Air? Funky smells at all? Visible Burn marks?
Also check around the transistor bank for excess heat or loose screws. They need to be snug. Around 40 In/lbs. So basically snug not cranked down hard. Try putting a screw driver on the screws and tighten each one a little. Should move.
If the transistor area is the other HOT part it could be a shorted transistor. That means the amp would have to be repaired.
Also, does it smell like ionized Air? Funky smells at all? Visible Burn marks?
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it seems to get hot within a matter of seconds. It gets hottest around the power and ground terminals but more or less in the area and not directly on it. It does have a smell to it after about 20 seconds but i dont know what it is. I replaced two of the capacitors because they started smoking at one point so i put new ones in. There are no burn marks at all from what I can tell. I dont need the speaker wires to be hooked up for this to make the noise. It does it as soon at it gets power to it. It is not warrentied but i was on PG's forum and posted the topic and one of the techs said the coil can come loose and thats what makes it squeel and to put some hot glue on the inside of it to stabilize it more. The amp also doesnt go into protection mode, it lights up just like it always did before and the light stays green and doesnt blink or anything, and it still puts out current to the subs if I were to hook them up. It has to be something stupid, but i cant figure out what it can be and the PG forum section is down as of now
Take the board out and Look for something shorting to the Back. Could be?
Just be carefull around the Transistors. They have a Heat Sink Film on them to aid in Heat transfer. It's a bitch to get off you fingers. Time to take it apart and perform a close inspection. It's really hard to diagnose problem at a Component level over the net. I'll try and think of more tips for you.
Just be carefull around the Transistors. They have a Heat Sink Film on them to aid in Heat transfer. It's a bitch to get off you fingers. Time to take it apart and perform a close inspection. It's really hard to diagnose problem at a Component level over the net. I'll try and think of more tips for you.
Oh. Koodos for you trying to fix an Amp. That's how I got started in Tech Repair.
Wait until you get to the easier Fixer-uper for cheap. Stuff like blown Ground straps on the Board from Wrong polarity Wiring, and Turned to far Potientiometers (gains) those are easy to find and fix. Could buy those amps from people and fix-em cheap .I still have 2 old Punch 150's like that. 1 was the Ground Fuse link on the board and the other was the pots. Bought both for the hell of it for about $30 and fix them both by learning the way you are.
Wait until you get to the easier Fixer-uper for cheap. Stuff like blown Ground straps on the Board from Wrong polarity Wiring, and Turned to far Potientiometers (gains) those are easy to find and fix. Could buy those amps from people and fix-em cheap .I still have 2 old Punch 150's like that. 1 was the Ground Fuse link on the board and the other was the pots. Bought both for the hell of it for about $30 and fix them both by learning the way you are.
Last edited by Richiec77; Jun 3, 2005 at 10:14 PM. Reason: spelling
Alright. A resistor might be suspect but that usually skews the Biasing of the Tranistor Amp stage for that 1 part. You'll notice a large row of transistors. That is how amplification is done for large Gain (dB). Each stage amplifies it a little bit at a time. The resistors near the Transistors (the black squares with Metal Tabs on them towards the outside of the amp screwed into the Heat Sink) are what control the Biasing of each Transistor.
The Area that is suspect right now seems to be the Power Supply. Something is Shorted causing it to draw large curent. That is why it's heating up. Try to narrow it down some more by powering it on and then seeing where the Heat build up occurs 1st. The Power supply area is easily identified by the Large Capacitors and the Throidal Choke. That seems to be it. I doubt the Output stage is at fault due to it actually playing. 1 unbiased amp and the stage goes down, or is really screwy. This is occuring without a load present. That changes the Function of the Transistors.
Just take a Good Visial Inspection. Smell the Board itself around the area. Caps have a super Distinct Smell when they go. Not like Ionized air. That means there is a Large amount of Current Leakage occuring. You smell it in a Computer now a days due to the small die size and the even larger amount of current leakage. That's the reason they run so hot. (CPU Chips)
Do a detailed Visial. Might find the problem that way 1st. Might even suprise yourself.
The Area that is suspect right now seems to be the Power Supply. Something is Shorted causing it to draw large curent. That is why it's heating up. Try to narrow it down some more by powering it on and then seeing where the Heat build up occurs 1st. The Power supply area is easily identified by the Large Capacitors and the Throidal Choke. That seems to be it. I doubt the Output stage is at fault due to it actually playing. 1 unbiased amp and the stage goes down, or is really screwy. This is occuring without a load present. That changes the Function of the Transistors.
Just take a Good Visial Inspection. Smell the Board itself around the area. Caps have a super Distinct Smell when they go. Not like Ionized air. That means there is a Large amount of Current Leakage occuring. You smell it in a Computer now a days due to the small die size and the even larger amount of current leakage. That's the reason they run so hot. (CPU Chips)
Do a detailed Visial. Might find the problem that way 1st. Might even suprise yourself.
http://www.101science.com/Radio.htm
Every question you could want answered is in this. It's a lot to filter thru but may help you out in a bind.
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_4/2.html
I'll edit to give you more info.
Every question you could want answered is in this. It's a lot to filter thru but may help you out in a bind.
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_4/2.html
I'll edit to give you more info.
Last edited by Richiec77; Jun 3, 2005 at 10:01 PM.
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I've pulled this thing apart a 1000 times. There was a resistor that wasnt connected on the oposite side of the board near the x-over but i replaced that and soddered it back. I know my way for the most part around electronics crap. Good ol electronics class in school. Nothing seems odd when doing a visual look over. There is one point near the power supply that looks odd tho because two seperate sodering points are running into eachother. It looks like it is more of the grounding connection than power though so maybe that can be it but i'm not sure. here is a pic of the coil and the caps that were smoking, i will see what else i can find out tomorrow, hopefully its just something stupid. On the coil it seemed like one of them was a little loose but i put a dap of hot glue in there and it is secure now. This thing heats up so quick and hot that it actually starts to melt the glue again.
Damn. That's pretty hot.
Well. If you have a DVM just check to be sure it's ground. Just put 1 lead on the Neg term. and the other in the suspected spot. Those look more like Filtering Caps for the DC signal and not ment for large storage. Used for Filling in Dips. Basic Filtering.
Also if it's getting that hot it might be loosening the Soldiered joints. Just a quick heatin of them might help.
At this point it's starting to get closer to needing schematics, an O-scope and a DVM just to go deeper. I'll ask a Buddy of mine what he thinks. I'll get some info later on for ya.
EDIT. Hot glue isn't going to fix a loose Connection. If it's too loose the Current Leakage can be comming from that area. If you have a solidering iron, (sounds like it) just re-heat the joints on the Throidal. All +12vDC current goes thru the choke. It's kind of the Heart more literally like all blood goes thru the heart.
The 1 thing leading me to believe it's a short is that it's getting really hot. An open circuit doesn't really act in this manner. Not in a Power Supply stage.
Well. If you have a DVM just check to be sure it's ground. Just put 1 lead on the Neg term. and the other in the suspected spot. Those look more like Filtering Caps for the DC signal and not ment for large storage. Used for Filling in Dips. Basic Filtering.
Also if it's getting that hot it might be loosening the Soldiered joints. Just a quick heatin of them might help.
At this point it's starting to get closer to needing schematics, an O-scope and a DVM just to go deeper. I'll ask a Buddy of mine what he thinks. I'll get some info later on for ya.
EDIT. Hot glue isn't going to fix a loose Connection. If it's too loose the Current Leakage can be comming from that area. If you have a solidering iron, (sounds like it) just re-heat the joints on the Throidal. All +12vDC current goes thru the choke. It's kind of the Heart more literally like all blood goes thru the heart.
The 1 thing leading me to believe it's a short is that it's getting really hot. An open circuit doesn't really act in this manner. Not in a Power Supply stage.
Last edited by Richiec77; Jun 3, 2005 at 10:20 PM.