Hi all and thank you for viewing my channel. I am the owner of a home-based state and city licensed (one day I might have a storefront) automotive electronics repair business that started with repairing vintage vacuum tube testers in 2014 and now specializing in automotive amplifier repair. I started this journey in mid-2019 and absolutely enjoy what I do every day. I have 27 years in electrical installation, repair, and troubleshooting which has helped me to understand today's electronics. I have been an educator in the electrical field for 20 of those 27 years. I have decided to share my repair adventures to help educate any new potential repair technicians and I thank you for all your support. For questions please feel free to contact me at: ellensburg.amplifier@charter.net www.ellensburgamplifier.com
I am doing the same thing as far as terms of service. Some people think that you are responsible for the repair even if its a year later. Some people actually think that we dont test the amplifier before giving them back to our customers. I have had the same issues with people stating the same thing you had with the Orion. The common one I get is I had the amp in my closet...
I was wondering where I could get the cardboard turntable that tells you what resistance the resistor is around 13:36 in the video any help would be appreciated thanks
Ok the reference wheel. The one I have was put out in the 50's but here is a link to a good guy (Steve) that has one for sale. Tell him Todd's Tubes and Testers sent you! www.ebay.com/itm/276369865501?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=DbJ3X0MoTlC&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=Q6ZdGeQQSfm&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Alpine the super high tech brand of the amp world, loaded with ic chips galore, some of the touchiest amps to fix and diagnose, they can be temperamental with age, very clean sounding amps tho, for your average sub amp needs either go budget good quality with pioneer or go balls to walls durability tried and true Rockford Fosgate, I’d stay away from alpine from now on, kenwood excelon series are also very clean and good but also falls into the same issues as alpine, stick with class Ab simple amps from a reputable brand to be reliable for door speakers😅
You can contact Taramps and if they have enough stock they may sell you a board. If it's a remote circuit failure (IC9- TPS7A6601) then that is repairable.
hello ihave simmilar amplier design but different brand ihave a scope but the amp cant turn on if the output mosfet in amplfier stage if i remove the final fets the amp turn on the rail voltage is ok but the high and low side of the amplfier i can t see in short there s no pwm signal going to final fets. my suspect is that 2184 but i raplace it den nothing happens same same condition then i try to get 2184 from the other amp that will operate normaly to proves that 2184 is the faulty ones then when i replace it its same again then now i bring back the 2184 ic now on the other amp that will work normal then now they have same problem protec then the protec indicator is little bit strange cuz the blue and red ligth are both lit... now can i blame the ic the 2184? the other parts is good resistor transistor the capacitor is the one what i not tested cuz i donthave capacitance mete lcr meter or leakeage tester..ty im new in electronics im from in PH sorry formy bad english
It sounds like the 2184 is going into shutdown. You will have to see what the "SD" pin is doing. If you do not have low side drive then the IC is going into shutdown which can be independent of the standard protection circuits as the 2184 has it's own internal protections. I usually find something bad int he output section if the 2184 is going into internal shutdown.
I'm working on a MD 8k that when down hard on one side with blown trace even the circuit that controls the fans I had to repare, but after all that it on now but no sound and suggestions?
Hello Friend, I have been watching you videos, I need some help any reply would be appriciated, I try to find the mosfet numbers in a 35k board in power supply section to make repairs, my input mosfets are marked as H2, do you have something as equivalent for H2 marked mosfets?
Sorry but I do not know what the H2 is. I have seen 2 of those 35k amps here, which were declined for service, and I think it was something like the 1404 or equivalent.
I own this exact amplifier and loved it when it worked. Right now it goes into protection straight away but then flashes green every minute or so. How much would it cost roughly to fix? I also have the 4 channel version that works fine except for channel number has static in the background. Would like it fixed as well?
Hello and thank you for the channel support. For information I do recommend to check the FAQ page at www.ellensburgamplifier.com/FAQS and at the top of the site you can hit the request service button to start the process.
@Sql253 Todd's not going to tell you if it's a good or bad product. You have to decide that for yourself. If you have doubts, don't buy it. I suggest you choose a product you have confidence in. Like me, I typically go Rockford. It's high quality and I like it's sound character. I've never heard of Busy Bee until now. My confidence level in them is pretty low. That's just my personal feeling. In reality, they may fine products.
It is a RC circuit to reduce noise between the primary and secondary sides of the SMPS. I call it the A-gnd bonding resistor which is quickly identified by the resistance value between the negative power supply terminal and the RCA sheild.
I like your videos but I really wish you would show the actual repairs instead of just talking about what you’re going to do. We cannot learn if we don’t see it happen.
Agreed 100%! Too bad the intention of this video was basically to show what you can miss by not pulling a board. When I close the business I may get more in-depth into the repairs as a hobby.
This happened to a smart 3 i installed recently, amp was playing okay for about 2-3 weeks then it started going into protect for a split second while playing those low notes. one night the client called me and said he heard a weird sound and then the bass stopped playing, i told him to check the fuse, because i always install fuses. It's your first protection against any major damage and it did just that. in the end only 4 of the 4115 were shorted out of the 8, and it was the ones that were in the same bank. I learned from you how to check if the driver ICs or transistors are shorted and they weren't so i just dropped the fets back in and pull them further away from the tie down bar screws. Taramps has very piss poor QC to let something this exit their factory.
I have the same amplifier but the 8000W one its showing -4vdc on speaker out what to do ? My amplifier is keeps on flashing protect without anything connected besides from power supply ? I tried to read the H1 A2 labeled output transistor and it shows an open reading should I only replace the transistor or what else help ?
I installed one about a month or 2 ago, the guy called me a few nights ago panicking, said he hard a weird noise and then no bass. I told him to check the fuse, because i placed a 100A fuse on it, it's just running 1 15" 4 stack audiopipe. So the fuse is blown so i assume there wouldn't be any major damage to the amp, boy was i wrong! Before i replace fuses in amps or on the main line i like to check what caused the fuse to blow in the first place. So i opened the amp to see what's up, there was a dark spot between 2 output fets that has the tie down bar screw between them, when i remove the tie down bar i saw that the screw shorted to one of the fets because it was so close and took out all the connected fets to that high or low side, can't tell. The fets are shorted from source to gate so i'm guessing it took out the output driver ICs because i remove all the output fets and it's still indicating a short, i checked the gate to source resistance and it about 8-9K Ohms. Do these amplifirs need to have fets in in order to turn on or something? The power supply fets are okay but the remaining output fets seem to don't want to fully turn on when testing. Have you ever had this issue?
Oh yes I think I have seen every possible failure with these full-bridge designs that have a feedback circuit. They have to have all the transistors installed or it will go into protection. These are not treated like the half-bridge Korean amps where you can power them up with outputs installed. Most cases when a Smart amplifier fails you will end up rebuilding most all of the output section. Whats the resistance to chassis ground from each speaker terminal? This will tell me a little about the feedback circuit.
@@ellensburgamplifier Okay let me see if can understand you clearly, so the korean style amps can power on without output transistors? which i have done also. Rebuilding the entire output section, even the driver IC? So measure resistance of both positive and negative terminals to chassis ground?
@@ellensburgamplifier Okay, so resistance to chassis ground for the positive terminal is 5.7K ohms and the resistance to chassis ground for the negative side is 6.4K ohms.
Yeah I'm with you I try to tell everyone about everything you talked about in this video no such thing as stable no such thing as max no such thing as amp dynos!!! Every build every car every power source all that all the weather all that matters every build is different and it doesn't help when the brand lies or pumps it up you one billion correct about everything thank you for posting this information for people that don't understand or know
This is what so many don't understand. They take the manufactures word as gosple then wonder why it failed. I promise that it is RARE to have an OEM fault.
One more small state,, I totally understand why you're bringing this tire attention it makes sense,, is kind of funny me and hifi Victor got into this conversation the other day about running the HCCA at 16 volt to try to increase efficiency and power😅😅😅
Wow you brought up two sides of the coin I never looked at it like that,, One I never thought of humidity playing that big a factor,, and your second and biggest point😅😅 every base head loves to do the next bass head with less power ,I,E,, One base head does a 150 DB on 10,000 w The other base head does 150 DB on 5000 Watts,, from one base head to the next base head that's a slap in the face,,, in other words haha you don't know what you're doing,,, That's why some of us try to run more input voltage😅
I agree 1000%. If everyone would do it correctly then there would be no need to run higher voltage or high input signal voltage. If you need more power then get a bigger amp. It's always good to have a lot more power than you need anyway. Get an oversized amp, run it at 14.6v, turn down the gain a bit and the amp should stay happy and cool if no vibration issues. I've been in car audio almost 30 years and have never once blown an amp. Running 6 15s on 2 Taramps Bass 15ks with 0 issues. This isn't rocket science. Lol. If you try to run anything at its very max all the time then it isn't going to last long. 18 volts would be like running a car engine at 8,000rpm non stop and it red lines at 6,000. Lol
That's a big issue around where I'm at....At lot of guys want to run the input votage as high as they can get it and drop the load to a half an ohm. Never works out!
Been dealing with this for years now. That's why my shop offers no warranty on any repairs anymore at all! I make sure the customer understands that the amplifier failed in their vehicle before they sent it in for repair/s, so if I repair the amplifier and they put it back into the same situation I can only guarantee the same exact results. Whoever knows me or whomever Ive repaired for, One has to be mindful as to how they utilize their equipment. Also at the amplifier fails, before and fails again after the repairs one has to have the courage to hold themselves accountable. Most amplifier failures are user error and are mainly caused by Low voltage, lack of reserve, excessive clipping, RCA signal input improper, improper impedance (depending upon the amplifier) .05, .33/.25/.17/ .08 So on and so forth. It's all the teas are crossed and all the odds are dotted to begin with and the amplifiers not overdriven, One would never have issues with amplifiers at all period! Just my two cents 🙂
If you repair it. They will hook it up. Say, it last 2 weeks . It blows from the obvious 18v then the customer will start the blame game on the repair tech and then bash you all over the internet.. You are one smart fella.
100% true. If I can't provide the absolute best service for the customer I will not accept the job as they will just bash my business online. Private repair for all amps will end in 2027.
There are several steps to take to determine the fault. Sounds like the MCU is definitely not happy. Class D is not my choice of topologies to start learning at the beginning.
@@EmilynayeskiPerez The Smart line of amplifiers is not for the faint of heart. These are not easy to repair depending on the fault and there are MANY circuits where the fault can be. It is a process of elimination in which I would need to have in front of me to find the issue.
Entiendo gracias pensé que tal vez me podrías orientar un poco porque hay como corto en la placa la mitad del amplificar todo suichea ose hay continuidad
Hello! I don't repair PG (besides the Titanium series) so I may not be much help but will do my best. I have repaired one or two of the M44's in the past but if I remember right the output totems were a nightmare.
@@ellensburgamplifier well it's actually probably a 8 or 9/10 condition wise .. but I haven't even tried to power it up . I didn't know if I should or not before having the caps checked
@@ellensburgamplifier I have a quick vid of it on my stuff .. you can see how nice it is.. it's been temp control stored for years.. I guess my main concern is if I should power it up or have it checked
@@MattGuynn You can do a visual inspection of the caps to make sure none are bulged or have started to leak. If it looks okay, apply voltage very slowly starting low and working your way up to 14 volts. Keep the amperage really low like 1 amp and once you get to 14v increase the amperage to see if it idles normally or tries to take too much current. Even though it's really old they probably used high-end capacitors so it might operate fine. If you're wanting to actually use it, you might consider replacing all the caps.
Good question! I have not repaired Stetsom amplifiers for quite some time. They will either be the IRS20957 or the Si8244. Best way to know is to match the datasheet of these to the input pin location on the board going to the drivers.
