[RabidDogBoy]

While driving home the other day out of no where my subwoofer cut out. It was close to the end of the song so I tried a different song to see if it was the song... no luck... I turn off my radio and turn it back on... maybe the breaker on my amp went off... my subwoofer was working again with no problems... about 20 seconds later I smell something burning... like an electrical fire. I pull into a gas station and pop my hood because at one point in time my power wire from my battery to my amp had gotten loose and I checked to see if it had got cut or burnt, it's fine and the fuse is fine. I pop my trunk and before I even open it I can see smoke bellowing out from the sides. I open it and am greeted with a nice cloud of smoke. I look around and everything look fine though... until I check my amp... the fuse on my amp is burned/melted and my power light is also melted. I'm very confused now as to why/how this happened. If my amp was getting to much power wouldn't the fuse blow and them my amp no longer work? It still works but has no fuse or power light. I should have taken pictures but it was pretty late. Since my amp is still working fine I figured I just need to replace the fuse but would it even do anything? The fuse is supposed to be the safety measure so your amp doesn't catch fire/burn up but instead of blowing the fuse itself melted along with some of the amp casing and power light(it literally turned the top half of the glass into ash, I would think you'd need alot of heat to turn glass into ash). Any comments/help is greatly appreciated as I've never come across anything like this.

(Also I unplugged my amp and power wires to prevent further damage/burning.)

 

[southpawboston]

amps can overheat for a number of reasons, including an internal short. it's also possible that your sub may be shorted, causing the amp to throw a huge amount of current through it, which would also heat up the amp. i'm surprised the amp didn't go into protection mode before melting down. what brand is it? also, is it possible that someone replaced the fuse with a higher rated one than it's supposed to have? it almost sounds like the fuse circuit just melted closed. does it work without a fuse in there? if so, this amp has suffered some serious damage, and i would not use it anymore.

 

[RabidDogBoy]

Here's some pics...

Just opened the amp up and took these pics...

 

[southpawboston]

yeah it appears the fuse just melted and the power arched. i wouldn't use the amp anymore, but i'd also go to a stereo shop and have them test your sub, make sure it's not drawing more current than it should be.

 

[RabidDogBoy]

I've had this sub/amp combo for about 10 months.... why would it wait until now to do this?

 

[southpawboston]

sometimes when you run equipment hard, circuits begin to melt. or in the case of subs, the voice coils begin to melt. they continue to work okay until they melt to the point where they short out against the magnet. then they cause the amp to heat up massively (think of what would happen if you took a jumper cable and crossed you pos and neg battery terminals. the current traveling across the jumper would be so great that it would melt instantly.

it could also be the amp just spontaneously shorted. it happens.

 

[RabidDogBoy]

Damn... so the amp is dead beyond repair and my sub has the potential of being the culprit... bah!!!! Worst timing ever.... :kick: :help: :crash_com :stupid: luckily I have all these new smileys to express my pain.

 

[southpawboston]

hey, you can always get a second opinion....bring your stuff into a shop and see what they say. maybe at least the sub is fine, you never know...

 

[ilanpro04]

Try replacing the fuse holder and the LED, are you sure you had the right amperage fuse in there??

 

[Guess]

wow thats one owned MTX

 

[Keegaroosky717]

Not trying to take over the thread but I have an example of this happen to me. When i first got my license i picked up a used alpine amp and a JL w6, badass combo. Anyway, when i took it to the new audio store (my first mistake) to have it installed they said that the amp COULD take a higher rated fuse than what came in it. Being the young and unknowledgable me I said "ok whatever works". Well everything was fine and dandy, sub slammed and sounded perfect. Then I went to my prom and went to the after prom party and stayed for the night because they were raffling off a car, and i actually won it! So the next day i went to the dealership to sign the paperwork and on my way home my FU**ING trunk caught on FIRE! The whole amp pretty much melted in my trunk and burned a whole through one of my speakers in the rear deck. I'm not even kidding FLAMES were coming out of it. Soooooooooooo I HIGHLY SUGGEST NOT EVER replacing the fuse in your amp with a higher rated one, ITS NOT WORTH IT!! Lets just say my car was wned: . But The damage to my car wasnt too bad, and it was sort of ironic that i won that car.

Anyway, sorry about that. :nosthumbs