power wires touched, amp fried?

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1lowgalant

Copper - Posts: 116

Joined: September 15, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 08, 2006 at 8:13 PM / IP Logged

what's up all? i recently installed an amp in my truck. there is also a cap installed. little did i know, the terminals on the cap were loose and the power and ground accidently touched for a few seconds before i could move them. now, my sub amp will not come on. i didn't smell anything frying and there were no blown fuses in the amp or under the hood. any thoughts on what to look for or is the amp toast? thanks.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

i am an idiot

Platinum - Posts: 13,667

This member consistently provides reliable information

Joined: September 21, 2006

Location: Louisiana, United States

Posted: November 08, 2006 at 8:55 PM / IP Logged

This should not have hurt your amp. It should have only taken out the fuse at your battery. You really need to use a meter and check voltage at your amp.

1lowgalant

Copper - Posts: 116

Joined: September 15, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 08, 2006 at 9:31 PM / IP Logged

i used my fluke to check for voltage at the amp. holding perfect voltage. as i said in my post, no fuses are blown and all of them are reading just fine.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

i am an idiot

Platinum - Posts: 13,667

Joined: September 21, 2006

Location: Louisiana, United States

Posted: November 08, 2006 at 10:23 PM / IP Logged

Hmmm power and ground touched for a few seconds and no blown fuses

Keep us posted and let us know what happens

warpedimage3

Copper - Posts: 90

Joined: September 16, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 8:10 AM / IP Logged

try taking the amp to a local car audio shop and have them bench test it.

1lowgalant

Copper - Posts: 116

Joined: September 15, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 10:19 AM / IP Logged

could it be possible that even though the fuse under the hood didn't blow the short somehow "almost" blew the fuse as in not letting enough current run through? i have a 150a fuse under the hood and the thin strip in the fuse is discolored like it's gotten hot but my 4 channel still works fine. i haven't pulled the sub amp out yet for testing. i'll do that later this evening but i'm just trying to find some things to look for. i guess it's a good thing i've got an extra sub amp just like the one that probably got fried.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

master5

Silver - Posts: 1,123

Joined: October 10, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 11:27 AM / IP Logged

It would be really strange if a short at the cap damaged the amp. A short is just that..a "short cut". Basically the pos. and neg. touched and all the current that could leave the power supply (battery) and fit through the fuse and wires leaves no current left to get to the amp. If the fuse didn't blow thats a miricle. Now if you didn't have a fuse or if for some reason the fuse held up, wires/terminals could burn. Although this won't damage the amp it could cause resistance and not allow enough voltage to reach the amp.

Like others said check the voltage at the amp with a meter because many times you can't tell a blown fuse by looking at it with eyes alone. And as well you can't see what else is wrong until you trace with a DMM (meter). My bet is the amp survived.

1lowgalant

Copper - Posts: 116

Joined: September 15, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 11:27 AM / IP Logged

alright, i decided to go ahead and pull it out now while kinda slow at work. hooked it up on our test bench and low and behold......power! it powered up normaly and played just fine as it always has. i got to looking at the power and ground inputs and noticed on the power side there is an outline of the fork terminal where it screws down. i looked on the fork terminal on the power wire and it also had signs of arcing. so the only thing i can figure out is even though it was connected to the amp, the amp actually wasn't getting power. i feel alot better now that it works so for anyone out there that has had this kind of problem......check for good connection. just cause the terminals are getting power obviously doesn't mean the amp is.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

DYohn

Moderator - Posts: 10,741

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Joined: April 22, 2003

Location: Arizona, United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 2:55 PM / IP Logged

Did the fuse at your battery blow? Do you HAVE a fuse on the power lead at your battery?

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1lowgalant

Copper - Posts: 116

Joined: September 15, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: November 09, 2006 at 3:01 PM / IP Logged

3 posts up.........150a fuse under the hood. not blown. i figured out the problem. i'm still curious if a fuse can "partially" blow as in becoming more resistive to current flow but not completely blowing. i've seen fuses that apear to be blown as in the device not working but there is still contiuity between both sides of the fuse. change the fuse and it works again. as i said, i solved my problem but would still like to hear thoughts on this.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let the white smoke leak out of the wires.....

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