Fireworks from the amp.
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=30270
Printed Date: July 09, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Topic: Fireworks from the amp.
Posted By: simonl
Subject: Fireworks from the amp.
Date Posted: April 12, 2004 at 9:49 PM
PLEASE HELP!!! I took my sub amp out of my old Jeep, kept it safe and sound in my room and went to install it today. I had everything plugged in on the amp, speaker wires, remote, ground, power. I plug in the main fuse @ the battery on my power wire and **SNAP**, a big spark flies from my amp and I immeaditly disconnect the main power. I have been running my components off another amp which is on the same power distribution block (so I am assuming there is nothing wrong with the power), this component amp has a seperate ground (possible problem with ground?). What could possibly be going wrong!? Am I hooking it up in the wrong order or something? I have never had this problem before. After the fireworks, I opened the amp up, and the circuitry all looked fine, nothing charred or smelled bad. I left the cover off this time, and tried hooking up JUST the power and ground again.... ***POP*** there it goes again. The amp in question is the ESX Q175.2 made by Zed Audio. Has anyone else ever had a problem like this? I am thinking about taking it to a local car audio place tommorrow for them to look at it, I think they have some diagnostic tools they can use... But I just want to rule out installer error if possible before I shell out the cash. I am just 
Replies:
Posted By: Ketel22
Date Posted: April 12, 2004 at 9:52 PM
it sounds like a short circuit, if you havent checked your grounds and all on that amp do so. also make sure the chasis of the amp isnt grounding out if its metal.
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Posted By: simonl
Date Posted: April 12, 2004 at 10:06 PM
anyone else got any ideas? I will double check the ground tommorrow. Is there any simple test I could try without having to try and spark the amp again? By hooking up a portable battery or anything? Multimeter?
Posted By: simonl
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 5:37 AM
hmmm, someone posted on another forum that it could be the capacitors charging up. Sounds like a plausible idea. I am going to give this another shot after work.... hopefully itll go well :)
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 8:21 AM
Did the main fuse blow when you got your "zap" at the amp? Or the fuse inside the amp? No? Then it may be normal. If any fuse blew, the amp is toast and needs to be looked at by a service center. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: simonl
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 3:38 PM
Dyohn. The amp in question is a ESX... i dont know if you are familiar with them. They were really popular, and still have a decent demand nowadays even though they were only produced one year (1998 i believe, by zed audio). I took the cover off, and couldnt find a fuse. the manual states that it has a shutoff circuit that will turn the amp off it it reaches 68 degrees C. and will turn back on once it gets cooler.. but as far as an actual removable fuse, there is none to be found. i might try to hunt down the maker of the amp and see if he can help me perhaps. Anyone else out there with some ESX amp experience?
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 4:04 PM
What about the fuse on your power lead from the battery? ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: simonl
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 5:10 PM
60 amp. would a fuse that is too small cause this problem? I think I probably should have an 80...
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 6:32 PM
No, too small a fuse just means it would blow earlier. Did it blow? ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: simonl
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 7:22 PM
Nope, it didnt. But the sparking caused the center of the fuse to crease. theres a small line on the metal itself now. I just got back from picking up some 80amp fuses. I have been dying to try and install this all night, be we are getting relentless rain right now. 2 days solid. is an amp sparking when 1st plugged in something that always happens to certain amps? One guy on the ECA forums with about 5,000 posts said that every time he installs amps, they generally spark. It just scares the hell out of me that when i plug in the power, my amp sparks, and a small puff of smoke creeps out of the corner, although there are no burnt components inside. Whenever i do get a chance to do this, I am going to take a small movie of me plugging it in, so I can share if it continously sparks. I figure ill give it 3 seconds and see if theres just one loud snap (as there has been the last 2 times) or multiple. Thanks for the wisdom so far Dyohn
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 7:50 PM
Oh MY GOD DYoyn delete that , I have no clue
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 7:52 PM
This is the reference for interesting stuff about that amp and its creator, Steven Mantz https://members.shaw.ca/pferlow/steven_mantz_history.htm
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 8:05 PM
stevdart wrote:
Oh MY GOD DYoyn delete that , I have no clue
:) Done. HTML core dump, I guess... ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: April 13, 2004 at 8:15 PM
Thanks, sorry for your trouble. I wanted to reference a remark Mr. Mantz made in that article about that line of ESX amps being "...way too advanced for the car stereo market..." A mental note I made about the sparking problem here- would it be wise to put another fusehoder in the power cable next to the amp, with another 60 amp fuse? And, before testing again, I would make the final connection with the battery ground cable, for safety's sake. I always want to touch the ground connection to the battery last thing.
Posted By: MBZ oe
Date Posted: April 14, 2004 at 2:24 PM
Is your amp mounted to the metal part of your cars chassis, or a wooden amp rack? If it is mounted directly to metal, I would change that first. Amps can spark normally sometimes because they are capacitors and need to charge up. Also check your ground and remember that you are supposed to hook up your ground first when installing,and unhook the ground last when disconnecting. Angel ------------- BOOM, BOOM, BOOM BOOM....
Posted By: kickerstang
Date Posted: April 14, 2004 at 4:13 PM
did you double check and make sure you didn't put the power wire in the ground and the ground wire in the power on the amp??? this does happen. your amp is arcing out. if not that is the ground and power or remote touching? double check everything and make sure you have everything hooked up correctly
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Posted By: sroth140
Date Posted: April 15, 2004 at 1:08 AM
kickerstang wrote:
did you double check and make sure you didn't put the power wire in the ground and the ground wire in the power on the amp??? this does happen. your amp is arcing out. if not that is the ground and power or remote touching? double check everything and make sure you have everything hooked up correctly
that was my first idea, a lot of people get carried away and flip the wires there. also, did you go throught the firewall properly, shoot a screw through something, or have a stray wire at the terminals touching where it shouldnt? in addition, you should try hooking the amp up on a wok bench to a battery or right off your battery and see if it does the same thing. does it do that when there is a load on the amp, or all the time? does it matter if the RCAs are connected? ------------- MECP certified installer
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