alpine service

Has anyone had any experience with sending an amp back to alpine for service? It's a MRV-F345, #2 channel is popping every once in awhile, very annoying. Most likely a cap, I'm guessing. Would I be better off buying a new amp?

No one can make that decision for you..but..if you were happy with that amp it may be worth fixing. Of course if the estimate for the repair exceeds the value of the amp a replacment is the better option.

You don't have to send it back to Alpine..just find a service center that is authorized to repair Alpine. I use united radio for most of my customers repairs..even factory stuff..they are fast and stand behind thier work. You could also try < color=#008000>www.alpine-usa.com< color=#008000 > ..... perhaps the site can guide you to a local service center if you don't want to send it out.

Good Luck

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I requested a quote from United Radio, (if it turns out to be a cap thats bad). And the closest authorized Alpine service for me is CA. I got to thinking, there is most likely several capacitors in that amp, and whos to say that the others will go bad also. I'll never buy anything used again, unless I know the seller personally.



Thanks for the info

No problem....but as with anything without a warranty it is a gamble..plain and simple and more often then not a losing one. Even products that are "new" can be a risk if purchased from a shady source..such as many online or "fly-by-nights" that are not to be found when you have an issue. Gray market..counterfiets...even stolen goods are often sold as "new".

I purchased a headlight from ebay and it fills with water after it rains..the reason I replaced the old one. The person I purchased it from apparently fell off the face of the earth..I am screwed..about 100 bucks. Happens

Buy from a reputable source.

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Your exactly right, I've learned the hard way. Went down to the JL dealer and bought a 300/4. Got a 2 year warranty too. But, you'll never guess what happened on the way home.....made a quick stop, jumped back in the truck turned the key and......one click sound and everything went black. My freakin battery went, wouldn't even jump start. So I went and bought a yellow top optima. Holy crap! I can't afford to have days like this very often.

oh dude I feel your pain...everytime I make a little headway and save some money..some unexpected expense come up like a problem with the car..someone I know needs bail...a family member gets sick and I have to leave work to fly somewhere.

It almost seems as if the universe is against me having any money..but I have hope.....I play the lotto.  lol

well not that funny I guess that the lottery is my "back up plan". 

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Oh..its kinda strange that your battery went just like that...typically they get weaker over time before they are to the point where they won't even take a charge..believe me you would have noticed sooner..and perhaps you have..you didn't say.

Not to make you feel any worse..or that you may not have needed a new battery..but, many times the symptons EXACTLY has you described means the terminals needed to be cleaned. But having a yellow top is not a bad thing, especially if you deep cycle often..either way you won't have to worry about a battery for a long time. One less thing..right?

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Actually first thing I did was take it in to get checked, it held 12 volts for about half a sec. I just had to laugh. It was seven years old, the factory battery, from when i bought the truck new. As far as terminals, I've got tsunami's Big knarly looking ones that take 4 cables each. Had my 130 amp alternator checked a few weeks ago, it was putting out 14.2 volts. upgraded grounds from battery to frame, and chassis. So I think I can relax now and just enjoy the ride....wait.....oh yeah I got to make a amp rack for both my JL amps.....crap.

Yeah, it was time for a new battery. It's just not common for a battery to be able to go from starting a vehicle..to not even able to take a charge in one instant..but thats what happened apparently..it was old as moses in "battery" years. so now an amp rack..it never ends.

Do what I do...go to the lumberyard and take scraps from the dumpster...lol,,hey fiberglass can make anything strong.

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I had a bettery go dead like that once, it runed out to be a bad cell, started fine that morning and wouldn't even try start that afternoon.

A 12v automotive battery contains 6 cells connected in series @ 2.11v each. So a bad cell will leave you around 10volts..not good.

But still I haven't seen to any go bad all of a sudden like that...it is usually pretty obvious when your battery is beginning to suffer..like you would notice the starter cranking over weaker. It is odd for a battery to perform normal and then later that day it is so dead that it can't even be charged or allow the vehicle to take a jump start.

But stranger things are known to happen..as I notice just about every day in this industry something I have never seen nor heard of happens to someone..sometimes with no logical explaination in sight.

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master5 wrote:

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A 12v automotive battery contains 6 cells connected in series @ 2.11v each. So a bad cell will leave you around 10volts..not good.

But still I haven't seen to any go bad all of a sudden like that...it is usually pretty obvious when your battery is beginning to suffer..like you would notice the starter cranking over weaker. It is odd for a battery to perform normal and then later that day it is so dead that it can't even be charged or allow the vehicle to take a jump start.

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Correct me if I'm wrong but in a series circuit if one element burns out doesn't that make an open circuit?  I don't know much about the internal structure of batteries but if one cell was ruined and it's in a series circuit the circuit is done and no power whatsoever.  Seems like it would be 0 volts instead of 10 volts to me?

I can understand the confusion.. it is true that if a series circuit is "open" no current will flow and you have a zero volt situation.

However..an automotive battery as discussed here is dealing with chemical reactions and not so much a "mechanical" connection that has suddenly opened. Usually...and notice I emphasize the term "usually" as a battery or a cell of a standard automotive lead-acid battery starts to deteriorate over time..there is resistance...not an open circuit that occurs..and gradually this resistance increases over a lenth of time...not simply "click...click..boom". This resistance causes voltage loss (or drop if you prefer) but if all the other cells are OK you will have at least 10v available...this is an estimate..a meter reading would be required for accuracy.

Don't forget that a series circuit is techically a voltage divider.....as opposed to a parallel circuit..where the voltage is always equal.

You might want to check out some threads on automotive batteries on this forum or elsewhere to learn more about thier properties and the physics involved. Not really that complicated.

I have witnessed first hand a car battery go from a "working" state to a "non working state" in a short amount of time....but, this was due to the battery exploding when someone left it on a charger way too long...then a spark occured and ...KA-BOOM...not pretty.

But that is an extreme situation....in the real world an automotive battery will weaken over time..not operate normal and the next minute it is totally useless..but I imagine it can and does happen in rare instances.

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master...whats up man..have you been

in physics class right now we are going over circuits and wiring and stuff.

i really like this chapter cuz it applies to the 12 volt world...lol

yea I know this is way off topic but yeah.

and I have seen my friends mazda protege 5 start with 9 volts at the battery...i could tell it was going bad by listening to it start...and the battery case was white plastic so you could see the fluid level of each cell....one cell was about 2 inches lower than the others...I told him it was going bad and it would die soon...he had to find out the hard way after his car wouldn't start after trying to start it after we left school

Whats flying azn?  So physics...fun stuff. I remember stuff like fulcrums and ratios and leverage..mechancal ..but then advanced physics was a brain burner with all that math..not so much.  I wish I remembered any of that lol.

Yeah seems everyone has a battery story or 2...I remember once a customer left a cadillac seville outside our shop for like a month, just left it there. We tried to start it and nothing...when we put cables to it there was major sparks...so eveyone was afraid to jump it. Now since I know a little about batteries I new it was simply acting as a short because it was totally out of juice...just like a cap that sparks when it is discharged and then you charge it without a resistor and burn the gold plating off the connectors..lol

But what I did was go back there at night with jumper cables and held them on the battery and let it spark..in a few seconds it took a charge and the car started. My friend and I took the caddi out that night joy riding and it worked fine. I returned the car later and parked it in a different spot. The next day everyone at work was like "who moved the caddi?? why does it start?? the battery was shorted" Pretty funny stuff.

anyhow..if you can see a cell that is low on "fluid" the battery may still have some life in it...the only way to really tell is if it is a "servicable"battery and you use a hydrometer..which displays the specific gravity..so you know to add acid and/or water...this is normal maintanence on any lead acid battery that is not a "maintainence free" unit. With sealed batteries you can only perform a "load test"...but you also need to make sure that the battery takes a charge..and then is fully charged to get an accurate result.

Another interesting tidbit..and this is on MECP..not that it means anything//but you can measure 12v or better (technically a 12v automotive battery should be 12.66..but thats in a perfect world) and still it can be bad. Don't forget..a batttery needs current reserve..not just voltage to be considered a good battery. I've seen that one stump quite a few people.

But all in all...I still find it is not common for a battery to go from a working state to an "unchargable" state in one trip. It is far more common for a battery to slowly weaken over time...but deep cycling a standard battery will surely speed up the process..but in normal use if the battery keeps dying ....there is your "hint" that things need to be checked. I also find as well that corroded terminals mislead some people into replacing a battery before it's nessecary...I see it quite a bit.

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I hate to keep going on about this problem I had with the alpine. But I have to ask, does anyone think the old battery going bad would cause the one channel to pop, maybe channel two is the weakest link? I noticed a variation in my idle of the truck for a week or so before the battery died. The shop has the alpine and they can't reproduce the pop.