GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

well, as some of you know, i've been trying to figure out why my stereo has no sound. we finally figured out the amp (5 ch Planet Audio) had blown both its fuses. so, we changed them out and as soon as we did, there's this "POP" sound. both blew. so, ok, that's not right. so we disconnect the power, put 2 lower amp fuses, reattach the power and "POP" the fuses are gone and it starts smoking!!! i'm no electronics expert, but obviously there is something seriously wrong! so, we disconnected all the wires, and now i have to go and find a new amp that will do the trick. has this happened to anyone else? do you know what could have caused this? it's been fine and working without any probs until last week when I dropped the car off to get a flat tire changed. i turned off the radio before i went in and when i got back in, turned it on and no sound..... it's a mystery!

Ohhh....you had an aftermarket amp! I did't realize that.Sorry about your loss, that's bizarre. Cannot for the life of me explain how tire changing could blow an amp?

that's wierd....they didn't do anything to your car? i.e. fug with any of the electronics or something? There's gotta be something that's pushing alot of power through it....is your ground connected properly with the right ga. wire?

yes, not sure why the two are related if at all. but, i had one of the audio shops install the wiring and everything.

Generally that's an indication that the positive and negatives are flipped, like the ground going into the +12 on the amp. Or, it could be improper wiring, where they didn't run straight wires to the speakers, and they grounded.It's either the first part, the amp frying itself, or there's a pinched wire somewhere causing it to short. If it blows instantly, there's definitely something wrong. Putting lower amperage fuses in than what comes with the amp is going to definitely kill the fuses no matter what..

What fuses exactly burned?? The one for the main power or the amp one?As Jakntassa said, most of the time it is because you have shorted 2 wire. Take a look at the speaker wire. May be while extracting the spare tire, you cut it and it touch a metallic part of the car.

If you have a friend who is into electronics, have them take a look at the amp. Since it started smoking, thats a bad sign. It might be as simple as replacing the transistors/mosfets/etc in the final stages or power supply rework.

the fuses on the amp itself blew. the ground is all the way in the engine compartment. i wonder if i moved the ground to inside the rear compartment that would help. i looked at all the wiring fromt he hu and it seems intact, nothing frayed or anything. same thing with the wiring from the speakers into the amp. like i said, it worked just fine, no probs what so ever until last saturday. and they only patched the tire, not even touched the inside of the car, that i know of. i'll keep checking it out, either way, the amp will need to be replaced.

Quote, originally posted by cdFxer »If you have a friend who is into electronics, have them take a look at the amp. Since it started smoking, thats a bad sign. It might be as simple as replacing the transistors/mosfets/etc in the final stages or power supply rework. well, my dad did electronics in the military for awhile. the prob is i can't find the users manual and the amp is discontinued. can't find it anywhere online. it's a planet audio saturn series p600.5s

It is generally a pain to find schematics for amps. Most electronics tech's should be able to navigate the circuitry-amps are one of the simpler devices out there. Only problem maybe if a component burned its details off. Often times their is enough duplication of circuitry in them (multiple channels, remember?) that tracing is aided greatly. Have your dad look at the power transistors or mosfets or power amp IC and try to get a cross refernce with a pinout on the web, then use a meter and check for shorts on them. Ive seen resistors in car amps change value (or smoke completley) when the finals went out, so might want to get out the ol' color code chart and check the resistors around damaged components as well.Heck, I fix industrial drives, PLC's, etc quite often w/o schematics! Just takes awhile.As to what blew the amp...hmmmmm....my buddy who owns a stereo shop has told me tales of dealership techs around with controls and settings on amps! He has seen it several times. Maybe it is just a local phenomenon. Maybe they had it cranked while changing the tire?

i don't think they had the stereo on. i turned it off and i've had it cranked up a few times. still just seems very strange to me.

Makes you feel better my bass just went out on my system. I'm going to wait till tomarrow to figure out w.t.f. and if it's not better, I'm going to wring somebody's neck.

They ran the ground wire...to the ENGINE?! That's insane... do-able..but kinda pointless. The power wire has to run right to the battery, but the ground wire gets attatched to the chassis as close as you can get it to the amp...

Its not a good idea to run the ground that long as it can create "ground" noise from the grounding points in the system not being equal. Think of it as differing resistances in ground paths in different parts of the audio system. In car (and home) audio,that is a no-no!

well, i went to best buy today and had to suck it up! i ended up getting some decent amps, but will run 2 instead of just the one. and yes, the solobaric does eat up more juice and the tech told me that could be part of the prob. he also said since the ground is so far away, with the cold weather we'd been having, plus the amp not being enough for the sub, it could easily have blown. so, needless to say, i will be redoing all the wiring and going with a pioneer 4 ch for the doors and a rockford fosgate 2 ch for the solobaric. i opted for the 4 yr service warranty and they will replace both amps for free over the next 4 yrs regardless of what happens! all this for a mere $680! I could have saved myself $500 if i'd done it this way from the start then just getting the internet special. guess it's a costly lesson to learn. i'm also going to check with the original place i bought my sub from and see if they have a smaller box. the ported one just eats way too much of the cargo area.... i'd really like to have more space back there. maybe they'll trade me or something. i know the box is worth more than just a small enclosed one.

Glad ya got your tunes back! Hopefully they will work with you on that box. I know my buddy does "swaps" all the time....too bad ya werent closer to central IL, lol.

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe » the solobaric does eat up more juice and the tech told me that could be part of the prob. he also said since the ground is so far away, with the cold weather we'd been having, plus the amp not being enough for the sub, it could easily have blown. I agree with the ground issue, but how come a speaker can bust an amp??? You can put a 2000W sub on a 30W amp and it will not affect your amp.The only thing to check is the impedance of the amp and speaker. Running a 2 ohms sub on an amp who is buith to drive 8 ohms speaker can cause damage to the amp. But if the speaker impedance is higher or equal to the amp, there's should not be any trouble.If your solobaric sub is the same impedance then your amp, there's no reason to blow up your amp.But if your amp is desinged at 4 ohms, and you put a 2 ohms speaker on it, you can cause damange to your amp, because the current will be too high.

TRD!!! Wow, I knew I was right. I'm good. That's the setup that I've got....a 4 channel for the six speakers and a two channel for the subs. it works great is is loud.Desi

well, the amps go in jan 31. will take about 3-4 hrs they said for both. the sub is 2 ohm and the amp says it runs 2 ohm. how it all works is beyond me. as far as i knew the whole system was on 2 ohm, but i could be wrong. i have the stock 6 disc indash cd hu that i want to keep. i like it. wanted to go all rockfords for the amps, but way too much money. as it stands, $680 to do it all over again is just outrageous!

ahhhh...... finally got my tunes back. boy, did i miss them!