Hey Guys,

so for teh second time now, an amp has sparked and smoke when i've completed the circuit.

First time was my Eclipse DA7232. One day i noticed it stopped working, so i thought it might have been a loose ground. My JL Audio 300/4 was still working, so i used the power and ground wire from it and plugged it into my Eclipse amp. Plugged my ground in first, then when i went to plug the ground in, it sparked. Now i know its normal that you'll always get a little spark, but this was a big spark. I tried again and this time smoke came out of the amp.

Now again tonight, i was installing an amp for a buddy, a Cadence XA175.4. 12V and groud were plugged in, and as soon as i inserted the fuse up front, again sparks (this time at the fuse). A few seconds later there was a huge pop from teh amp and the trunk was full of smoke. I quickly removed the fuse and went to check on it. Both 40A fuses in the amp were blown.

I'm wondering if this is something im doing wrong. I would seriously doubt that as the very same wires that blew my Eclipse amp when i connected them went back in to the 300/4 with out any problems. Is it possible that i just had two bad experiences? The amps were finished? The Cadence is still under warranty which is awsome, but the DA7232 is not, so im trying to find somewhere to fix it. I opened it up and i can see burnt voltage regulators near the mosfets.

 

is the amp mounted on metal ??? seems like somthings shorting it out or theres wires touching somwere

 

First thing when working on any kind of electrical system regardless of voltage/current etc or platform is disconnect the voltage source first eg DONT LEAVE YOUR BATTERY HOOKED UP WHILE YOU PLUG IN LIVE WIRES!!!

 

well the fuse wasnt in, it basically comes out to the same thing.

and no, the amp wasn't mounted yet, it was just laying on the trunk's carpet.

 

This is very true, however I have never ever taken power source out when installing, one of the last roadtrips I was on, I hooked up a 12k amp while the driver was doin 120km on the 401, lots of weird looks,
Anyways, if itsa re occouring problem, maybe one of ypur wores isn't fully what it should be, ie ground is looped or not marked properly

 

well its with two seperate cars, so i have a feeling i just have bad luck. Dude from Cadence said he will ship me a new one today, so im happy! Pretty impressive actually. Got this thing off ebay for $100 refurbished, told the guy what happened yesterday, and today he's already testing a replacement out for me to be shipped without having to return the old one.

 

I like those warranties, even if your ay fault.... lol

 

Thats pretty decent of him! Is he categorizing it as DOA?