help! keep burning up amps

the last 4 ma audio amps i hooked up have either just went up in smoke or caught on fire.

89 crx, 3 kinetik 16v batteries, 1 ohio gen 200 amp externally regulated at 17v.

the last one i tried was a ma audio 802sx running at 1/2 ohm on 4 ma audio xl 12's. i have a eclipse 8443 pushing 8v on the outputs.

if any more info is needed let me know but i need help before i put anymore amps in.

Not familiar with that amp but they may not like the 17v your feedin them not sure thought.. Have you tried another amp?

Which model? I know they have to be modded to run on 16 + volts.

well i have been running the hk802sx and the hk4000d and even ma audio gives them a 17v rating. also the 4000d's i had already had the mod done to them to let them get below 2 ohm with out going into protect. even at that i only dropped the 4000d's down to 1 ohm. the hk802 is 1/2 ohm stable at 17v.

the amps are grounded at the same place in the rear of the rex where the batteries are grounded. also i have a 7 way trailer plug in the rear bumper where i have my radio and toggle switch to turn the amp on wired through to the 12v post on the kinetiks. the rca's are wired up next to the 7 way with some rca wall plugs i got from radio shack.

i have a voltmeter connected to the last battery in the bank of 3 batteries and it is mounted right below my knob for my voltage regulator. i have it set at 17.3 to 17.4 when running for charging. when i hit i am dropping to 16.7 or 16.8 and not going below that.

My HK4000D runs at .5 ohms fult tilt burp on 14.4 volts.. No mods to it..

On higher votage, the amp protection circuit have to be removed.

here is the pics of the amp after i opened it up

Wow, I hope ours never look like that.

Lilredtiva wrote:

Wow, I hope ours never look like that.

i just got that one from ma audio it was brand new. it took 5 months to get it back. i am going to call them tommrow and talk to a tech and see what they think, and see if they are going to warrenty it. since i just got it back friday i have a feeling i might have a hard time with it.

what was your impedance rise???
Voltage drop??

slumpinhonda wrote:

what was your impedance rise???
Voltage drop??

didn't get to check the rise, i was going o check it after the amp had a few mins to cool off but instead it went up in flames.

the drop was 17.4 down to 16.8 16.9

Not for nothing.............But if i had 4 amps of the same brand catch fire...........then play the repair/warranty waiting game


Would you buy another MA?

I dumped Earthquake for the same reason.

Impressive damage BTW!

TCSMOBILE wrote:

Not for nothing.............But if i had 4 amps of the same brand catch fire...........then play the repair/warranty waiting game


Would you buy another MA?

I dumped Earthquake for the same reason.

well actually so far i have only sent two amps in and one was already a rebuilt.

both of the ones i sent in for rebuild or replace i know what took them out. the outputs on my hu went out and it was sending just enough power to the amps to play, but not enough to the point the amps were working too hard to get signal.

now the two 4000d's i bought used so i took a chance there. they were 5 years old and the last time they had been used was like 4 years ago. they were mounted in a truck all that time, and the truck never moved except when the shop need to stall for customers cars. the system never did get turned on all that time.

as for buying more i am going to warrenty the 802's and waiting on my dd m3's to get back from getting fixxed. the m3's the screws came out of the end caps and broke the inputs off at the main board.

ma has offered me option for the 10k, but if i go off of their 4 ohm rating i would move up a class which i don't want to do. so i asked them to bench test it on 14.4v and give me a birth sheet with the 4 ohm rating and i would make a decesion. if the rating is anything like the 4000d usaci rerated it a 1000 watts below what ma audio did so if that is the case i would actually stay in my class.

happened to me to.... the amp started on fire in the eclipse that i now own... was a great smoke show car smelled for days and that amp left hefty marks in the concrete of were i worked... i got pissed and busted it up... those amps take a beating... it whooped my aluminum batts a$$...

i had to mod my hk3000d's for them to run 16 volts anything after 15.5 and they would go into protect before they were modded also i know someone that repairs amps, he wont touch the 4000d, every one he has repaired doesnt last longer then 2 weeks and i belive that was the same reason another person that repairs amps wont tought them ethier

John Payton wrote:

i had to mod my hk3000d's for them to run 16 volts anything after 15.5 and they would go into protect before they were modded also i know someone that repairs amps, he wont touch the 4000d, every one he has repaired doesnt last longer then 2 weeks and i belive that was the same reason another person that repairs amps wont tought them ethier

well i just got off of the phone with ma audio and they are paying for the shipping both ways since i only had the amp one day before it burned. they are going to test the new 802 before it ships out and going to look at the amp i burned and try to find out what caused it to go up in flames. also since i had the amp over nighted i gave them a credit card to pay for shipping then they turned around and sent it cod so i paid twice. they are giving me credit for both shipping charges so i decided to order subs.

Toast!!!!!!!!! man wow what the hell happened were you welding with them or what holy crap that's not good

shadescustomtint wrote:

Toast!!!!!!!!! man wow what the hell happened were you welding with them or what holy crap that's not good

it wasn't even turned on when it caught on fire, i had just fliped the switch off and was about to shut the car off when i saw flames.

now for welding the other 802 i just had repaired got dropped during shipping and crushed the postive and negative. i figured i would try and see if it would still work, and when i started to hook it up i could have welded with the postive cable.