New Project DD Z1a.

[Safe_Cracker]

I modded this amp to run on a 16V system, played music at 18.3V and POP GOES THE WEASLE! Well all said and done 15/16 outputs fets blown and so far a couple of IC's on what I think is the control board. Surprisingly this amp was nice to take apart and my biggest ordeal will be to source the numbers of the IC's that look to be sanded off, for some odd reason. Anyone know why amp builders do this? Polo.

[luka]

Hi

AAA yea, no S***. It is for safety, so others have hard time copying it. I thing I don't understand is why you modded this amp??? It not like it is not powerfull enough...

[Safe_Cracker]

I modded it because I have a dedicated dual voltage system in my car and would be expensive to switch back so instead I modded the amp to test it, worked fricken awesome. Honestly I think a output fet broke loose because when I removed the retainging clips and one of them just about fell off.. Polo..

[luka]

Hi

You modded it to 16v, but you run it on 18.3v??? WHY?
All you did until now is broke the amp... Are you sure that it can even work at that voltage? Not all components can handle that voltage..

[Safe_Cracker]

18.3V is the float voltage, the max voltage of a freshly charged 16V system. There are a lot of amps that can handle it, this being a new amp and nobody really knew if it would so I was one of the first to try it. Live and learn, plus it is an easy fix... Polo.

[luka]

Hi

Easy to fix? Hope so... How much did this amp cost?
Have you any idea why did it fail?

[Safe_Cracker]

Paid $1600 for it, replace 16 output fets and 4 driver IC's, no problemo! It either let loose because of the voltage or a fet broke loose, I am leaning towards the second because there was absolutely no damage done to the power supply section. Polo.

[luka]

Hi

I think that by increasing Pri voltage --> Sec voltage, there were spikes big enough to destroy output fets, fets probably aren't overvoltage secured...

PS: Shouldn't this amp work fine with 16v?

[Perry Babin]

Most of the large class D amps have regulated supplied. If this one has regulation, the outputs should not have seen any excessive voltage.

These amps and virtually all of the amps that have the power semis mounted vertically have a problem with broken legs. It only takes one output FET with a single broken leg to destroy virtually all of the power semiconductors. Sometimes the power supplies survive. If he found one that was loose after the amp failed, that's probably what caused the amp to fail.

[Safe_Cracker]

I don't think a majority of the competition series amps are regulated. This is why you are able to increase the input power and have a gigantic increase from 16-18V. I knew when my batteries went from 18.3V (fresh charge) down to 16.9-17.2 (around abouts) this much audible to me. Polo...