Anybody ever work on one of these?
I repaired the power supply and the amp works great. These amps seem very simple and basic to work on. I dont think there was much complexity designed into them.
They seem kinda cheaply built, but the supply had 16 fets!! It used IRFZ48V from the build house and I replaced them with IRF3205's. It has 2 giant fans cooling it, and a kinda tacky display meter for the output. They sure do go overboard on their wierd and kinda tacky cover with all the flames and such.
This is the first audiobahn I have repaired, I dont know if all their amps are the same internally, but with as many p/s fets as they use it could get spendy for someone to repair these from a customer stand point as compared to buying a new one.
I repaired the power supply and the amp works great. These amps seem very simple and basic to work on. I dont think there was much complexity designed into them.
They seem kinda cheaply built, but the supply had 16 fets!! It used IRFZ48V from the build house and I replaced them with IRF3205's. It has 2 giant fans cooling it, and a kinda tacky display meter for the output. They sure do go overboard on their wierd and kinda tacky cover with all the flames and such.
This is the first audiobahn I have repaired, I dont know if all their amps are the same internally, but with as many p/s fets as they use it could get spendy for someone to repair these from a customer stand point as compared to buying a new one.
This is about as complex as their full range amps get.
Parts and labor rates vary quite a bit from one tech to another but for a walk-in customer, this would be about a $100 repair. If you could buy one, that would be signifianctly less than the price of a new one.
Parts and labor rates vary quite a bit from one tech to another but for a walk-in customer, this would be about a $100 repair. If you could buy one, that would be signifianctly less than the price of a new one.
I worked on a few Audiobahns in the past but what I didn't like about them was many of the IC's inside the amps I worked on had the IC number scraped off. I have no tolerance for manufacturers like that. It means Audiobahn does not want any third party repairs done on them when the warranty runs out. Bad enough most car amp manufacturers won't release a schematic.
If you start to repair one and want to replace a defective IC without a schematic, chip #, or scrap board to take one from the repair can't be completed.
Ok to repair one for resale I suppose, but I wouldn't put the word out you can repair them.
Most all of the defaced ICs in most of the popular amps are well known. If you find one that you don't know, start a new thread.
That would be ok if someone were working on thier own personal amp or repairing one to resell but not a customer's amp expecting a reasonable turnaround time. It may take up to a week or longer and maybe never to get the right reply with a IC number. And even if someone does get the IC number from the forum if it just so happens to be a IC they don't have on hand now it has to be ordered adding more delay. If the repair cannot be completed because of no reply or the customer does not want to wait that bench time is lost.
You'll generally get a reply within 8-12 hours.
You stock the popular ICs like you do any other part. You wouldn't punt a repair because the power supply used an FET that you didn't have would you.
It typically takes less than 15 minutes to diagnose any repair (most take less than 1 minute). If you charge a deposit for bench time like most shops ($35 minimum for most shops) that will easily pay for the time to troubleshoot the amp.
After you repair one of the type, that opens up the number of amps that you can repair and will bring in more money.
I've spent a LOT of time trying to find solutions for tough repairs. I spent about 40 hours on a single amp one time. Most tough repairs take only a few hours to diagnose. For those that I've invested a lot of time it, it's help me make thousands over the years on repairs that others didn't want to do.
You stock the popular ICs like you do any other part. You wouldn't punt a repair because the power supply used an FET that you didn't have would you.
It typically takes less than 15 minutes to diagnose any repair (most take less than 1 minute). If you charge a deposit for bench time like most shops ($35 minimum for most shops) that will easily pay for the time to troubleshoot the amp.
After you repair one of the type, that opens up the number of amps that you can repair and will bring in more money.
I've spent a LOT of time trying to find solutions for tough repairs. I spent about 40 hours on a single amp one time. Most tough repairs take only a few hours to diagnose. For those that I've invested a lot of time it, it's help me make thousands over the years on repairs that others didn't want to do.
I charged $80 dollars for this repair. The guy didnt have the money to pay so he said he had an old Rockford amp to trade. I told him to bring it by and it was a power 650 mosfet working!!! I said well I dunno.....OK!!!
The Power 650 is in nice condition and works great, what a steal at $80!!!
Well Perry if you were on vacation that week I don't think anyone would reply in 8-12 hours.🙄 Not to give you a big head or anything but this forum would be pretty dead without your input helping others.🙂
There might be people that have the model Audiobahn amp on-hand but don't have the IC number written in any record or notes. It's one thing with burned up or missing parts if someone on the forum has the model amp or a detailed board picture they can be of help. With de-faced ICs it's a different matter.
There might be people that have the model Audiobahn amp on-hand but don't have the IC number written in any record or notes. It's one thing with burned up or missing parts if someone on the forum has the model amp or a detailed board picture they can be of help. With de-faced ICs it's a different matter.
From my experience there are only a few different designs with these type of amps and they generally all use the same op-amps and IC's.
They change the part number sometimes, but you can always pull data sheets of parts you have in stock to make sure the pin configuration is right.
Power supply fets are easily subbed by changing gate resistors and such, outputs can be easily subbed as well.
It took me a little while and some advice from Perry of what parts to stock for working on chinese amps, because I have always specialized in strictly Rockford repairs and all my parts stocked were for Rockford amps.
I stock enough of a variety of parts, that I rarely have to wait on parts.
They change the part number sometimes, but you can always pull data sheets of parts you have in stock to make sure the pin configuration is right.
Power supply fets are easily subbed by changing gate resistors and such, outputs can be easily subbed as well.
It took me a little while and some advice from Perry of what parts to stock for working on chinese amps, because I have always specialized in strictly Rockford repairs and all my parts stocked were for Rockford amps.
I stock enough of a variety of parts, that I rarely have to wait on parts.
Vacation? The last one I took was in 1983. I don't visit the forum every day but I answer emails several times a day.
I won't tell you how to run your business. You have to do what you're comfortable with.
I won't tell you how to run your business. You have to do what you're comfortable with.
Well thirty years is long enough Perry, you are WAY overdue for a vacation. Take one in 2013, you earned it!
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