Hi Graham, Those micas are micas.
But please do not use either of those pastes. Lots of computer (CPU) thermal compound is electrically conductive as well as thermally conductive. It does not matter in a CPU to heatsink situation they actually touch each other.
Look for electrically non-conductive grease or paste. Or just use Servisol or Electrolube from UK suppliers like https://cpc.farnell.com/servisol/200001000-25gm/heat-sink-compound-25g-tube/dp/SAHEATSINKCOMP
Alan
But please do not use either of those pastes. Lots of computer (CPU) thermal compound is electrically conductive as well as thermally conductive. It does not matter in a CPU to heatsink situation they actually touch each other.
Look for electrically non-conductive grease or paste. Or just use Servisol or Electrolube from UK suppliers like https://cpc.farnell.com/servisol/200001000-25gm/heat-sink-compound-25g-tube/dp/SAHEATSINKCOMP
Alan
You can use a forstner bit to countersink Aluminium face plates. Just take it slow and use lots oil - WD40 or similar works.
Hi there,
Real weird thing started happening today with my Amp Camp Amp V1.6. I have two monoblocks connected with the balanced inputs. Everything has been working great for over a year. Now, one of my amps powers down for about a second and then powers back up. Audibly, it sounds like a one second heartbeat. It does it a bunch and then seems to work fine for a bit, before doing it again. The LED’s dim, and the LED’s also dim on the power supply. Only one amp does this. I tried a bunch of stuff:
- unplugging everything except the power supply.
- switching the power supplies between the two amps.
- plugging directly into the wall instead of the power strip.
Nothing changed.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Jim.
Real weird thing started happening today with my Amp Camp Amp V1.6. I have two monoblocks connected with the balanced inputs. Everything has been working great for over a year. Now, one of my amps powers down for about a second and then powers back up. Audibly, it sounds like a one second heartbeat. It does it a bunch and then seems to work fine for a bit, before doing it again. The LED’s dim, and the LED’s also dim on the power supply. Only one amp does this. I tried a bunch of stuff:
- unplugging everything except the power supply.
- switching the power supplies between the two amps.
- plugging directly into the wall instead of the power strip.
Nothing changed.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Jim.
I would look around the upper FET and the current regulator transistor. Anything shorting or trying to draw current 'below' that FET would simply run into the current limit, yes the amp would stop playing but it wouldn't pull the PSU down.
Look for a floating gate connection on the upper FET or some similar issue around the current regulator.
Look for a floating gate connection on the upper FET or some similar issue around the current regulator.
When this happened to me. I found it to be the power supply connector on the back panel. It was pretty much a low resistance connection between the center conductor and the case. Was my fault. I overheated it when I put the amp together and after a couple of weeks it failed the rest of the way.
My fix was to take the connector socket out. Cut the plug off of the supply cord and passed the lead through the hole and soldered it inside right at the switch. On my second mono block I got really fancy and put a grommet around the lead. The proper way of course is to replace the connector. But that wastes valuable listening time... : )
Hope this helps? May not be the issue at all but the symptoms are identical.
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Checked the mosfets and they are good and tight and making contact. I thought that we the least invasive check, so I figured I’d do that one first.
Thanks for everyone’s advice.
A few random thoughts:
Swap the speaker leads round to eliminate a speaker 'short'.
Most likely a poor connection some where. Heat cycles and or high current will find loose solder joints. Check the input connector as tjw59 advises. Check the power line and ground wires are soldered nicely. Does the switch 'feel' good?
Look for a loose strand of wire and solder blobs.
Clear pictures might help...
Swap the speaker leads round to eliminate a speaker 'short'.
Most likely a poor connection some where. Heat cycles and or high current will find loose solder joints. Check the input connector as tjw59 advises. Check the power line and ground wires are soldered nicely. Does the switch 'feel' good?
Look for a loose strand of wire and solder blobs.
Clear pictures might help...
Is there anyway to check this by measuring or visual inspection? I don’t recall having any issues when I initially put it together. Also, I would just assume order a new connector. Any thoughts on a part number or where I would buy this?
Sorry for the dumb questions. I am just smart enough to follow the directions to put it together and don’t really understand all of the technical details or any kind of circuit theory/philosophy/knowledge.
Thanks again. Stay safe.
Unplug the supply power cord that goes to the wall.
Unsolder the + Wire from the supply connector on your amplifier: and straighten it out so you have a bare lead.
Remove the power supply connecter plug that is on the end of the power supply cord: from the amp.
Push the end you unsoldered and straightened: into the supply connecter center pin of the power supply connector. Gently but enough to get it down in far enough to make contact.
Hold the outer conductor of the power supply somewhere on a ground connection. That somewhere can be anywhere on the case. The bus you made that you soldered to the power supply connector was my choice.
If you have an alligator clip you can make that connection with it.
Plug the supply into the wall and see if you have lights and no pulsing.
Make sense?
I forgot to toss in there. That you can unsolder the same wire as discussed and measure the supply voltage at the connector. But.. if it is like mine. It will look just fine as long as there is no load. When nothing else made any sense. I isolated it from the connector entirely as discussed.
Hope this helps!
Question to those with much more knowledge than myself. Could it be possible to use IRFP7530 to get higher wattage. I see this used in Korean made automotive amps. This particular one is used in a 7000 W amplifier and it only uses a handful of MOSFETs. There’s a sales tour for battle going on in the automotive amplifier market around the world. The Brazilians have been putting out high output amplifiers taking away marketshare from the Chinese and the Koreans. So with this battle going on manufacturers are putting out higher performance lower heat lower power usage amplifiers at lower prices.
IRFP7530PBF Infineon / IR | Mouser
This is the link to Mouser to the data sheet. I remember Tungsten Audio did some modifications and there is also the amp camp amp with high-performance parts thread.
I’ve noticed and seven of the high performance automotive amplifiers they swing the voltage I’ve seen one as high as 80 V in each direction plus or minus giving you a total of 160 V swing. Is there any reason we cannot do the same thing with the amp camp amp. Other than the safety reasons for those with sissy fingers keep your fingers out may feel a little sting. But nothing near as high as voltage as the 480 to 600+ Volts of a tube amp.
There has been a flood of new small mini size automotive amplifiers that fit in the palm of your hand or your front pocket of your blue jeans that put out 500 W a couple of them actually were dino tested and fully loaded in achieved such power at 14.8 V
I know that there are those in this form who are experienced and educated enough to take advantage of these new high-performance components and steal the technology and bring it over possibly to this form ?
IRFP7530PBF Infineon / IR | Mouser
This is the link to Mouser to the data sheet. I remember Tungsten Audio did some modifications and there is also the amp camp amp with high-performance parts thread.
I’ve noticed and seven of the high performance automotive amplifiers they swing the voltage I’ve seen one as high as 80 V in each direction plus or minus giving you a total of 160 V swing. Is there any reason we cannot do the same thing with the amp camp amp. Other than the safety reasons for those with sissy fingers keep your fingers out may feel a little sting. But nothing near as high as voltage as the 480 to 600+ Volts of a tube amp.
There has been a flood of new small mini size automotive amplifiers that fit in the palm of your hand or your front pocket of your blue jeans that put out 500 W a couple of them actually were dino tested and fully loaded in achieved such power at 14.8 V
I know that there are those in this form who are experienced and educated enough to take advantage of these new high-performance components and steal the technology and bring it over possibly to this form ?
Without a long winded explanation, you can't just substitute FETs and make the ACA into a 7000W amplifier. In fact it is probable that 7000W is just a pipe dream. 500W might be possible for a class D power amp, but not for the ACA. Two ACAs in bridge mode might be able to get to 50W at 8 Ohms, but that would take a new power supply and a monstrous heat sink.
@ Loudthud yes I’m well aware or you cannot just drop in components as a replacement without tweaking other things and a little modification. And I was nowhere in the mindset insinuating it was even possible to come close to 7000 W I was just using this amplifiers components as a comparison. Yes I do know the power supply would completely have to be reworked at much higher voltage and the current rating probably a separate outside of the amps chassis. Of course it would take monster as heatsink this would be obvious, or liquid cooled or fan cooled like the high output computer builds to keep the size down. Neither the power supply or the liquid cooled are difficult very simple not much of a compromise.
@ Dennis Hui yes I’m well aware it probably this particular component would not be a great substitution for class A. In the automotive amplifiers for cars they did have high output class AB amplifiers . And I remember reading Nelson‘s article about the SIT Correct me if I’m wrong using the Silicon carbide transistors. High powered high frequency as in my industry of my specialty is HVAC. (Heating ventilation air-conditioning) thermal dynamics in fluid dynamics to me come as easy as breathing and walking. In comparison to Nelson Pass or Zen Mod Are masters and legends of the signal path and amplification.
The SIT transistors or MOSFETs That Nelson talks about in his amplifier in my industry we use VFD‘s, (variable frequency drives) to drive high voltage high current motors which seem to be the same drive transistors Mr. pass was talking about in his SIT amplifier. The ABB and Dan Foss VFD‘s drive components I’m sure somebody can analyze them and figure out which ones can be applied to building amplifiers exactly like the SIT application.
Here on diyAudio we have a assortment of all these great masterminds whose daily lives have professions in the other industries That can be assembled and put together with bits and pieces to overcome the limitations of projects in this form. We just have to think outside the box. Like in my industry I think nothing of working on a live transformer at 480 V with 10,000 A that can kill me in a nanosecond or below my fingers off but with training and careful safety practices we do it on a daily basis. We’re working with VFD‘s at 1500 V in high frequency Produce a lot of noise but through knowledge of shielding and grounding in my industry we make sure there’s no backfeed that carry back into the residence or building to cause damage or interference with other electronic components in an office.
I’ve taken electronics course in Laney College ELEC 101 and 102 and I was one of the worst students when it came to any of the math formulas and understanding I will admit this.. when I would ask questions about audio circuits in class even though building in audio amplifier what is my class project I use the amp camp amp as my class project. The instructors seem not to know anything in depth about audio to solve any problems but they were masters at math formulas and teaching out of the book.
I’m now currently enrolled in San Francisco City College electronics degree program for the last year and a half. Because I own and operate two businesses myself I have little to no time only taking one class at night per semester because I want to enhance my understanding of electronics and audio as a hobby. Retaking electronics 101 in this college was much more difficult than my last college there is a big differences between colleges and difficulty level. In CCSF ELEC 102A (A = analog) we built a power supply and a pre-amplifier as a class graduating project. In ELEC 103A we build a class B amplifier to complement the preamplifier from the previous class. But due to the coronavirus the school was shut down and I will probably end up having to retake this class again. But still I’m still the worst student at all the math formulas and get a D and F grades on the homework having to do with math. But yet I’m the first student to get any of the projects up and running and working weeks before all the other students. It will take me 4 1/2 years of taking one class a night per semester to get through this Electronics degree program in the love of the audio hobby compassion. But I still cannot grab components out of my head and throw them together to make a preamplifier or amplifier because I still do not have a good grasp of understanding Throwing electronic components together. But if you ask me to get rid of 1000 W of heat out of a thermal pad the size of a Silverdollar to me that is easy as walking and chewing gum at the same time it could be done cheaply easily and reliably but not in a commercial application for profit.
Here’s a YouTube link to a YouTuber who repairs automotive car amplifiers that have to withstand a lot of abuse of vibration and high heat sometimes too high or too low of voltages and still survive.
YouTube
I’m sure some great minds here in this form can Get together analyze and use some of this technology and bring it over to our hobby to a higher level. I know this topic has been whipped like a dead horse over and over with the amp camp amp built with high performance parts thread. But I believe the original schematic by Nelson Pass can be kept with the low components part count. With some much higher voltage and much more current output different components chosen that would be keeping this out of the hands of the first time noob For safety reasons.
If several people wanted to develop this I would develop the cooling that would be easy and cheap and not have to have Two 5 kg heat sinks.
@ Dennis Hui yes I’m well aware it probably this particular component would not be a great substitution for class A. In the automotive amplifiers for cars they did have high output class AB amplifiers . And I remember reading Nelson‘s article about the SIT Correct me if I’m wrong using the Silicon carbide transistors. High powered high frequency as in my industry of my specialty is HVAC. (Heating ventilation air-conditioning) thermal dynamics in fluid dynamics to me come as easy as breathing and walking. In comparison to Nelson Pass or Zen Mod Are masters and legends of the signal path and amplification.
The SIT transistors or MOSFETs That Nelson talks about in his amplifier in my industry we use VFD‘s, (variable frequency drives) to drive high voltage high current motors which seem to be the same drive transistors Mr. pass was talking about in his SIT amplifier. The ABB and Dan Foss VFD‘s drive components I’m sure somebody can analyze them and figure out which ones can be applied to building amplifiers exactly like the SIT application.
Here on diyAudio we have a assortment of all these great masterminds whose daily lives have professions in the other industries That can be assembled and put together with bits and pieces to overcome the limitations of projects in this form. We just have to think outside the box. Like in my industry I think nothing of working on a live transformer at 480 V with 10,000 A that can kill me in a nanosecond or below my fingers off but with training and careful safety practices we do it on a daily basis. We’re working with VFD‘s at 1500 V in high frequency Produce a lot of noise but through knowledge of shielding and grounding in my industry we make sure there’s no backfeed that carry back into the residence or building to cause damage or interference with other electronic components in an office.
I’ve taken electronics course in Laney College ELEC 101 and 102 and I was one of the worst students when it came to any of the math formulas and understanding I will admit this.. when I would ask questions about audio circuits in class even though building in audio amplifier what is my class project I use the amp camp amp as my class project. The instructors seem not to know anything in depth about audio to solve any problems but they were masters at math formulas and teaching out of the book.
I’m now currently enrolled in San Francisco City College electronics degree program for the last year and a half. Because I own and operate two businesses myself I have little to no time only taking one class at night per semester because I want to enhance my understanding of electronics and audio as a hobby. Retaking electronics 101 in this college was much more difficult than my last college there is a big differences between colleges and difficulty level. In CCSF ELEC 102A (A = analog) we built a power supply and a pre-amplifier as a class graduating project. In ELEC 103A we build a class B amplifier to complement the preamplifier from the previous class. But due to the coronavirus the school was shut down and I will probably end up having to retake this class again. But still I’m still the worst student at all the math formulas and get a D and F grades on the homework having to do with math. But yet I’m the first student to get any of the projects up and running and working weeks before all the other students. It will take me 4 1/2 years of taking one class a night per semester to get through this Electronics degree program in the love of the audio hobby compassion. But I still cannot grab components out of my head and throw them together to make a preamplifier or amplifier because I still do not have a good grasp of understanding Throwing electronic components together. But if you ask me to get rid of 1000 W of heat out of a thermal pad the size of a Silverdollar to me that is easy as walking and chewing gum at the same time it could be done cheaply easily and reliably but not in a commercial application for profit.
Here’s a YouTube link to a YouTuber who repairs automotive car amplifiers that have to withstand a lot of abuse of vibration and high heat sometimes too high or too low of voltages and still survive.
YouTube
I’m sure some great minds here in this form can Get together analyze and use some of this technology and bring it over to our hobby to a higher level. I know this topic has been whipped like a dead horse over and over with the amp camp amp built with high performance parts thread. But I believe the original schematic by Nelson Pass can be kept with the low components part count. With some much higher voltage and much more current output different components chosen that would be keeping this out of the hands of the first time noob For safety reasons.
If several people wanted to develop this I would develop the cooling that would be easy and cheap and not have to have Two 5 kg heat sinks.
I’d imagine that the car amps Amps with high power are Class D amps and in fact the link to the guy who fixes them showed a “D” amp which is a whole ‘nother animal. Also, car amps historically use measurements that show them putting out perhaps more than a more conservatively rated amp. Pass amps tend to be Class A which are very inefficient and give off lots and lots of heat if they have high output, but we like the way they sound!
There are various (almost “many”) more powerful and sophisticated amps , most by Nelson Pass, in various threads on DiyAudio. Take a look at other threads in the Pass area. Mr. Pass is always interested in new and different transistors, and tends to find them! but they have to have certain characteristics, which a lot of us don’t really know.
Also he tends to focus on how an amp sounds not it’s power output, although he has models in his Pass Labs (check it out online!) commercial amps that have reasonably high power.
So he knows all this stuff, he just chooses to focus here on lower power stuff that’s cheaper, easier, safer, and actually what most people need..
Cooling is always an issue and various people here have built water cooled amps. Heatsinks are expensive but work pretty well, as you know, you just need huge (expensive ) ones, especially for amps that aren’t Class D and extra extra specially for Class A amps such as almost all Pass amps, including the ACA which means they run at full blazing power at all times!
There are various (almost “many”) more powerful and sophisticated amps , most by Nelson Pass, in various threads on DiyAudio. Take a look at other threads in the Pass area. Mr. Pass is always interested in new and different transistors, and tends to find them! but they have to have certain characteristics, which a lot of us don’t really know.
Also he tends to focus on how an amp sounds not it’s power output, although he has models in his Pass Labs (check it out online!) commercial amps that have reasonably high power.
So he knows all this stuff, he just chooses to focus here on lower power stuff that’s cheaper, easier, safer, and actually what most people need..
Cooling is always an issue and various people here have built water cooled amps. Heatsinks are expensive but work pretty well, as you know, you just need huge (expensive ) ones, especially for amps that aren’t Class D and extra extra specially for Class A amps such as almost all Pass amps, including the ACA which means they run at full blazing power at all times!
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