Hi All,
Happy to have found my way to this forum, have had a few great reads already, there's clearly a wealth of information and good people here!
I'm new and as you're about to learn, don't know what the hell I'm doing, so apologies in advance 😕
A few years ago I purchased a couple of beautiful sounding (to me at least) Hypex mono amps second hand. Love them to bits. I'm an idiot, and recently removed the banana plugs at the speaker end not realising the amp the cable was connected to was still turned on. The banana plugs touched, no idea for how long, but that particular amp no longer turns on.
Now I'm not definitively sure this is the cause, but presume so. I removed the lid of the Ghent audio case (quite nice btw) to test the ceramic fuse with a multimeter. Seem to be fine.
The reality is, that's the extent of my knowledge and ability when it comes to electronics, aside from giving it the ol sniff test as an indication as to whether I've fried anything (doesn't smell like it).
The build I have is NC400 and SMPS600 based. Not sure if there's much else I can provide but happy to of course if I can. I have tools: soldering iron, a basic multimeter etc but again, have no idea what I'm doing. Are there some basics I should try myself before taking to someone who knows more than me and paying them to fix?
Thanks all 🙂
Happy to have found my way to this forum, have had a few great reads already, there's clearly a wealth of information and good people here!
I'm new and as you're about to learn, don't know what the hell I'm doing, so apologies in advance 😕
A few years ago I purchased a couple of beautiful sounding (to me at least) Hypex mono amps second hand. Love them to bits. I'm an idiot, and recently removed the banana plugs at the speaker end not realising the amp the cable was connected to was still turned on. The banana plugs touched, no idea for how long, but that particular amp no longer turns on.
Now I'm not definitively sure this is the cause, but presume so. I removed the lid of the Ghent audio case (quite nice btw) to test the ceramic fuse with a multimeter. Seem to be fine.
The reality is, that's the extent of my knowledge and ability when it comes to electronics, aside from giving it the ol sniff test as an indication as to whether I've fried anything (doesn't smell like it).
The build I have is NC400 and SMPS600 based. Not sure if there's much else I can provide but happy to of course if I can. I have tools: soldering iron, a basic multimeter etc but again, have no idea what I'm doing. Are there some basics I should try myself before taking to someone who knows more than me and paying them to fix?
Thanks all 🙂
This is only my opinion, but I wouldn't start the learning process trying to fix a mains powered amp without even a circuit diagram. You are likely to have killed off your output device(s) and in that case will need to find substitute(s) for the Chinese originals. (They can expire quietly without the bad smell and/or smoke some other parts produce)
Since it looks to be a clone of an established design, an experienced tech may be able to tell you very quickly whether a repair is economically feasible.
Since it looks to be a clone of an established design, an experienced tech may be able to tell you very quickly whether a repair is economically feasible.
Specs can be found here: DIYclassd.com
Not much you can do if the amp is really "dead".
One thing to check is DC offset on the ouput, just connect your DMM to the amp output with no signal going in and see if there is a significant DC signal. If there is the amp should shut down the power supply with the nFatal signal line.
Not much you can do if the amp is really "dead".
One thing to check is DC offset on the ouput, just connect your DMM to the amp output with no signal going in and see if there is a significant DC signal. If there is the amp should shut down the power supply with the nFatal signal line.
Hypex offer a repair service -
'repair service can be requested for products out of warranty period and not older than 5 years, provided that the product is still in our product range. '
It should be simple to confirm if the power supply is still good and the fault lies solely in the amp module. Worst case, replace the faulty module.
'repair service can be requested for products out of warranty period and not older than 5 years, provided that the product is still in our product range. '
It should be simple to confirm if the power supply is still good and the fault lies solely in the amp module. Worst case, replace the faulty module.
Thanks all, really appreciate the comments so I have at least something to go on. Any additional advice welcome of course.
Yes good point, if I can figure out if just one module is damaged then as you say, hopefully worse case I can just replace that module.
Yes good point, if I can figure out if just one module is damaged then as you say, hopefully worse case I can just replace that module.
Finally back to this now I have a little time, thanks for the help so far all!
The amp that isn't working is mono, and I have two of them to operate in stereo, the other is working fine. On the inside of the case there are two basic modules or boards; one for power, the other for amplification (best I can tell).
So I presume an easy way for me to test is to remove one board from both cases, switch the working one to the other case and see what happens. If I move a power module to the other amp and it works, presumably that means a component on the other power module is the problem.
From there I can either try to locate the parts causing the issue on that board, or replace the whole thing.
So remembering I have no idea what I'm doing... If I unplug the amp, let it sit around for half an hour, I presume that means the capacitors will have drained, and I'll be fine to unplug things and stick screwdrivers here and there without electrocuting myself right??
The amp that isn't working is mono, and I have two of them to operate in stereo, the other is working fine. On the inside of the case there are two basic modules or boards; one for power, the other for amplification (best I can tell).
So I presume an easy way for me to test is to remove one board from both cases, switch the working one to the other case and see what happens. If I move a power module to the other amp and it works, presumably that means a component on the other power module is the problem.
From there I can either try to locate the parts causing the issue on that board, or replace the whole thing.
So remembering I have no idea what I'm doing... If I unplug the amp, let it sit around for half an hour, I presume that means the capacitors will have drained, and I'll be fine to unplug things and stick screwdrivers here and there without electrocuting myself right??
Use a multimeter to confirm the caps have discharged... No need to just "hope"! It might only need a few minutes to discharge, and its possible to use a suitable resistor to speed up
the process.
the process.