Rockford Fosgate 400a4

There is, here are the IRF540 gates with bias CCW.

Ch1
540gate1.jpg


Ch2
540gate2.jpg


Ch3
540gate3-1.jpg


Ch4
540gate4.jpg







When I turn up the bias it causes a higher frequency oscillation. If I turn it slightly higher it smooths out, and if I turn it CCW it oscillates at a higher amplitude as I approach fully CCW. This is Ch 3 for instance:


Bias fully CCW:
540gate3-1.jpg


Bias turned up about "normal"
540gate3-2.jpg


Bias turned back fully CCW
540gate3-3.jpg


It seems to do this on all channels, with some of them returning to their idle state at fully CCW
 
I haven't - I didn't think I had any suitable replacements on hand (short of some 0.01uF, but that seemed kind of high), but it looks like I could steal some 5pF caps from a trashed 800.2 board.

I also simply don't have the understanding to see why that would be a viable solution when I have another amp that doesn't do this, using the same value parts? Unless you think the parts are bad?
 
With that much of a change, it may have limited the frequency response of the amp. You need to run a 20Hz-20kHz sweep to confirm that the frequency response is still OK. It doesn't need to be more than enough signal than it takes to get a volt of output.

Clamp the FETs down before doing this.
 
Seems to be okay through the sweep. I can order some other lower values to try - what would you recommend?

Still bothers me that it does this while the other amp doesn't. I also previously switched out the 3 bias transistors on this channel without change, not too surprisingly.
 
I would recommend ordering the next higher 3, 4, 5... values, at least 10 of each if you do any kind of repair work, regularly and start by installing them (lowest value first) to see the minimum needed and use the value just above the absolute minimum that works.

Post the results if you do this. As far as I know, you're the only one to resolve this problem. Others may be interested.
 
Mouser has them available in every tenth of a pF - what would be a good range? My tester supposedly is accurate to 1% down to 20pF, and unclear below that. When I test the parts I pulled they both show around 8pF (supposed to be 4.7pF)
 
The original caps are RF part CDS-047CAAA, 4.7PF 50 VOLT 5% NPO 0805. Never heard of E-series before you mentioned it, but wouldn't 5% put it into E24? Or are you saying more along the lines of using the E6 20% tolerance range steps, but with 5% tolerance parts? I am trying to balance having the necessary parts vs a lot of inventory I'll never use. I pretty much only work on this style amp.