Phoenix Gold Phorum

So I picked up this amp from some random guy off of craigslist, he said it worked when he took it out of his car. But when I hooked it up the light came on and the fan started up I think.
But no sound. I ended up still buying it but for only $30 I figured it was worth a gamble in repairing it. So bottom line is I have no clue what this guy did to kill such a nice amp. But here are the pics of what seem to be the only problem so far.
The 8 chipset looking boxes with 3 wires each that are under a total of 4 heatsinks (2 per heatsink) are fried and cracked and looks like he overheated the amp. My guess was the gain turned up with not a very good input signal.
Any help on identifying what these are and where to buy them would be great!



This is what is listed on those:
FW0338
F0P
50N06

So found this
http://www.phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20207
There called power supply FETs
At least it seems like it...
Still need to try and find some of them.
And maybe some other stuff that could be bad.

Check the gate resistors, diodes that are in circuit with those fets also the large diode that is on b+ and ground (should be right behind the power terminal block.also the output transistors as they maybe the reason why the power supply fets went out. Also all/most of the components needed are available@mouser, digikey, arrow electronics just to name a few.

I will do some research on those 2 things you said to check.
And find out where they are. I am kinda new to this.

I think the reason it fried was user error...
The pic on craigslist showed it pictured with 2 really bad looking subs...
One was an explode. The guy was not that bright that I bought it from.
He was trying to scam me but I checked it out first.

I should also mention that I own a few other working xenon amps.
I have a 100.4 and and 200.2 and a rds1200.1

This 600.1 is to replace the one in my set that was stolen after I bought my rds.


http://www.phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic. ... 9&start=25
Also a good link here.

I had an X600.1 as well, and sold it too my next door neighbor. He was on a limited budget and was doing a very basic install. I mounted the amp to his box and wired it up, and he was happy.

A few weeks later the amp died exactly like yours did. I replaced all the power supply FETs, and hooked it back up. One week later, "poof" dead again.

This time when I fixed it, it died on my test bench. I narrowed the issue down to a short in the transformer. Being mounted to a box subjects an amplifier to a ton of vibration. This wore the insulation off one wire on the transformer and shorted it. It can be hard to find the short, but my guess is your amp has the same issue.

Once I moved the wire on the transformer so it was not shorted, I then fixed it and got it working on my test bench. At this point I COATED the transformer in epoxy. I built up a few layers and painted it all over to get the epoxy deep down in the windings. Once done I installed the amp again, and last I knew it was still going strong even mounted to that box and being beaten severely daily.

Eric D wrote:At this point I COATED the transformer in epoxy. I built up a few layers and painted it all over to get the epoxy deep down in the windings.

This is a good idea for reliability. How come the manufacturers dont do this anyways? is there a possibility it could damage or interfere with anything?


LL

A lot of amps do come with coated transformers. I personally don't think it looks very good, and that is probably one of the major reasons they don't do it, but the benefit in reliability is well worth it I would guess.

thesteve151 wrote:So I picked up this amp from some random guy off of craigslist, he said it worked when he took it out of his car. But when I hooked it up the light came on and the fan started up I think.
But no sound. I ended up still buying it but for only $30 I figured it was worth a gamble in repairing it. So bottom line is I have no clue what this guy did to kill such a nice amp. But here are the pics of what seem to be the only problem so far.
The 8 chipset looking boxes with 3 wires each that are under a total of 4 heatsinks (2 per heatsink) are fried and cracked and looks like he overheated the amp. My guess was the gain turned up with not a very good input signal.
Any help on identifying what these are and where to buy them would be great!



This is what is listed on those:
FW0338
F0P
50N06

Did you ever get your amp working? Just curious what the outcome was

Hey I know this is an old post but I am about to be moving and want to finish this project before I pack up. but am needing help deciding what mosfets to buy.
There are a ton on eBay and not sure what the specs need to be.

just toss it, it's only a xenon.... Or pay someone else to fix it for you. just not worth the time IMO

Stryker wrote:just toss it, it's only a xenon.... Or pay someone else to fix it for you. just not worth the time IMO

I happen to like the sound and power the xenon line has to offer. And the same power at 1-4 ohms is pretty cool. He got it cheap enough. I'd contact trickyricky and see if its something he'd be interested in doing. He does great work and if there is any better option he'll let you know. He is close to the parts and has the equipment to do it right.

Don't buy your MOSFETs off eBay. Believe it or not, a lot of electrical components sold there are actually counterfeit. I never realized that counterfeiting FETs would be worth it, but apparently it is a big underground industry.

Digikey has what you need...

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... -ND/458775

Those parts will work fine.

Generally you need to replace the gate resistors as well, but if the FETs died from the transformer having a short, then the gate resistors are probably just fine.

I personally would remove all the power supply FETs, then replace only two of them (one for each primary winding on the coil. I would then power on the amp with a 12V headlight bulb inline with the B+ wire, and I would push and poke at the transformer to try to get the winding to short (if it is going to). If you short it, the 12V bulb will light up much brighter. When you narrow down the problem area of the transformer, you can push the windings apart, coat it in epoxy, and then install the remaining FETs. Now the amp will be good to go for a long time.

Thank you!
Will be ordering them next check.
I plan on doing some testing when I get the mosfets in.
I really like your idea of just putting 2 in and using a headlight in line. Think I will take your advice on both of those.

no shit counterfit electronics? Never hear of that. Do you mean just empty packages with nothing in the shell or is there "something" in there and lord only knows?

The counterfeit parts still work, but don't have the same measurements as originals, and don't have nearly the current capacity.

Take a look at these links...

http://sound.westhost.com/fake/counterfeit-p2.htm

http://sound.westhost.com/counterfeit.htm

http://www.cdkands.com/counterfeits.html