The familiar smell of a fried voice coil

[kevinberry1]

Well, I did smell something burning up, but it wasn't the voice coils on the subs. It was the negative post on my Arc 1000.2t!!! It is all black and the plastic is just barely melted a little. I looked it over and can't find anything that could have caused this. The positive and negative wires are firmly crimped in terminal spades and the protective colored sheath is in perfect shape on each. I'm scared to turn on my system again, good thing I drove home with the stereo off!!!

Anyone have ideas what could have happened? Kiki??


Just created a new thread in the amplifier help section.
Thanks for your help everyone!!

[Ryan from Ohio]

This happened to the Lanzar amp I sold my buddy. Somehow the terminal worked loose and caused the electric to jump. This jump, or ARC of current causes heat... Which melts that stinky plastic...

Take the screw off and make sure the metal is clean and shiny... Same with the crimp on connector. Make sure its tight the next time but dont strip it...

[spkrman]

This happened to the Lanzar amp I sold my buddy. Somehow the terminal worked loose and caused the electric to jump. This jump, or ARC of current causes heat... Which melts that stinky plastic...

Take the screw off and make sure the metal is clean and shiny... Same with the crimp on connector. Make sure its tight the next time but dont strip it...

but that couldn't possibly happen with an ARC amp

sux to have stuff die on you for no reason, especially expensive stuff...

[Ryan from Ohio]

Who said it died?

All that happened was the negative became loose in the terminal causing the electrons to jump. Which produces heat and caused the plstic to melt.

[kevinberry1]

Thank god it isn't dead
Thanks for your advice Ryan. I cleaned the terminal and the spade, then tightened it really well. Seems to work fine. Gotta love this hobby

[spkrman]

Who said it died?

All that happened was the negative became loose in the terminal causing the electrons to jump. Which produces heat and caused the plstic to melt.

electrons jump.. trying to sound smart? hehe

well, generally melted things = fried.

Why would there be a screw terminal on such an expensive amp though? They are such a PITA.

[lotas]

electrons jump.. trying to sound smart? hehe

well, generally melted things = fried.

Why would there be a screw terminal on such an expensive amp though? They are such a PITA.

my chemistry teacher used the term "electrons jump"....I can think of it now, sitting in that lecture, "and electrons jump to their outer energy level, giving off color of the dominat gas, nitrogen, and that's why the sky is blue"...ah....

just read it and thought of it!

but yeah i havent seen screw terminals since my old pioneer and alpine, I find them to be annoying and time consuming to use. thank you Kicker and JL!

but can you really judge an amps quality on the connections? Dunno

[spkrman]

but can you really judge an amps quality on the connections? Dunno

im sure there is a reason for using them...whether it just be to be different, i duno.

I hate em and find them inferior to the connections that have now become conventional... i want to call them set screw?

[Fishy]

My Xtants have those things and I hate them as well. You have to use special, narrow spade connectors to run 4 gauge. I never thought about arcing and my power and ground connections are really close too. But since current follows the path of least resistance as long as you have good connections I guess you're fine.

The more I think about the more I think something must've landed on your your power terminals Kevin. Doesn't it take a fairly large amount of voltage to overcome the resistance of a significant gap of air?

weird

-Fishy

[Scarrell]

hmm, i had that smell with my Tempest.. it was the glue.. then the glue totally melted and the spider detached from the basket.... but i know the reasoning for it, so watch the gains in that case