Phoenix Gold TI475 amp problem...

[87DXHatch]

Someone on here was a PG tech at some point in time, I was mainly posting this to catch his attention.

I have a TI475 PG amp that I am kinda borrowing so to speak from a friend. Anyway, my current amp was having some problems so I swapped in the PG to test to see if it was wiring or the amp.

When I reconnected the negative battery terminal, I heard a "pop" from inside the car and saw little whisps of smoke start coming out from the amp. I quickly went back and yanked the negative off the battery.

I went back over to the amp and saw thin whisps of white smoke coming out of the positive and negative terminals, and the ground wire was hot.

I did a little research on CAF and found that it's like 90% chance the amp blew.

I have a couple questions... do these amps have any fuses in them? There aren't any on the outside, could there be some on the inside? Does anyone know how much it costs to send an amp to PG and have them fix it?

Thankee

[87DXHatch]

^^^ Post 400! Whee! X-D

Also, why the crap would it blow like that using the EXACT SAME WIRING as the other amp?! THAT was the part that confused and angered me the most.

[Bobs89LXi]

I am the ex-PG tech of whom you speak. In answer to your first question: NO, the ti 475 does not have a fuse. That is why the first thing stated in the installation instructions, in bold letters is a warning stating that a 50 amp inline fuse or circuit breaker must be installed on the positive battery line. In answer to your second question. It sounds like you have a ground on one of your speaker lines. There is no other way you can blow the amp unless you swapped the power leads. Positive is "HOT", negative is ground. So, if you have black on positive and red on negative, it is wired backward. Whether it was due to that, or a short in one of your speaker lines, you've probably fried the power supply FETs, and possibly the output drivers as well. In either case, it was a very expensive boo-boo. PG's warranty will not cover damage due to negligence

[87DXHatch]

Damn... well I didn't have any installation instructions because I was borrowing it. And I am pretty freakin' sure that I didn't switch the + and - terminals around, I didn't start wiring car audio yesterday.

Could there have been a short in the amp itself? And WHY doesn't Phoenix Gold put fuses in it?? That just kinda seems dumb.

[Bobs89LXi]

I can't tell you why they decided to forgo the fuses. Who knows what goes on in an engineer's mind. The older model ZX series, as well as the XS, and newer Titanium series all have internal fuses. I didn't accuse you of not knowing how to wire car audio. I was giving you a possible cause for the amp frying. It could have had a short in it prior to you connecting it up in your car. You should ask the person you borrowed the amp from whether it was working before you took control of it.