Looking for some expert advice here. I did something pretty stupid the other day. I have an amp (Hifonics Brutus) that I connected it to another amps remote volume control cable thing ( the cable that looks like a telephone line), when I made this connection the amp went into protection mode. I immediately disconnected the remote volume control cable , and the amp still works but seems no where near as loud as it used to be. I know it was stupid to do this, but did I burn out any transistors? Anybody have an idea of the kind of damage that I did to my Hifonics amp by connecting this remote volume control wire?

 

Wow, i wouldn't even think this would cause any issue. Those remote volume things are not usually anything more than a potentiometer, and somewhat universal...hence the phone jack concept. Are you SURE there isn't something else wrong? What brand of remote?

 

check your gain settings, you may have bumped something when you were plugging or unplugging the gain knob, I doubt just plugging one in would cause the issue, but the brutus amps do go into protection pretty easily. Also, call maxxsonics, and buy the correct gain knob, I think they charged me like $15 or something for one with a cable

 

thanks guys, it definately went into protection. I thought the same thing as you guys, I figured it couldn't really do anything bad so I went and tried it and ended up being wrong. Hmmmmm

 

Well without a circuit blueprint this will be difficult... maybe one terminal was ground when it was plugged in to part of the variable circuit.

 

well i guess i should just be happy that amp still works, don't have schematics for the amp.

 

A thought I'm having is...what if that volume knob set an internal limiter or gain in the amp and plugging in the module reset it or something. I agree, you can try a proper module and see the results.

This is a first-time point of experience here... I have never had this issue before. You could also call Maxxsonics when ordering and see if they know what happened via this. I am subbed for the answer!

 

i think that is a good idea, worth a shot.

 

This is what I'm wondering as well, worth looking into

 

well, i called maxxsonics tech support and spoke to one of the techs, he explained to me that it is possible that I damaged some kind of card or output stage and that I should have the amp looked at. Problem is that their repair facilities are in PA and CA so I would have to send the amp out, leaving me without beats.

Since the amp actually works (maybe not 100%) I think i'm just going to keep it.

Would any other local shops be able to repair this thing or are the maxxsonics people the only ones I should trust?

 

Most shops can probably do it or at least know who to go to. But you have to consider your loss options, and how much these cost to replace. Once you get near the 50-60% value range of a repair...might as well swap or buy new.