I'm still trying to figure out if the endcaps are conductive. Will a screwdriver between the power terminal and the endcap creat a short? Honestly I haven't done anything than pull them out of the box and look at them but I figured someone else who already installed them would have the answer.
yeah. I never mess with any of the connections with power on. not worth the risk. to easy to screw up something.
I am hesitant to mess with the speaker wires when amp is on . I only do that when I forget which wire is for what.
other than that, I never have power on when moving it or anything.
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JBL has jumped into the miin-amplifier war with a new GTO-EZ series. They are on the Harman site but, not the regular JBL car audio site. Sonic has them right now. Looks like they have a 5 channel that mixes a/b and class D topology. Pretty smart really. Don't like the x-over controls on the front/top of the amp though.
Ok, I am looking at the endcaps and I can't tell lol
The material seems different than the heatsink, the color has different porous feel. The previous owner did chip the paint of trying to put in power cables and it seems like the endcaps wore out and it is metal looking.
So I'm confused. Tell me what to do with a voltmeter to check out the conductive properties.
JBL has jumped into the miin-amplifier war with a new GTO-EZ series. They are on the Harman site but, not the regular JBL car audio site. Sonic has them right now. Looks like they have a 5 channel that mixes a/b and class D topology. Pretty smart really. Don't like the x-over controls on the front/top of the amp though.
You're looking for the continuity symbol. Looks like this:
Once on that setting, touching the leads together should show on the read out...or in the case with a meter like the one in the pic, have an audible tone when the leads are touched.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cvjoint
So I'm confused. Tell me what to do with a voltmeter to check out the conductive properties.
You're looking for the continuity symbol. Looks like this:
Once on that setting, touching the leads together should show on the read out...or in the case with a meter like the one in the pic, have an audible tone when the leads are touched.
*facepalm* Duh. Why did I think of that. LOL
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
You're looking for the continuity symbol. Looks like this:
Once on that setting, touching the leads together should show on the read out...or in the case with a meter like the one in the pic, have an audible tone when the leads are touched.
Thanks a bunch! That made things really easy. My voltmeter has an audible tone as well.
Test: leads against one another produce the tone.
Endcap test: I placed one lead in the screw hole and the second in the other screw hole of the same endcap. I got the tone, aka there is conductivity. Then I thought, it must be the extension of the heatsink. I tried straight onto the endcap. No tone...however, I tried to place the leads in the spots where the paint was worn off by the previous user. Low and behold, there is the tone again.
Conclusion, it is conductive. It is not plastic. It's also potentially dangerous imo.
Imagine the screwdriver touching the endcap through the worn off paint (which will wear out since it's in the way of the screw ) touching the screw which secures the + cable. I place the leads on the endcap were the paint was off and one random screw on the board and I get a different reading on the voltmeter. It seems to me like you could easily run juice where it's not supposed to go.
Going to depend on how you mount your amp. If you bolt it down onto sheetmetal or to metal brackets that in turn mount to the body/frame of the vehicle, it could short...but if you typically mount your amps down to a wood baffle of some sort, you wont need to worry. Unless of course there is continuity between the ground connection at the amp and the amps chassis/endcaps.
Conclusion, it is conductive. It is not plastic. It's also potentially dangerous imo.
That's a poor design. You could easily cause a short because there is no way to avoid that end cap while tightening some of the screws on the terminals.
IMHO they need to correct that immediately. There is just no need for those end caps.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Surely most installs will make use of MDF for an amp rack. The trouble is that a lot of the times the screws go through the MDF and may touch something else. But maybe that's just me.
I'm going to use these guys without the endcaps for sure. I don't feel comfortable knowing I'm basically going to brush the amp with the power cable.
Going to depend on how you mount your amp. If you bolt it down onto sheetmetal or to metal brackets that in turn mount to the body/frame of the vehicle, it could short...but if you typically mount your amps down to a wood baffle of some sort, you wont need to worry. Unless of course there is continuity between the ground connection at the amp and the amps chassis/endcaps.
I did try this by connecting the negative lead to some screw on the back of the amp. I didn't get anything to show that there is a connection.
That's a poor design. You could easily cause a short because there is no way to avoid that end cap while tightening some of the screws on the terminals.
IMHO they need to correct that immediately. There is just no need for those end caps.
IMHO ONE should ALWAYS disconnect the power to the amp prior to TOUCHING the powerwire screw. If you leave the power flowing to the amp and you try to mess with the screw for the power cable then you are playing Russian roulet with your amp. Be smarter then the amp and you have nothing to worry about lol.
Surely most installs will make use of MDF for an amp rack. The trouble is that a lot of the times the screws go through the MDF and may touch something else. But maybe that's just me.
I'm going to use these guys without the endcaps for sure. I don't feel comfortable knowing I'm basically going to brush the amp with the power cable.
The end caps are held in place by only two screws each in the bottom of the amp. You can easily remove them and add your own straight brackets off of the existing mounting points. You would only need maybe 1.5" or so 2 hole brackets.
The end caps are held in place by only two screws each in the bottom of the amp. You can easily remove them and add your own straight brackets off of the existing mounting points. You would only need maybe 1.5" or so 2 hole brackets.
That's what I'm planning to do, except I would make them out of plastic or something non conductive. I've had issues before with screws, the feet of the amp, and chassis.
I have quick disconnects so it's easy to take power out but at the same time amps store a bit of energy too. I've made some massive sparks before using whatever they had stored in their caps. I suppose one should try to start them using no power cables and hopefully that will deplete them completely but that's not as easy as it sounds.
Use the correct length screws and you will no longer have issues. If you are mounting to a 1/2" board then use 1/2" or 5/8" screws depending on the amps mounting hole thickness. Don't use a 1 1/2" screw to mount to a 1/2" board with only a 1/4" amp mount thickness.
Use the correct length screws and you will no longer have issues. If you are mounting to a 1/2" board then use 1/2" or 5/8" screws depending on the amps mounting hole thickness. Don't use a 1 1/2" screw to mount to a 1/2" board with only a 1/4" amp mount thickness.
I'm trying to save weight and use the 1/4" MDF. An amp rack doesn't need rigidity, it just needs to hold things in place. On the other hand any screw is going to have a tough time holding the amp on with only 1/4" if it can't even pierce it.
Just one more example of NEED TO USE THE CORRECT PARTS. Like you said 1/4" does not offer enough material to get bite with the threads. Use thicker material or use thread inserts and machine bolts/screws if you want to use the 1/4". IMHO the 1/4" is great for trimming and making cover pieces but not for the mounting itself. Not because of rigidity but for being able to screw into it and keep it there.
Oh and the weight of 1/4" vs 1/2" may be twice as much but when the 1/4" piece only weighs 1 lbs or so then the 1/2" only wieghs 2 lbs?!?!? You won't be saving enough to make a difference. It takes a weight reduction of 100#'s to shave 1/10th of a second of the 1/4 mile. I guess it can add up after a while but really do you think you would be saving even 25 lbs? A 3/4" sheet of MDF doesn't even feel like it weighs 25 lbs and my 1/4" sheet feels like 5 lbs max. These are 48 x 96 inch sheets mind you but I will admit that I have never weighed them.
Just one more example of NEED TO USE THE CORRECT PARTS. Like you said 1/4" does not offer enough material to get bite with the threads. Use thicker material or use thread inserts and machine bolts/screws if you want to use the 1/4". IMHO the 1/4" is great for trimming and making cover pieces but not for the mounting itself. Not because of rigidity but for being able to screw into it and keep it there.
Oh and the weight of 1/4" vs 1/2" may be twice as much but when the 1/4" piece only weighs 1 lbs or so then the 1/2" only wieghs 2 lbs?!?!? You won't be saving enough to make a difference. It takes a weight reduction of 100#'s to shave 1/10th of a second of the 1/4 mile. I guess it can add up after a while but really do you think you would be saving even 25 lbs? A 3/4" sheet of MDF doesn't even feel like it weighs 25 lbs and my 1/4" sheet feels like 5 lbs max. These are 48 x 96 inch sheets mind you but I will admit that I have never weighed them.
When I see thick wood in a car it makes me cringe. I would make everything out of composites if I had the $. MDF in the mobile environment isn't ideal, and definitely not 3/4" at a time. Aside from weight, which does add up, there are also tolerance issues. My soft top won't fold properly if I use another 1/2" of MDF. The sub magnet will get dangerously close to the amp as well. Everything I make is down to 1/4" at the very least. With MDF a lot of space is lost simply due to the straight profiles that usually come out.
Anywho, I've been trying to take the endcaps off. I'm beat. I took the screws out and pulled and pushed and manhandled in a lot of ways. Those bastards are still on. What's the trick?
IMHO ONE should ALWAYS disconnect the power to the amp prior to TOUCHING the powerwire screw. If you leave the power flowing to the amp and you try to mess with the screw for the power cable then you are playing Russian roulet with your amp. Be smarter then the amp and you have nothing to worry about lol.[/SIZE]
Agreed. But you know not everyone is going to heed this if they happen to notice the connections became loose some time down the road.
And they are still in the way of anything you want to do with the terminals at any time. They are really quite ridiculous.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
It takes a weight reduction of 100#'s to shave 1/10th of a second of the 1/4 mile. I guess it can add up after a while but really do you think you would be saving even 25 lbs? A 3/4" sheet of MDF doesn't even feel like it weighs 25 lbs and my 1/4" sheet feels like 5 lbs max. These are 48 x 96 inch sheets mind you but I will admit that I have never weighed them.
The primary drawback to this product is weight. A 3/4" x 4' x 8' sheet can weigh as much as 70 to 90 pounds per sheet. The density of the core is expressed as the weight of a one cubic foot (1'x1'x1') block of the material. Therefore, an MDF sheet using a 48# (pound) core, will weigh 96 pounds. (48"x96"x3/4"= 2 cubic feet)
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Do we have any shots of the board, etc with this amp yet?? I'm sending mine back to Sonic and they're sending me another...so I can play with this one, open it up, etc lol.
I kinda wanted to open it up anyways to see why I had that bulge in mine.
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Do we have any shots of the board, etc with this amp yet?? I'm sending mine back to Sonic and they're sending me another...so I can play with this one, open it up, etc lol.
I kinda wanted to open it up anyways to see why I had that bulge in mine.
There are pics floating around of the guts. I know a seller on Ebay has the gut pics of all 3 of the Phantom amps, each one in its respective auction.
When I see thick wood in a car it makes me cringe. I would make everything out of composites if I had the $. MDF in the mobile environment isn't ideal, and definitely not 3/4" at a time. Aside from weight, which does add up, there are also tolerance issues. My soft top won't fold properly if I use another 1/2" of MDF. The sub magnet will get dangerously close to the amp as well. Everything I make is down to 1/4" at the very least. With MDF a lot of space is lost simply due to the straight profiles that usually come out.
Anywho, I've been trying to take the endcaps off. I'm beat. I took the screws out and pulled and pushed and manhandled in a lot of ways. Those bastards are still on. What's the trick?
I understand about space restrictions. But I am only suggesting mounting the amps to thicker material not the entire setup. You are complaining of going thru the wood and worried about touching metal. Use thicker material where you mount the amps to only. I have a 1/2" board under my 900.4 that is 8x16 and I can assure you that it is not adding enough weight to slow me down. For trimming it off I use 1/4" for the same reasons as you. I just can't grasp why you think that you would be using enough 1/2 material to be a weight issue.
To get the bite and keep the screws from going thru the board you could add 1/4" strips under the screw areas only to give you 1/2" for the screws but saving the weight across the rest of the board. If an exra 1/4" is going to prevent you from mounting your sub then you might have to rethink (think more outside the box) the design or you might have to use the insert method I mentioned earlier.
That sucks about the endcaps. They looked like those two screws would be it. I wounder if there are more screws inside the amp. Perhaps to the top of the heatsink inside the amp.
Quote:
Originally Posted by W8 a minute
Agreed. But you know not everyone is going to heed this if they happen to notice the connections became loose some time down the road.
And they are still in the way of anything you want to do with the terminals at any time. They are really quite ridiculous.
I use the second driver from the bottom in the pic below and have ZERO issues with the screws. I can access all of them without touching the endcaps. I get plenty of torque too. I have never ever had power screws loosen on me on any amp. I guess it could happen but that would suggest that the installer did not tighten it enough in the first place. But I will say that I fully agree that the amp would be better without them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 07azhhr
Quote:
Originally Posted by W8 a minute
The primary drawback to this product is weight. A 3/4" x 4' x 8' sheet can weigh as much as 70 to 90 pounds per sheet. The density of the core is expressed as the weight of a one cubic foot (1'x1'x1') block of the material. Therefore, an MDF sheet using a 48# (pound) core, will weigh 96 pounds. (48"x96"x3/4"= 2 cubic feet)
Like I said I have never weighed them. I can definitely believe that I underestimated the weight.
Re: New PPI amps (Phantom & Black Ice)
) touching the screw which secures the + cable. I place the leads on the endcap were the paint was off and one random screw on the board and I get a different reading on the voltmeter. It seems to me like you could easily run juice where it's not supposed to go.
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