Why does my car audio gear keep blowing up?

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Well since owning my vs calais it has given me nothing but trouble when it comes to my audio gear:bang: 1st thing to go was my $1600 Fusion jonah lomu D class amp wich was sent back to fusion to be repaired only for it to blow up again after it was reinstalled the 2nd time now before anyone asks i have used a "0" gauge power cable with a stinger 100 amp fuse so there is plenty of juice getting to the amp but it still died shortly after reinstallation! I will also add that the unit was well earthed and installed correctly with good quality gold plated power couplings ect but it now sits under my house gathering dust and waiting to be repaired for a 2nd time
So after a few months with no decent subs to listen to i thought stuff it i will get a good head deck and run some 6x9s as the factory setup did very little in the way of audio pleasure. So i went out and bought a $700 clarion deck (i only paid 300 for it though as it was on sale) and after a year of owning it it has died:realangry: I should also mention that the "cat 9" interface i bought for it also died straight after installation and i had to argue with rice barn that it was not my fault and that i had installed the item correctly as per the provided instructions. Anyway after i had it out with them they gave me my money back and i went to another autobarn to get another interface as that autobarn shop wouldn't sell me one of there's as they where insisting it was my fault:bang: Anyway the 2nd interface was installed and was working fine right up until my head deck decided to **** itself the other day! I now have to pay a minimum of around $100-150 just to get clarion to look @ my deck and tell my whats wrong with it and then whatever the repair costs are if i want to go ahead and get it repaired! (wouldn't you also know that it was only out of warranty by 1month:shooting anyway i just cant understand whats going on here, i had the blokes at autobarn check all my installation on my gear and they have told me its all top notch and fine. I also should mention that i have a fusion 4channel amp hooked up and it has not given me a problem yet! Could this just be a case of a bad run with audio gear? or an intermitant fault somewhere? and if its a fault then why is the 4 channel amp running fine?????? sorry for the long rant fellas it just heart wrenching when you put alot of time/money into something only to have it spit in your face
End rant...........................

 

[Boonz]

those fusion amps had a bad habit of blowing their AC resistor, dunno about your head unit tho clarion stuff is usually pretty good gear

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

those fusion amps had a bad habit of blowing their AC resistor, dunno about your head unit tho clarion stuff is usually pretty good gear

Thanks for the reply Peanuts!
Did you have some fusion gear with the mentioned problem? i have not had any dramas with my 4 channel?

 

[Mike S]

sorry for the long rant fellas it just heart wrenching when you put alot of time/money into something only to have it spit in your face
End rant...........................

I'm with you mate, it's really the pits when you've spent a lot of hard earned money only to have it go wrong.
One thing about your story worries me a bit. Who is going to charge you $150 to do a quote on you head unit repair?, cos that's plainly a ripoff. There are many repair agents that do Clarion warrenty repairs and quotes much much cheaper than that.

And on the warrenty thing, you say it's only one month out of warrenty? If the unit has a manufactures fault it still should be repaired under warrenty for a reasonable amount of time after purchase, regardless of the warrenty period. All products, especially expensive things must be fit for the purpose they were designed for. And for a Clarion deck to fail in just one year and a month is not what it's designed to do.

I'd try talking to your Clarion dealer again and if they won't do it you should contact the Consumer Affairs dept in your state and talk to them, they are always helpful with this kind of stuff.

 

[danja]

Are you sure you need a 100amp fuse? Unless that amp is pulling huge power, that fuse might be overkill.

The whole point of the fuse is to protect the amp from faults elsewhere in the electrical system, but if the fuse is too big then it's not going to help you.

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

I'm with you mate, it's really the pits when you've spent a lot of hard earned money only to have it go wrong.
One thing about your story worries me a bit. Who is going to charge you $150 to do a quote on you head unit repair?, cos that's plainly a ripoff. There are many repair agents that do Clarion warrenty repairs and quotes much much cheaper than that.

And on the warrenty thing, you say it's only one month out of warrenty? If the unit has a manufactures fault it still should be repaired under warrenty for a reasonable amount of time after purchase, regardless of the warrenty period. All products, especially expensive things must be fit for the purpose they were designed for. And for a Clarion deck to fail in just one year and a month is not what it's designed to do.

I'd try talking to your Clarion dealer again and if they won't do it you should contact the Consumer Affairs dept in your state and talk to them, they are always helpful with this kind of stuff.

Cheers for the info mate!
In regards to the head deck i have taken it back to the autobarn where i bought it and they where the ones who told me of the quote price that clarion will charge me to look @ it! I personally would have thought that the deck would have lasted longer than that and autobarn where of no help they just gave the stone walling attitude!

 

[Mike S]

Then don't take it to Autobarn, go to another Clarion dealer, or look in the phone book for a Clarion repair agent and deal with them direct. All you need is your receipt as proof of purchase. You don't have to go back to where you bought it.

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Are you sure you need a 100amp fuse? Unless that amp is pulling huge power, that fuse might be overkill.

The whole point of the fuse is to protect the amp from faults elsewhere in the electrical system, but if the fuse is too big then it's not going to help you.

The amp does pull a fair amount of power, most of the audio blokes i have spoken to have told me that its ok? I will look into getting another smaller fuse! here is a link to my amp and its specs, what size fuse does anyone recommend??
Fusion FJL-1611D

 

[danja]

The amp does pull a fair amount of power, most of the audio blokes i have spoken to have told me that its ok? I will look into getting another smaller fuse! here is a link to my amp and its specs, what size fuse does anyone recommend??
Fusion FJL-1611D

What are you running on it? (RMS power and ohm rating, bridged/non-bridged)

If it were me, I'd buy a 60A and an 80A fuse, start with the 60A and if it blows when you crank it, try the 80A. If that blows there you were right to use the 100A. Only costs a couple of bucks to try

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Then don't take it to Autobarn, go to another Clarion dealer, or look in the phone book for a Clarion repair agent and deal with them direct. All you need is your receipt as proof of purchase. You don't have to go back to where you bought it.

I have already dropped the unit off to them this morning as i was under the impression from the phone call i had with a sales rep who i spoke to yesterday that they where going to check it out for me for free, however when i got down there today it was a different story....! I should mention the reason i did not speak with the same sales rep was because he was not in today and i could not go in yesterday as they where on closing when i called!