How to test car amplifier?

[handoverfist]

Was going to borrow one from work... What exactly do I hookup the voltmeter leads to? And what readout will tell me if it's working or not. Thanks for any help!

 

[MikeMike]

ummm. why do you want to do this?

i am unsure what you will want to do exactly, as you will need to select a certain ohm load within the operating range of the amp, and if you pick to high, the amp may not be linear with gain/loss so you might not get a good reading.

so, you are testing to see if it works?

MIKE

 

[handoverfist]

Well, the thing is it stopped working all of a sudden, but it still powers up. Someone told me the outputs may be burned out on it

 

[element]

I would recommend using an osillyscope instead, were it not for the likelihood that you'll have no clue what to do with it.

Can't wait to see the braindead 1337 hampsters scream bloody murder at my inability to spell oscilloscope. it wouldn't be the first time I purposely mispell something to be funny and have tots yell "Whine whine how can we take you seriously if you can't even spell....whine whine...."

/rant off

 

[flot]

You won't be able to tell anything with a voltmeter. Even if you could, you probably couldn't fix it, so this seems like a wasted exercise.

The only thing you'd (reasonably) use a voltmeter for would be to make sure it was getting voltage. If you are confident that it is "powering up" than you won't really be able to determine much else...

 

[MikeMike]

take the screws off of the cover, look for a blown cap or somethin.

maybe a terminal came loose inside, who knows.

MIKE

 

[edro]

An easy way to see if it is outputting anything is you test the voltage on the speaker outputs... they should be between 14-17v (when the bass hits).

 

[element]

me sings to the tune of Oh danny boy but really off key....



o silly scope.....the lights...the lights are burniiiing....

eat it Conan....