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Sooo... I have the Crate on the bench. A previous hack (can't call him/her a tech as the work is not even a little professional looking) replaced the main fuse holder. I guess they couldn't fit it into the existing hole so they drilled another one to accomodate it. As soon as I would plug the amp in, the fuse would blow. When I got the chassis out, that whole portion was taped up. As I removed the tape, I noticed nothing was soldered. It was all twisted and taped together. The old fuse holder was a board mounted one and the new one is not so they had wires running to the board. One of the wires went to the correct spot while the other wire went to THE GROUND LUG! So, I rewired the thing and now it blows fuses when I turn the amp on. I have taken all of the tubes out and it still blows the fuse when I turn it on. Since the fuse holder was previously wired to the ground lug, could this have caused some serious damage to the amp? I also noticed the thermistor that "soft starts" the power tranny was physically destroyed. I put a piece of buss wire temporarily in its place but fuses still continue to blow. Any Ideas?
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Whew.
Hack Attack!
What you expect to see across the power cord spades, with the power switch On, is the power transformer primary winding.
There should be no connection to ground whatsoever. (from the spades)
What readings do you get?
If there is not a mains connection to ground, that leaves the transformer.
At that point, disconnect the secondary windings & try again.
Worse case, the power transformer alone is blowing fuses.
In that case, it's time for a new tranny. -
get out the schematic and verify the mains circuit wiring. Someone may have the transformer wires on the wrong posts, or any of the other wires for that matter.
STOP BLOWING FUSES. Make yourself a light bulb limiter and use it.Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.Comment
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Just found the schematic so I will stop blowing fuses now. I did disconnect all the secondary wires from the board and BOOM! Another fuse takes a dirt nap.Comment
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" Any Ideas?"Originally posted by Danglin' Fury View Post
Framing Hammer seems to work best, wear eye protection.Last edited by soundguruman; 07-01-2013, 11:29 PM.Comment
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Is that hammer for the amp or the "tech" who made the mess?Originally posted by soundguruman View Post
"I took a photo of my ohm meter... It didn't help." Enzo 8/20/22Comment
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That is for smacking someone who cannot get past the thought that Crate-bashing is somehow clever. I thought we had finally gotten past that, but he has started it up again.Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.Comment
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Sooo... All Crate bashing aside. Since I disconnected all the secondary wires from the board and it still blows fuses, am I looking at a fried power transformer?Comment
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Assuming you've sorted any input wiring problems, yes. Just make sure the power cord hot and neutral go to the transformer primary wires and only the transformer primary wires. Temporarily eliminate any caps, MOV's, or anything else that might be across your input AC. If you still blow fuses, the transformer is shorted."I took a photo of my ohm meter... It didn't help." Enzo 8/20/22Comment
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