ok heres the story. I dont know anyhting about car audio so bear with me. The other day i was listening to my deck driving along and the music started to cut out like the cd was skipping. i figured the speaker wires were loose or something so i connected them better. Then it started to really smell bad and was stinking up my truck. It smelled like something was melting or burning. So i turn it off and go home. i figure something must have blew because i cant get the deck to turn on today, this all happened yesterday by the way. What do you think happened and what should i do? I dont have an amp or anything connected besides some regular old speakers. This is in a 78 f150
Replies (8)
Relax_The_Mind on 07/3/2003 01:04:28
Hi amwxx,
First of all thanks for choosing this forum to ask your questions..
OK...What kind of deck is this? Im guessing some kind of aftermarket as I dont remember cd players coming standard on a 78. You most likely smelled an electronic burn as common to smelling of burning rubber/chemically type smell. If a fuse blew it most likely would not smell bad enough for you to notice. If you can tell us anything else that would be helpful that would be great. Such as how long has it been working or what changes could have happened.
Possibility #1: My guess is that something grounded out (shorted) possibly due to a lack of a fuse in line with the power wire connecting to your deck. Check your car fuse box too for the radio/dash fuse depending on your vehicles setup.
By regular old speakers what do you mean? Could they be small truck boxes or any other type of "other than factory" speakers?
Possibility #2: I ask that because there is a possibility of hooking up too low of an impedance to the internal amp of the deck (not many decks have circuit protection for those kinds of situations) and over time can burn up some components.
Possibility #3: Could possibily be a wiring problem for cars before '85 liked to use a common ground for the speakers and hooked up many things to that same common ground and power loop (dome light, floor lights...etc).
That is about all I can think of right now. Other golds and members can also assist you on this problem. Take care.
RTM
Goldmembers?...hehe
amwxx on 07/3/2003 03:05:56
the deck is a jvc. Nothing fancy, your standard $200 dollar cd player. It is not even a year old and worked normally until yesterday. I know that this probably wasnt the smartest thing to do, but i had home speakers hooked up to it. I had to do it low budget because im broke, but it might have been better to buy the right kind of speakers in the first place. I cant think of anyhting that i changed that could have caused this and it sounded pretty good even with the wrong speakers. The rubber chemically type smell you described fit the smell perfectly. Also when inspecting the wiring, i noticed that there is a wire connected to the actual fuse that leads to the deck. Then along the way to the deck there is another fuse that says 15 on it. Its different then the ones in the fuse block but i would guess it is a fuse. Also the one in the fuse block is halfway yellow if that means anything. I dont know if its blown but i will replace it anyway. Could playing music overly loud have caused this? Because that day i was listening to some metal, slayer to be exact and i usually listen to rap. Since rap has more bass i usually had to play it at lower levels because the speakers would distort, but since metal has less bass i was playing it louder then usual that day. I hope this info helps.
Relax_The_Mind on 07/3/2003 05:53:53
First thing is to see if either the inline fuse is ok or the fuse box one is ok. If its anything other than those you may have a little problem.
Home speakers are usually in the 6-12ohm range...this can go one of two ways.
1. You could have possibly fried the voice coils of your speakers running high distorted power to them. (Not enough power can blow speakers just as well)
or
2. My guess is that you could have stressed the internal amp of the HU. Head units like to play factory or low power aftermarket speakers, beyond that is a lot of work for such a small amp.
I am pretty sure it is covered under warranty if you have one. Or you can have a tech look at your radio if all else fails.
If you did burn it dont feel bad I burned 1 or 2 or 3 maybe 4...etc in my time but its all a lesson learned (mostly not disconnecting battery)
RTM
cplkittle on 01/6/2004 20:30:51
since the deck won't even turn on, I am thinking it is the amplifier in your cd player. car stereos are made for 4 ohm loads, a higher load like RTM said is highly likely to be the culprit here. try disconnecting the house speakers as well as checking the fuses, and see what you get.
ttocs on 01/6/2004 21:14:20
what size speaker are we talking about? If they are too big, and being a higher impedence(ohm load), you probably did put a very large strain on the decks amp. Did you have it cranked up when it happened?
If it is less then a year old warranty should cover it, but I would not tell them what you had it hooked up to.... It could be considered abuse and some stores will not fix it then... Where did you get it from?
erikcooper on 01/6/2004 22:19:12
You guys think he is still checking back?
cplkittle on 01/7/2004 09:05:40
there is an email notify feature on this forum, he may be using that. If you are, MR. AMWXX, please come back and let us know how things are coming with your problem.
swez on 01/7/2004 10:36:40
Best guess... something in the HU gave out. The burning smell we often call "Magic Smoke" was allowed to escape from the deck and as it did, the unit is now dead.
Best you can do for now, is to pull the deck, inspect the wires in the harness and test for voltage to the power feed wires. Look for blown fuses as well.
Finally, sniff the deck for signs of burnt electrical materials. Yes, your nose can tell you if the deck has certain fried components. Other than that, may have to belly up for a new HU or warranty swap/fix on present one.
Swez
PS Might be a good idea not to use those home speakers on car system anymore. The HU obviously did not like it as you begin to crank up the volume knob.
Replies (8)
Relax_The_Mind on 07/3/2003 01:04:28
Hi amwxx,
First of all thanks for choosing this forum to ask your questions..
OK...What kind of deck is this? Im guessing some kind of aftermarket as I dont remember cd players coming standard on a 78. You most likely smelled an electronic burn as common to smelling of burning rubber/chemically type smell. If a fuse blew it most likely would not smell bad enough for you to notice. If you can tell us anything else that would be helpful that would be great. Such as how long has it been working or what changes could have happened.
Possibility #1: My guess is that something grounded out (shorted) possibly due to a lack of a fuse in line with the power wire connecting to your deck. Check your car fuse box too for the radio/dash fuse depending on your vehicles setup.
By regular old speakers what do you mean? Could they be small truck boxes or any other type of "other than factory" speakers?
Possibility #2: I ask that because there is a possibility of hooking up too low of an impedance to the internal amp of the deck (not many decks have circuit protection for those kinds of situations) and over time can burn up some components.
Possibility #3: Could possibily be a wiring problem for cars before '85 liked to use a common ground for the speakers and hooked up many things to that same common ground and power loop (dome light, floor lights...etc).
That is about all I can think of right now. Other golds and members can also assist you on this problem. Take care.
RTM
amwxx on 07/3/2003 03:05:56
the deck is a jvc. Nothing fancy, your standard $200 dollar cd player. It is not even a year old and worked normally until yesterday. I know that this probably wasnt the smartest thing to do, but i had home speakers hooked up to it. I had to do it low budget because im broke, but it might have been better to buy the right kind of speakers in the first place. I cant think of anyhting that i changed that could have caused this and it sounded pretty good even with the wrong speakers. The rubber chemically type smell you described fit the smell perfectly. Also when inspecting the wiring, i noticed that there is a wire connected to the actual fuse that leads to the deck. Then along the way to the deck there is another fuse that says 15 on it. Its different then the ones in the fuse block but i would guess it is a fuse. Also the one in the fuse block is halfway yellow if that means anything. I dont know if its blown but i will replace it anyway. Could playing music overly loud have caused this? Because that day i was listening to some metal, slayer to be exact and i usually listen to rap. Since rap has more bass i usually had to play it at lower levels because the speakers would distort, but since metal has less bass i was playing it louder then usual that day. I hope this info helps.
Relax_The_Mind on 07/3/2003 05:53:53
First thing is to see if either the inline fuse is ok or the fuse box one is ok. If its anything other than those you may have a little problem.
Home speakers are usually in the 6-12ohm range...this can go one of two ways.
1. You could have possibly fried the voice coils of your speakers running high distorted power to them. (Not enough power can blow speakers just as well)
or
2. My guess is that you could have stressed the internal amp of the HU. Head units like to play factory or low power aftermarket speakers, beyond that is a lot of work for such a small amp.
I am pretty sure it is covered under warranty if you have one. Or you can have a tech look at your radio if all else fails.
If you did burn it dont feel bad I burned 1 or 2 or 3 maybe 4...etc in my time but its all a lesson learned (mostly not disconnecting battery)
RTM
cplkittle on 01/6/2004 20:30:51
since the deck won't even turn on, I am thinking it is the amplifier in your cd player. car stereos are made for 4 ohm loads, a higher load like RTM said is highly likely to be the culprit here. try disconnecting the house speakers as well as checking the fuses, and see what you get.
ttocs on 01/6/2004 21:14:20
what size speaker are we talking about? If they are too big, and being a higher impedence(ohm load), you probably did put a very large strain on the decks amp. Did you have it cranked up when it happened?
If it is less then a year old warranty should cover it, but I would not tell them what you had it hooked up to.... It could be considered abuse and some stores will not fix it then... Where did you get it from?
erikcooper on 01/6/2004 22:19:12
You guys think he is still checking back?
cplkittle on 01/7/2004 09:05:40
there is an email notify feature on this forum, he may be using that. If you are, MR. AMWXX, please come back and let us know how things are coming with your problem.
swez on 01/7/2004 10:36:40
Best guess... something in the HU gave out. The burning smell we often call "Magic Smoke" was allowed to escape from the deck and as it did, the unit is now dead.
Best you can do for now, is to pull the deck, inspect the wires in the harness and test for voltage to the power feed wires. Look for blown fuses as well.
Finally, sniff the deck for signs of burnt electrical materials. Yes, your nose can tell you if the deck has certain fried components. Other than that, may have to belly up for a new HU or warranty swap/fix on present one.
Swez
PS Might be a good idea not to use those home speakers on car system anymore. The HU obviously did not like it as you begin to crank up the volume knob.
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