My 87A blew in a similar manner, but I was not here to hear the bang. It
was also completely off. The 240 circuit breaker (30A) was tripped. Both
fuses were blown. Replacing the fuses did no good. I sent it to Alpha. In
about one month it came back with a charge of about $350 to replace the AC
module. There was no other damage. The original AC module was returned
with the amp. Close visual inspection showed no tell-tale sign of a failed
component. Alpha said this module is the component most often needing
replacement after a severe AC power surge.
BTW, you ship the amp without the power transformer, which is about half the
weight of the amp.
73, Keith NM5G
-----Original Message-----
From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of David Kirkby
Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2005 6:42 PM
To: jon s
Cc: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Alpha 87A Question
jon s wrote:
> Thanks to everyone so far for their thoughts
>
> The 87A was completely "OFF" - not in standby. I understand that there is
still some power running some some of the circuits as the meters indicate
exciter power levels even when powered down.
>
> Upon power up the amp goes into it's warm-up mode - the Wait LED lights;
no Hard Fault Codes are indicated; after warm-up mode - upon pressing a
Band segment button on the Amplifier there is motor movement in the amp as
it does it's "thing". However the amplifier does not sense the RF from the
exciter to change bands automatically. Also no "amplification" is indicated.
Th amp does not shut down by itself and powers down without issue when
turning it off.
>
> We removed the top cover looking for a component, (based on the "bang and
flash" described by my father I expected to see something blown
(capacitor?). Nothing was immediately evident however.
>
I can't help feel you have not looked hard enough. For something to flash
like that, it must leave some indication of where it happened.
> I tried to talk to the amplifier using a comm program as described in the
manual - I was unsuccessful in this however. I guess my Father will call
Alpha power Monday and ultimately probably box it up and ship it back for
diagnoses and repair.
> Previously to this problem the amp has performed without issue for 4 1/2
years - my Father just chases DX - I occasionally go to his station and
operate contests with it.
From what others have said here many times, there can be problems
moving heavy packages (damage etc). It must be worth spending some
serious time looking.
My Compaq UPS (6 kW) decided to blow itself up on Friday. That made
quite a bang, but there is evidence of smoke on the front, so the fault
should be easy to find. It took out a 32A breaker in the process - it is
the only item on that breaker.
--
David Kirkby,
G8WRB
Please check out http://www.g8wrb.org/
of if you live in Essex http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/
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