Tripping power...help!

[Steve James]

Hi Guys
Been having some problems with my Mackie SWA1501. Last week I was doing a wedding, set up went to switch on & puff, out went the power. After a little investigation & a lot of head scratching I traced the fault back to the sub. Seems that every time I power it up the mains trip. I had it again on a generator this weekend. Going up to the stores tonight to open it up & have a look.
Has anyone else had problems with this sub? No Mackie bashing please!
Steve

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Loads of problems and so has Shaun - he will fill you in as I have to pop out...

[DAVESOUNDS SERVICES]

When you say it trips the mains do you mean it trips the RCD Earth leakage device OR it Blows the Power sockets circuit breaker back in the customers
"Consumer unit"
Sound like theres a fault on the Active amp module.
Possibly Problems in the power supply section.
Dont kill yourself if your not an Electrical Engineer take it to an approved repairer capable of component level serviceing
By the way Cheap Generators Kill Power amplifiers
the bigger Diesel ones tend to be ok

Good Luck

Dave

[Pe7e]

I've several 1501 subs, the only problems I've had were a faulty on/off switch, a dry joint on the power circuit board, and an anti surge fuse holder which was weakened and not making propper contact with the fuse. All faults were easily fixed for a few £'s

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

The problem with the 6 or 7 that I had (no I'm not joking), was something to do with a batch of them being made with lead free solder on the PCBs. Apparantly the solder was arcing across the components on the PCB and killing the board. I had several die with a puff of smoke which was very worrying.
What is more worrying is that Loud Technologies never admitted there was a problem until I had sent the 3rd or 4th one back.

The last one that was sent to me also died and the engineer who was diagnosing the fault insisted it was my fault and I almost got very upset with him as I knew I didn't over drive them and he was telling me I had killed the amp module and fried the voice coil. It turned out that the cab had been wired incorrectly at the wrong impedance.

I got a fairly apologetic phone call from the engineer, let me tell you!

He also told me there must be a problem somewhere else in my system prompting me to spend £3K on RCF cabs and a Pioneer mixer, only for him to come back and tell me it was Mackie's fault.

I wrote to Loud Technologies and told them they should pay for my new set up, but didn't hear back, unsurprisingly.

1501 anyone?

[Shaun]

I had nothing but trouble with one of my 1501's (not the one you sold me Darren). It blew twice, and I had it repaired twice. It was never driven hard so I never understood why it kept failing. After picking it up the second time I used it at a gig the next weekend and it failed spectacularly. Blue sparks and billowing smoke, which terrified the life out of me. It was repaired again free of charge and I sold both my 1501's a few days after the repair was done.

I also had a few problems with my Mackie 450's overheating. Although I still have a few 450's they're solely for backup now. I completely lost all faith in Mackie and moved to RCF (which have never let me down).

[Steve James]

When you say it trips the mains do you mean it trips the RCD Earth leakage device OR it Blows the Power sockets circuit breaker back in the customers
"Consumer unit"

It trips the main switch on the consumer box.


By the way Cheap Generators Kill Power amplifiers
the bigger Diesel ones tend to be ok
Turst me these are not cheap generators. I run a marquee company & our smallest gene is a 20kva single phase with AVR(automatic voltage regulator)
I have another 3 of these subs & so far, no problems. Can anyone recommend a good engineer near me? (TN40)
Thanks for all your help guys:)