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AMP2 overheating playing music at 20%?

Poseidon

October 22, 2017 15:42

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Hello,

I'm using the new AMP2 with max2play and 19.5V Power Supply. ans 4OHM JBL speakers.

After playing music for a longer periode of time, i get a strage noise which sounds as short drop outs of the amp (pang). It continues to play music afterwards, but the dropouts keep coming in shorter and shorter timeframes. I do not have this on my apm+, een when playing music at 100%.

The amp is quiet warm not to say hot, even when I'm playing music only at 20% volume. Do you have any suggestions? (i can reproduce this on 2 AMP2-Devices, but the drop-outs are at different times.)

 

 

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18 comments

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 22, 2017 15:43

  Just to add: The Devices are open and not covered with anything, no case, ...

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team October 22, 2017 16:41

  Hi this doesn't sound normal. What kind of speakers exactly are you using?

  Best regards,
  Daniel 

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 22, 2017 17:11

  This one.

  http://www.markstein.de/JBL-Control-1PRO-StudioMonitor

  The same speakers do work with AMP+ as expected (on the same rp3). I have a third AMP2, i will test it whithin the next days, but I don't expect it getting better.
  I'm quiet shure that it is related to heat, as it is more often the longer i hear music. At the ent it is every 20s. After cooling down everything it works for 30 minutes without any problems....

• 0
  
  Transporter October 22, 2017 20:21

  Two power supply questions. First, how many amps does the 19.6VDC PS have? Second, when you say it doesn't happen with the AMP+, are you using the 19.6VDC power supply with the AMP+ IE is it the same PS? If it isn't, put the AMP+ PS on the AMP2 and tell us what happens.

  With two AMP2 hats doing the same thing, it sounds like the base build that is common to both (though it is possible that two AMP2s could be bad with the same issue) could actually be the problem. 

  Lastly, what is the complete setup for the AMP2 unit? What rPi, and equipment (HD, usb drive, display, etc)?

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 23, 2017 06:02

  The AMP2 and AMP+ works with other currents, so no, I used different PS.

  The 19.6VDC is a 80w, so ~4A should be the answer. I have another one with 120w.
  The AMP+ i used a 12V 48W PS.

  I use two headless RPI3b, just SD-Card with 10 MP3-Songs, no HD, no USB, no Display.
  I could reproduce the same behaviour listening to online-radio.

   

   

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team October 23, 2017 06:14

  Hi,

  something's wrong here. Unfortunately I can't say what, but the Amp2 should easily handle normal music with the JBL Control One even at high volumes. We might need to check the hardware.

  I will open a ticket for this.

  Best regards,
  Daniel

• 0
  
  Transporter October 23, 2017 16:28

  Hi Poseidon,

  You are not following me or you might not completely understand Current. No device (unless defective, mainly a shorted component) will draw more current then it can use or has demand for. In normal operation it would be completely fine, as an exaggerated example, to use an 18VDC 25 Amp power supply with an AMP+ or AMP2 as again both will only draw the current they need for the volume of music that is demanded of them (think about a car battery, with 660 cranking amps, but it doesn't harm your car radio that is only using 1.5 amps, but without a fuse, a car battery will weld a bar to its terminal posts if a bar touches both posts!). If a component were to go bad and short, this is where excess current is a bad thing for a short being feed 5 amps will smoke the bad component and the AMP could possibly be repaired by just replacing the shorted component where as with 25 amps available for the short to draw (plus its higher threshold before a breaker or fuse would trip) would burn up the component as well as damage the actual board and probably other components. 

  So having said that, the AMP+ has a voltage requirement of 12 to 18VDC and about 3 to 5 amps depending on voltage used. The AMP2 has a voltage requirement of 12 to 24VDC and needs 3 to 5 amps depending on voltage used. SO there is no issue whatsoever with moving the AMP2 Hat over to your other rPI removing the AMP+ Hat to see if the problem follows OR you can just move the AMP+ power supply over to the rPI with the AMP2 hat and see if the problem goes away. Your smaller power supply (the one 18VDC or less) can be used on both the AMP+ and AMP2, it just will not produce full output on the AMP2 but will not hurt anything. Do Not put the higher then 18VDC Power Supply on the AMP+.

  The idea here is to troubleshoot and split the problem in half IE a power supply issue or an actual AMP2 board issue.

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 23, 2017 18:01

  The hifiberry-sources told me: 19-24V for the AMP2 (see the screenshot below). But yes, I can try to use 12V.

  

• 0
  
  Transporter October 23, 2017 18:59

  Yes to get the Maximum Performance out of your AMP2, one needs to use a 18 to 20 VDC power supply with 4 to 5 amps, but it is NOT required to actually operate! The operating Voltage was INCREASED to now include a wider range by ADDING the 19-24VDC to the ALREADY 12 -18 VDC range, you are reading into it as they are just saying that it will now also handle these voltages in addition to the ORIGINAL 12-18 VDC! Plus the 19 - 24 VDC has nothing to do with attempting to divide this problem in half so that we can actually troubleshoot this as either a power supply issue or an AMP2 issue. We so far have nothing that proves your power supply is up to the task or isn't the issue. The data I just sited is in the full documentation:

  <QUOTE>

  DESCRIPTION

  Mount it onto the Raspberry Pi and you have a stereo audio system. You only have to connect your loudspeakers. It provides up to 60W power. You only need a single 12-24V power supply to power the Raspberry Pi and the Amp2.

  It powers the Raspberry Pi, there is no need to add an external 5V power supply to the Raspberry Pi.

  The Amp2 is designed to work with all speakers or 4-8 Ohm impedance. It supports sample rates from 44.1-192kHz.

  The speaker connections are the same as on the Amp+.

  <UNQUOTE>

   

  So yes you can use the same 12 - 18 VDC power supply on both an AMP+ or AMP2, you just can't use a 19-24 VDC power supply with the older AMP+! Lastly you still haven't told us exactly what you have, which RPI, what accessories (are you using a 7 inch display, internal HD, external USB drive, etc)? What exact power supply do you have for the AMP+ unit and the new AMP2 unit. All these things help us help you (manufacture and model number on PS would really help). Lastly did you verify the PLUG TYPE on your 19 VDC power supply or are you direct wiring it? Three other guys I helped had the wrong plug connector which allowed the unit to power up but not draw enough current to operate at anything over a whisper IE proper voltage but lack of available current due to inadequate connection. Two guys direct wired to solve their problem, the other bought the proper plug adapter to get from the one on the power supply cord to a P1J (5.5 X 2.1mm).

   
• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team October 23, 2017 19:38

  Ooops, there was a type in our blog post. The Amp2 works well already at 12V. I have corrected this now.
  
  You can even power it at voltages down to 8-9V, but the power output will be limited. 

  For 4 Ohm spakers we recommend 12-18V, for 8 Ohm speakers 15-22V. 

  Best regards,
  Daniel

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 24, 2017 05:28

  @Transporter:

  I did... see above "I use two headless RPI3b, just SD-Card with 10 MP3-Songs, no HD, no USB, no Display."

   

  @Daniel: Thank you, I will change my setup and try it again!

• 0
  
  Transporter October 24, 2017 20:08

  @ Poseidon

   

  Power Supplies being used? Did you try the lower voltage PS on the AMP2 hat? Is it still the same?

• 0
  
  Poseidon October 25, 2017 07:39

  A Puls Dimension, QS5.241. No, I did not try the 12V, I'm currently out of country, but I will test it later.

  I'm happy with the direct support, hifiberry gave me so I will diskuss the case with them and return here to the forum after we found the solution.

  Thank you for offering help!

• 0
  
  Tof November 11, 2017 21:30

  I have exaclty the same problem. No problem with my Amp+ but with my two Amp2, I have shorts drops outs after a certain time(idle and playing songs). I use a power supply 18v 3.3A (Mean Well). I have already contact support but the response is that I am alone to have it...

  I tested it with max2play, piCore and plain raspbian (with 2 pi2, 2 pi3) always the same things.

  Suggestions? Solutions?

   

  Thank you.

   

  Edited by Tof November 12, 2017 11:09
• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team November 12, 2017 15:48

  Hi,

  according to the problem description that you sent us, your problem is completely different. Please check your email. We need to clarify your problem report.

  Best regards,
  Daniel

• 0
  
  Michel Rahal January 08, 2018 19:09

  Hello HifiBerry team, I have exaclty the same problem, have you found a solution? I need passive cooling for my projects. 

   

• 0
  
  Anthony Cavella February 05, 2018 18:55

  Also experiencing this with my AMP2.  After about an hour or so of play I start experiencing music cut-outs (pop of the speaker, followed by  a second of silence).  The interval starts about about every 10-15 minutes and becomes more frequent as time progresses.  Seems like a heat issue, but I'm not sure.  Using a RPi3, AMP2, 18.5V 3.5A power supply.  I'm driving a single "Stereo" 8-ohm speaker (OSD Audio ICE600TTWRS).  This is all being run using Volumio.  

  Any updates here?

   

  Thanks,

  Tony

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team February 05, 2018 18:58

  I'll open a ticket for this.

  Best regards,
  Daniel