Protection mode XPA-200

[poweredwire]

My XPA-200 goes into protection mode (front power light flashes as soon as power is supplied, nothing connected). Unfortunately the unit is 4 months out of warranty, so I need to see if anyone has seen this issue with the XPA line. The unit only has a couple 100 hours of use (it was in a box for 4 years during my move and building of a media room in the new house). I once did electronic service many years ago, and discovered that defects are somewhat common (you fix a lot of the same issues over and over again). Just looking to see if this is a common problem that has been seen, diagnosed and repaired. Any help here is much appreciated...

[Soup]

I recommend you contact Emotiva customer service. They should be able to assist with troubleshooting at the very least................

[poweredwire]

Soup,

You'd think that they would assist, I have contacted support and asked about getting a schematic. The response was "company policy not to divulge or give out the schematics." Wish I'd known that before purchasing. I have the schematics for most of the amps I own, strange that Emotiva does not value their customers. Guess I need to update my initial review with a couple side notes...

[lynnmass603]

power button flashing does not mean protect unless you have a red flashing led on one channel try replacing c11,12 caps on 5v supply

[leonski]

Feb 15, 2018 17:12:45 GMT -5 poweredwire said:

Soup,

You'd think that they would assist, I have contacted support and asked about getting a schematic. The response was "company policy not to divulge or give out the schematics." Wish I'd known that before purchasing. I have the schematics for most of the amps I own, strange that Emotiva does not value their customers. Guess I need to update my initial review with a couple side notes...

There is LITTLE incentive for them to 'assist' except for the most rudimentary stuff.     Note that EMO gear doesn't even have a rear panel fuse.  
So to give what they regard as a DIY guy schematics and such is a Huge Liability.    I know I could turn a simple fix into an absolute smoldering mess in about 30 seconds and be lucky
if I didn't kill myself on the PS Caps.  
I worked technical for years, and for a while to component level, but wouldn't want to dig into an amp without SOME help and probably more gear than I've got, like a scope and a good
old-school VTVM or whatever.   
If you want to crack the case and zap some 'suspect' parts in the PS with some cold stuff?  Probably couldn't hurt.

[poweredwire]

lynnmass603

I had a little time today, so I pulled the 5V supply board and removed C11 & 12 (470uF 16V) caps. I had two new 470uF / 16V Panasonic FC Series, Low Impedance, Electrolytic Capacitors in my home stock and installed them. This quick 15 min project brought the XPA-200 back to life, many, many thanks !!! Given the few hours of use on the unit, I might replace them again with the 25v series, but for today I'm back in business !!!! Again thanks for the pointer, it was spot on…

[lynnmass603]

do pay attention to your c rating they should be 105 c

[knucklehead]

Looks like the cheap capacitor route is going to bite Emotiva in the butt.

[leonski]

5v board with 16v caps? Seems like plenty of headroom. 25v, of course, won't hurt. Especially if you have room for 'em.

Were the caps you pulled visually defective?   Bulged?   Leaking?  Toasted?

[poweredwire]

The caps I pulled were bulged, a little, you could tell they were bad when pulled, also tested them, one was totally gone... There is room to put 25V caps in there, but the original caps could have been from a bad batch or just cheap...