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grease monkey
08-27-2012, 05:11 PM
Smoke and burning smells aren't good. I don't understand what happened. I just got my TNT 600HD and installed it yesterday. By last night it was smoking. I used larger cable than what came with the amp. I installed a 100A breaker. I ran power wires directly to the auxillary (second) battery. SWR with amp off was 1.2, with the amp on it was 1.6:1. I'm running a 102" with spring and ball mount on the roof of my truck. I used the coax from my Wilson 5K hardmount.
I have my Galaxy 95t2 backed off to a 18W DK and swinging 110W. The amp calls for up to a 20W dk and up to 240W max. So I know Im not over driving it. This is my first amp and I am at a loss. Any ideas?

Only used it to call out my numbers a couple times through out the day. I wasn't keying the heck out of it.

JesseJamesDallas
08-27-2012, 09:50 PM
I have my Galaxy 95t2 backed off to a 18W DK and swinging 110W. So I know Im not over driving it. Any ideas?
You hit a 4 pill with a 18w DX swinging over 100w's! I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did!

High Voltage Mobile NJ
08-27-2012, 10:39 PM
yepperssssssssssss . :hail:

grease monkey
08-28-2012, 07:12 AM
I am trying to figure this out, so bear with me.

The 600HD requires an amplifer to drive it. They state that they recomend their TNT 250 to drive it. The max input of the 600HD is 240W and 20W dk. I know Texas Star 4 pill only take a max of 4W DK and 20W swing. But this is supposed to be a true high drive amp. It is made to run with an amp driving it. I don't need the driving amp because I have a HP radio. I spoke with Carl at Xforce and asked about running this amp with my 95t with a 20W DK and 120W swing and he said it would be fine.

Birdy
08-28-2012, 07:52 AM
I tried the TNT 350 and it smoked as soon as it was turned on.

Gordon Gekko
08-28-2012, 12:40 PM
I spoke with Carl at Xforce

There's your first problem

grease monkey
08-28-2012, 12:46 PM
I spoke with them again. They didn't say anything about the input being too high. They told me my SWR was too high. I didn't think that 1.6, though not ideal, was going to cause problems. I built my inductor coil and placed it at the feed point of the antenna. If that doesn't get me down enough, then I'll build and adjust another inductor to get it lower.

High Voltage Mobile NJ
08-28-2012, 04:35 PM
rule of thumb , coax from the radio to the first amplifier 12 to 18 feet of coax , then a 6 foot or 9 footer to the final amplifier to your antenna .

Bulldog-Unit777
08-28-2012, 04:47 PM
I would never run any set up with a 1.6:1, that would really bother me.

grease monkey
08-28-2012, 05:55 PM
Im not sure if 6-9' is enough to get to the antenna. It'll, at least, get me close. Next time I have the headliner out of the truck I'll measure what is there. So from the radio to the amp, is the excess coax coiled up? How big should the coils be, or does it matter?


rule of thumb , coax from the radio to the first amplifier 12 to 18 feet of coax , then a 6 foot or 9 footer to the final amplifier to your antenna .

grease monkey
08-28-2012, 06:15 PM
I would never run any set up with a 1.6:1, that would really bother me.

Got any suggestions? I already added an inductor coil at the feed of the antenna. I made it out the stator winding of an old alternator I had around. Ill have to wait til the amp gets back before I can see what kind of difference it makes. 1.6 wasn't making me happy, but I didn't think it'd fry the amp. When the smoke came out, I put my hand over the fan and it felt cool. I felt the case and that felt cool as well. I don't know what burnt. The only thing that felt warm was the (+) power cable but the breaker didn't trip.


A few months ago when DXing, did you happen to talk to a guy who was in a mobile driving down I-95 near Howland/Orono?

High Voltage Mobile NJ
08-28-2012, 08:13 PM
are you trying to shunt the hot and ground of the mount ????? please send picture id like to help you so we can fix that for ya . inductor is not the way to go for starters . if you add anything you can add a door knob capacitor or an air variable capacitor . :300 (66):

cky495
08-28-2012, 08:47 PM
I would never run any set up with a 1.6:1, that would really bother me.

I believe he stated that it was 1.2:1 with the amp off and this is with a hp radio. To me that is not a big deal and should of not burnt up the amp in question. I hit a fatboy 4 pill 2879 high drive for six months now with my 94hp that does about the same numbers as his radio with no problem. My swr on my wilson 5000 is 1.3:1 with the amp off. I don't even worry bout what the swr is with the amp on. The fatboy 4 pill doesen't even run hot with the 94hp driving it. Produces around 650 peak on my cheap peak meter on 14 volts. In my opinion there is no way that radio should of burnt up a high drive four pill.

cky495
08-28-2012, 08:50 PM
Just speaking from experience, Ive never had any luck with a spring on a 102' whip. You may want to test it without the spring and see what it does. Eveytime Ive put a spring inline, weird things happen. Just my 2 cents

JesseJamesDallas
08-28-2012, 10:09 PM
Im not sure if 6-9' is enough to get to the antenna. It'll, at least, get me close. Next time I have the headliner out of the truck I'll measure what is there. So from the radio to the amp, is the excess coax coiled up? How big should the coils be, or does it matter?
Since your running a 102" whip and the SWR is higher with amp on...Try adding a longer jumper between the SWR Meter and antenna and see if your SWR gets lower with amp on....If you have 9' of coax now...get a barrel connector and add a 6' piece of coax, and check the SWR....bet it go's down!...If on the outside chance it go's up, then you'll know you need a shorter run from the box to the antenna...(this is assuming your using a external swr meter...if not, you need to be)

If by adding another 6' of coax works, then you can either leave it like is...or get a piece of coax equal to the two, and replace with just one long run of coax without the barrel connector.

Bulldog-Unit777
08-29-2012, 04:51 AM
Grease Monkey, I remembered that period of time. I rarely hear anybody in that area. Thought maybe I was misunderstanding the location. Was that you?

grease monkey
08-29-2012, 05:22 AM
are you trying to shunt the hot and ground of the mount ????? please send picture id like to help you so we can fix that for ya . inductor is not the way to go for starters . if you add anything you can add a door knob capacitor or an air variable capacitor . :300 (66):

It is already installed. I did it the day after the amp started smoking. When I take down my headliner again, I'll take a pic. It droppd my SWR .25 but that is with no amp inline. The amp is in the mail. How much money do the door knob or air variable capacitors cost, and how big are they?

I never mentioned it, but the only thing that I could feel that was hot was the power cable.

grease monkey
08-29-2012, 06:06 AM
Grease Monkey, I remembered that period of time. I rarely hear anybody in that area. Thought maybe I was misunderstanding the location. Was that you?

That was me. I had just gotten the 95t2 a day or two before. It just happened that conditions were good for a few days. I was on my way to a VA appointment. I thought I remembered the triple 7s. It is a small world.

doughboy
09-01-2012, 03:24 PM
well i don't like running swr that high but nothing should have burnt until your up around 1.8 and even them some stuf wont cook i have accidentally keyed a 24 pill with no antenna 3 times and to my surprise no smoke still works great did you see any burnt resistors in it did it show any output on the meter before it cooked?

grease monkey
09-01-2012, 07:40 PM
well i don't like running swr that high but nothing should have burnt until your up around 1.8 and even them some stuf wont cook i have accidentally keyed a 24 pill with no antenna 3 times and to my surprise no smoke still works great did you see any burnt resistors in it did it show any output on the meter before it cooked?

I didn't open it up to look. I peered through the fan port and nothing looked burnt. I didn't want to void the warranty by taking off the cover. Of course the "do not remove" sticker just happened to not be there anyway. Probably due to the humidity, it must have fallen off. I hope they don't think I did open it up and give me any grief about it. That would suck for me.
I didn't see the meter. I was attempting to get my numbers on the bowl. I was actually going somewhere with my wife and wanted to show her why she let me drop $400 on a CB radio amp. Instead of getting a reply on air, I got smoke. It has gone back to Xforce. I am waiting to hear if they are going to cover it or not.
I am going to still get my Rs lower and not drive it as hard when it gets back. I snuck onto ebay to get a cheap tuner, and purchased some magnet wire to make a permenant shunt coil. That should do the trick. I wish I knew someone with an antenna analyzer. That would make things a little easier. I'm going to have to rely on the SWR meter alone.