Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

[Surgeon]

I've got an Infinity HPS-1000 Subwoofer that I purchased new about 12 years ago that is starting to give me some problems. I've noticed over the past few months that it's not turning itself "on" automatically like it should.

Normally, the unit provides bass sounds ranging from very-soft to room-shaking, but lately it seems to be mostly silent and only engage itself during really loud special effects. It acts like it's "automatic turn-on threshold" has climbed somehow requiring a greater input signal before it kicks-in and produces sounds. (Once it does "kick-in" I believe it then seems to work normally for the remainder of the movie.)

The "guts" of the unit contains a 1000-watt Indigo AC BASH amplifier with a total of (3) 2.2uf/50v, (9) 22uf/50v, (4) 22uf/35v and (5) 470uf/200v caps. The power supply is simply a bridge rectifier across the 110vac input tied directly to the 470uf caps. I don't have access to a HPS-1000 Service Manual, but it's sibling HPS-500 Service Manual (which includes many references to the 1000) can be accessed/downloaded from here: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/720...y-Hps-500.html.

All the caps appear to be perfect with no leaks/no bulges/etc. There is also no indications of any overheating or burned components anywhere.

I'm hopeful that maybe someone with more electronics experience than myself might look over the schematics and give me some idea as to what the real problem might be, otherwise I'll probably just do a "shotgun" replacement of ALL the caps to see if that fixes it...

THANKS!

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

That link is only for the Owner manual, I do not see service manual.
OK, it shows service manual now.

How about showing us the pictures of the inside and the boards?

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

I corrected the link in the 1st message to correctly point to the Service Manual page.

Here are some photos of the amplifier. (They are pretty large to show details.)

[stj]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

personaly i would replace all the caps other than the huge ones with panasonic FR and FC after 12 years.
those cases must act like an oven!

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

personaly i would replace all the caps other than the huge ones with panasonic FR and FC after 12 years.
those cases must act like an oven!

I have no objection to replacing all the caps if that's what it takes to fix the problem... I'd just like to have a opinion that it wouldn't be a wasted effort and the actual problem would still be there.

As far as the "oven" thing damaging the caps that's not an issue in this design because the amp isn't sealed inside the box with no airflow as you'd find in a lot of subs. Infinity was smart enough with this model to make a sealed enclosure for the sound and then mount the amplifier electronics externally with good vent holes. The cabinet itself is completely solid behind the amp module with only a few wires (which are sealed with silicone) sticking through. The amp module itself is mounted completely external on the front of the cabinet. The photos above show the amp module removed and lying down but here's a (stock) photo of it's actual mounting position:

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

One thing I cannot find in the user manual or service manual is the ON time of the unit once the unit detects the audio signal which will make the unit wake up but once the audio is no longer present it does not say how long the unit will stay on before going into standby mode. I see the time delay for the muting circuit, see page 23. I also see the RECT_SIG circuit to detect the audio to turn on the power supply, C4 (22uF) looks to be the timing cap for that function, see page 17.

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

One thing I cannot find in the user manual or service manual is the ON time of the unit once the unit detects the audio signal which will make the unit wake up but once the audio is no longer present it does not say how long the unit will stay on before going into standby mode. I see the time delay for the muting circuit, see page 23. I also see the RECT_SIG circuit to detect the audio to turn on the power supply, C4 (22uF) looks to be the timing cap for that function, see page 17.

I'm not that advanced in electronics to be of much help here, but I did manage to get a copy of the true HPS-1000 Service Manual which I uploaded to here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/whcb33...ice_Manual.pdf.

Maybe it will provide more/better information?

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

So do you have proper tools to do component level repair?

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

So do you have proper tools to do component level repair?

Would something like this work?



This is the custom case I made to hold my little soldering station dual power supply & it's irons/tips. It mainly consists of the following toys:

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WX2021-.../dp/B005N70ZSM

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-5292119...WHSZ8PPPEAXFHG

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WXP120-...N3NEDMGKBJVTTB

Yes, I've done quite a bit of soldering and design work over the years -- but with digital circuits and microcontrollers (mainly Atmel).

It's when it comes to ANALOG diagnosis that I fall way short, which is why I greatly appreciate all the help and suggestions you can provide...

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

Check or just replace C4, C6. Both 500 and 1000 use the same circuit.

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

Check or just replace C4, C6. Both 500 and 1000 use the same circuit.

Just to clarify a bit -- you're referring to C4 on the power-supply module (pg 17) and C6 on the linear-amplifier-module (pg 23) of the "preliminary" service manual for the HPS-500 correct? (Both caps are 22uf/50v?)

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

1000 manual.
C4 pdf page 29
c6 pdf page 28

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

WHOO-HOO!!! It works like a CHAMP!!!

I'm not exactly sure why as both of the caps I replaced measured 22.1mf/22.0mf but you can't argue with success as it's working perfectly now! (FYI, I used Nichicon PW-series caps for the replacements.)

A big THANK-YOU to BUDM! I definitely owe you a few beers my friend!

A few follow-up questions, if I may impose a bit further...

1. Would it be worthwhile to go ahead and replace the remaining aluminum caps?
2. If #1 is yes, then there are a few 22uf/35v "non-polar" aluminum caps -- should those require replacing also?
3. Finally, would you perceive any benefit in increasing the power supply's 5 x 470uf/200v caps with larger ones (like maybe 5 x 1000uf/200v) or not? (Maybe more reserve power or the like?)

Again, I thank you so much for your time and assistance...

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

Those caps may have bad leakage current and not allowing the cap to be charged up to the Voltage level as required by the timing circuit, you need more than just the simple cap meter to analyze the ESR, the leakage current, etc.
The unit that old should be recapped.
I would not go from 470 to 1000, the cap charging surge current will be way too high, 680uF may be.

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

OK, since the problem was confirmed to be a bad cap I'm now doing a total recap using the following Nichicon parts:

	

qty	desc		part#		device location
---	----		-----		---------------
 1	2.2uf/400v	ULD2G2R2MPD1TD	ac: C2
 
 3	2.2uf/50v	UTT1H2R2MDD	ps: C41, C42
					la: C111

 9	22uf/50v		UHE1H220MDD	ps: C4, C7, C18, C79
					la: C6, C50, C64, C67, C68
								
 7	22uf/35v BiPolar	UES1V220MPM	la: C8, C9, C12, C101
					ll: C10
					hl: C1, C2

 5	680uf/200v 	LGW2D681MELB25	ps: C30, C31, C32, C33, C34

If anyone sees any problems with the listed components or cares to offer better choices, please let me know. (And I know that replacing the 5 large caps is probably not really needed but the total cost for all the caps is under $30.00 and this subwoofer is well worth it to me.)

Thanks again!

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

Well, I've managed to REALLY screw-up something during the full recapping because I can't get it to turn-on at all now!

I replaced all the caps with the new Nichicon ones as indicated in my previous message and for some reason the power supply isn't working correctly. I've checked, double-checked & even triple-checked and all the caps are oriented correctly and soldered well with no bridges.

I'm reading 120vac in ok, and then 165vdc across the large caps when switched-on (location C-3 on page 30), but I'm not reading anything at the CD+/CD- terminals (which is the output of the BUCKREG+/BUCKREG-) which should be +11vdc/-11vdc (location G-3 on page 29)

Would my choice to increase the initial filter caps from 5 x 470uf to 5 x 680uf make any difference in the buck regulator "starting" somehow??? Could any of the characteristics of my replacement caps be causing a problem???

I am really lost here as I don't understand switching power supply operation very well at all and I'm lost as to even what to test next...

Budm, PLEASE tell me you have an idea as to what it might be...

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

What DCV do you have between the two legs of C41, C42 page 30? You must measure between the legs of each caps.

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

THANKS for getting back to me... I guess I screwed something up royally so now I'm in desperation-mode pulling out what little hair I have left...

These are the voltage reading readings I'm getting (I went ahead & measured a few others as well just in case they're of interest):

	
vdc across replaced caps
------------------------
pg29 C4 = 0
pg30 C7 = -0.41
pg30 C8 = 165.22
pg30 C18 = 1.91
pg30 C41 = -0.26
pg30 C42 = 0.88
pg29 C79 = 11.41

Both C41 & C42 look bad to me, but what that might mean I haven't a clue...

[budm]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

Did you measure c41, 42 between the two legs or you use other GND point for the measurement?

[Surgeon]

Re: Infinity HPS-1000 15" Powered Subwoofer Troubleshooting Help

All measurements were made across the cap's leads observing correct polarity.