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Do circuit breakers go bad? Or do I have a bigger problem.

Quick Cal

Quick Cal

Active Member
So I'm dealing with these Fisher XP-95c speakers that I got for free. They both need re-foamed. One was good enough to try. It worked. But I checked for continuity on the other and had none. I pulled all the speakers one by one and all checked good.

So I tested the circuit breaker and it seems to be bad. I checked the breaker on the good speaker to make sure I was testing right and it seemed I did it right as I got the beep. But nothing out of the one I think is bad.

So can it maybe be cleaned. Or do they in fact just go bad.

Or could it be something worse?

And I'll let you guys laugh at me. I'm not sure I'm even testing them right. I clipped my test leads to each side of the breaker and got a beep on the good one. Nothing on the bad one. I did try to reset it but still nothing. Am I doing it right. I'm a carpenter, not an electronics tech,,,lol.

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Oh. I just thought of something. Could I jumper across the breaker and then test for continuity at the speaker wire terminals in the back? Would that tell me if it was the breaker?
 
anything can go bad so yes the breaker can fail .
you could jumper it but why do that when you can simply put your meter on the other terminal of the breaker ?
 
Hmm. I jumpered across the breaker. I got a beep up top on the alligator clips. But nothing on the speaker terminals.

Does that mean I have a bad wire?

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Quick Cal said:
Hmm. I jumpered across the breaker. I got a beep up top on the alligator clips. But nothing on the speaker terminals.

Does that mean I have a bad wire?
Click to expand...

Bad wire? You're a carpenter. How often do you get a bad nail?

When I looked closely at you pic, I swear I see a white wire that jumps the two breaker terminals.

Anyhow for testing your speakers, solder the two connections together. Just don't try super volume. You can always repair/replace the breaker later. Drivers, however, can get fairly expensive and you need to know what is working and what isn't.

Your other controls are just as likely to be your problem.

Regards,
Jerry
 
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Most definitely circuit breakers go bad. I've had several fail in various applications. This usually means that they've been tripped many times and eventually, the camel's back breaks.
 
onplane said:
Bad wire? You're a carpenter. How often do you get a bad nail?

When I looked closely at you pic, I swear I see a white wire that jumps the two breaker terminals.

Anyhow for testing your speakers, solder the two connections together. Just don't try super volume. You can always repair/replace the breaker later. Drivers, however, can get fairly expensive and you need to know what is working and what isn't.

Your other controls are just as likely to be your problem.

Regards,
Jerry
Click to expand...


The white wire is an optical illusion. That's the + from the speaker terminal on the back going to one side.

The problem is the breaker. I jumpered it and now have continuity at the speaker terminal.

I don't think I should try to play the speaker since the foam is completely gone on the 15" woofer. Or should I? Would it hurt the voice coil?

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if the ohms look correct refoam it ..if it looks shorted inspect further ..i wouldn't bother playing it as is .it will sound like arse and might damage it
 
Quick Cal said:
Could the missing foam surround caused the voice coil to short and fry the breaker?
Click to expand...

The missing foam could cause all kinds of problems with the voice coil, IF people applied power to the speakers. Do not try powering until you replace the surrounds.

You can still test and measure the resistance of the woofer. This will tell you whether the voice coil is shorted out.

So disconnect the woofer, and measure resistance. Meantime you could still apply power to the balance of the speaker to test the other drivers. Just make sure the woofer leads are taped up well to prevent a short.

Regards,
Jerry
 
no i wouldn't think so .although anything is possible ..
try gently and keeping square on pushing the cone in and out . you need to be precise . feel and listen for rubbing .
 
Could I do this,,,lol.

This is a 3 channel amp. The left and right is only supposed to play mids and tweeter. The center channel is supposed to play all the bass. It's like that from the factory.

Could I pull the blown woofers and play the rest of the speakers. Then it would basically be the same as if I had the oem satellite speakers I think.

I so, using the woofer wires, would I tie the 2 blacks and the red together. Or just tie the 2 blacks together since that is the - from the speaker terminals.

The red wire goes straight to the breaker.

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hard to say with no diagram and you pulled the wires off already ..
but if the blacks connected together in the first place tie them together . insulate the red wire .
 
one black is for woofer then and other is for other speakers .just a convenient spot to connect them together .. red will be woofer plus and needs insulating
 
Well I tried insulating the red wire. Then I got no continuity on the terminals. If I put the red and blacks together I got continuity.

When I touched the blacks and red together I got a little pop. I then got continuity. Did I poof something. There's no wires connected to the amp.

Should I try to play them with the red and blacks tied together?
 
I tied the 2 black neg and the 1 red + from the woofer all together. That's the only way I could get continuity at the speaker terminals.

These are the wires that went to the woofer. Does tieing them together act like a speaker is in place.

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