Velodyne SPL1200 Ultra subwoofer repaired

[Kev Minns]

My 2014 Velodyne SPL1200 Ultra died a few months back and today I decided to investigate the failure. The fuse had blown to pieces but the boards all looked perfect, no bulging capacitors or burnt resistors. On checking the full wave bridge rectifier (p/n KBPC1506W) there was a short circuit on one of the sections. Replacing this with a similar suitable part and using the spare 6 amp fuse thoughtfully provided in the fuse carrier has brought the subwoofer back into action, so I thought I’d share this information as the SPLxxxx Ultra range of subwoofers are too good to just throw in the skip.

WARNING: The amp in this subwoofer is directly connected to the mains and lethal voltages are present everywhere. Make sure the main capacitors are fully discharged too.

 

[eiraved]

Welcome to AK!! Thanks for the info!
Heat usually does these plate amps in. You ever consider removing the amp and placing it in its own box with a cooling fan? Put a blank plate in its place on the sub?

 

[Kev Minns]

I’m actually using the sub on my stereo HiFi just to fill in the bottom end of the frequency band so it probably leads an easy life compared to most of these subs. It’s been fine until now and everything looked perfect so I don’t think heat was an issue.
I didn’t mention that I initially assumed it was C14 and C15 stopping power startup as I hadn’t even checked the fuse (they can be seen in on of the photos near the circled bridge rectifier that failed). Anyway C15 measured perfectly when I’d removed it so then I started looking elsewhere.