Hey guys,

I hope someone can help me out. I recently set up a theatre system which worked perfectly fine the day i set it up. The next day it wasn't working, so i check the fuse (4 amp 250 volt), which was burnt out. I replace it which made the system work. The next time i tried to use it, it wasnt working. I replace the burnt fuse and right after i turned it on the fuse burnt out again. What is going on? I dont have much knowledge on electrical fuses, am i using the wrong kind, should i use a different one? I replace the fuse with the correct type. Am not sure whats going on? Please give me some advice

You probably have too many things plugged into that circuit (4 amps). By your statement that you are burning up fuses because you have 4 amps per circuit on an outdated electrical service box and you are overloading the circuit. For HT purposes you need at least 20 amps minium per circuit. If you don't, then you are asking for electrical issues with your house wiring by running too many things on a single circuit. You need to have an electrictian find out your circuit locations and split up your HT items to different circuits or have a new breaker box put in your house. If you look at the specs on your HT stuff for your amps per item and add them up, that is what you need for your HT circuit, unless you can plug some items into separate circuits (don't exceed more than 4 amps per circuit).

Is the fuse you are referring to: in one of the components or at your electrical fuse box? If the former, it could be a faulty design. I bought my sister a cheap sub and the sub amp started to eat fuses like crazy. Called the mfr up and it was a bad design in the plate amp. If the latter, what kind of equipment are you using and what type of circuit is it being plugged into? I'll have to disagree with the above poster on having 20 amps per circuit minimum. I run my system on two 15 amp circuits and it has been fine since I put the theatre together over 5 years ago. I am running 7 power amps (4 for the subs and buttkickers) and everything works fine. Even when I decided to take some max spl measurements - I had the two Crown K-1's clipping and I didn't trip any breakers. If this is your fuse in your fuse box burning out I fully agree with bsoko2 and have an electrician check it out. However, I suspect your problem is with the former and not the latter.

As I stated that a 20 amp circuit is what most HT (small living room setups) runs with is correct as most service boxes run 20 amps per circuit. Eric is running 15 amps per circuit and has 2 of them for a total of 30 amps for his HT. Jman3492 is running everything on a single 4 amp circuit when he needs 20 amp or more? He needs to have an electrician check his service box and wiring to determine what and where he can run his components for his HT.

Bill

Jman3492 is running everything on a single 4 amp circuit when he needs 20 amp or more?

No, the 4 Amp fuse is in the HTIB, there are no household 4 Amp circuits.

EC- A bit more info would help such as the make and model of your a/v hardware and the location of the fuse that fails.

Let's assume that it is a fuse on some piece of your HT equipment. There is very little you can do to trouble shoot it, other than to ensure that there are no shorts in the speaker connections. Most devices have self resetting overload protectors on the amplifier outputs, but some inexpensive equipment does not.

If you still have the original fuse, check to see if it is a slow blow type. If it is you must replace it with a slow blow fuse to ensure that transient high currents, such as might occur at startup, do not blow the fuse.

You can get a rough idea of the fuse size by checking the power rating on the backplate. If it is in watts divide by your household power line voltage to get amps. Do not pay any attention to the power output figures the maker gives; some makers claim hundreds of watts of output, while miraculously drawing only two or three hundred watts of power from the line.

Sorry, the way you wrote your original post was that you were blowing the fuse in your electrical box. It sounds like you have a power spike or short somewhere in the circuit that you are using for your HT. Finding it your self? I would still consult with an electrician to help with the problem.
Bill

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so let me caution you against being tempted to replace the fuse with one sporting a higher current rating (5 A, for example). Doing so will almost assuredly damage the equipment worse than it already may be. Usually, main fuses in electronics are selected with some current margin built in, so it's unlikely that they'll blow unless there's a problem.

You should make sure that 4 A is the correct current rating for the fuse. Often the design fuse value is printed on the panel near the fuse holder.

It sounds like you have a power spike or short somewhere in the circuit that you are using for your HT.

No it doesn't. The fuse in the equipment is blowing, not the breaker for the circuit.

Does the equipment specify a slow blow fuse?

hey guys thanks for the help.

This is my first home theatre setup. My mom bought it a while ago and was in the garage, when she told me to take it with me. The system is a divinci dv606. The fuse itself is from the reciever/subwoofer combo. I took it out and took it to Radioshack. They gave me the same 4 Amp 250 volt. I am not sure the difference between slow blow and fast type, but they gave me the slow blow type. When some one mentioned to connect to a different circuit, do you mean different outlet?? I feel like i need to call the company to help me out. I believe i connected the speakers all correctly. I connected each speaker one at a time. I don't want to use a different fuse (higher amps) if it will mess up the reciever. Thanks for your previous comments, please help me out or ask if you need anymore information. :confused:

Throw the system away, not worth the effort:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/177/ripoff0177817.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=divinci+dv606&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

Here is some ripoff info on the Divinci units:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/177/ripoff0177817.htm

http://reviews.*********/The-Di-Vinci-AV-2098-Receiver-and-the-White-Van-Scam_W0QQugidZ10000000003159937?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:5

Hey i looked behind the reciever, and it states to use a 3Amp 250 volt fuse, but the original system came with the 4 amp 250 volt. Can my problem be solve by putting a 3 amp 250 volt fuse?

I saw the rip off complaint, does this mean every system from this company is bad?

Is there any way to salvage the system?

Thanks for the help. :(

Can my problem be solve by putting a 3 amp 250 volt fuse?
No, and the reports online don't sound promising.

Hey i looked behind the reciever, and it states to use a 3Amp 250 volt fuse, but the original system came with the 4 amp 250 volt. Can my problem be solve by putting a 3 amp 250 volt fuse?

No. A 3 A 250 V fuse will blow at lower power compared to a 4 A 250 V one. So, if the 4 A 250 V fuse is blowing out, there is no way in which your system would work with a 3 A 250 V fuse.

I saw the rip off complaint, does this mean every system from this company is bad?

Is there any way to salvage the system?

Thanks for the help. :(
Everything sold under the Divinci brand is junk. The HT receivers, for example, do not have any Dolby or DTS decoding.

The 606 claims to have--
High-Energy lynxis precision Crossover
Silver and Platinum Heat Resistant Wiring
Direct Laser Tech.
Digital Video Inputs
Gold Capped High-End A/V Cables.

And 1250 watts of power to the center and satellite speakers. That alone makes your 4 amp fuse a miracle. 1250 Watts at 120 volts is 10 amps of current. But if you put in a 10 amp fuse you will have smoke and fireworks.

You would do just as well to put a piece of wire in place of the fuse and watch the smoke and flames on the holiday. :D

Thanks for all the help given.

I have another question:

Can I still use the 5 speakers that came with the system and buy a new reciever?

This is what is stated behind every speake:
"Power Handling 250W
Impedance 8 Ohms
Sensitivity 88dB+- 3dB
Frequency Range 120~18KHz+-20%"


I really hope that i can salvage the speakers and replace the reciever with a known name brand.

Thanks for the help. :o

Egads, so the sensitivity ranges somewhere between 85 - 91 db, and the frequency response is somewhere between 94-144hz to 14.4 - 21.6k hz?

At any rate, sure use the speakers, they may or may not last, who knows? This sounds like another case of 'white van' speakers. I'd keep a very close eye on the new receiver though, in case the resistance of those speakers has a weird drop somewhere in it's response curve and causes your amp to overheat. It should shut down if that happens though.