How i fixed my Spider 3 120 2X10

[BowerR64]

Made a trade with a guy on craigslist and he threw in a spider 3 120 chassis he couldnt fix it and it was unusable.

 

When i got it and tried it i could only use it for about 5 minutes before it started its rebooting cycle. It had been unused for so long i think it was reset. After it started its rebooting cycle it then started rebooting quicker till it was reset again.

 

I watched a youtube video some guy put heatsinks on the standoffs and a heatsink on the larger processor chip on the effects board.

 

This didnt seem like a good solution to me, i kinda know how the larger transistor/fets work and i know they are metal on the backside and are usually bolted to heatsinks.

 

I bought a few of the smaller heatinks came in a quantity of 10 and were about the same size as the power transistors/voltage regulators that are on the effects board.

 

instead of bolting them to the standoffs i put thermal paste on them and put them UNDER the transistors then bolted them back down with the standoffs.

 

After a reset the amp functioned a little longer but they still were overheating, and the amp still shut down and rebooted.

 

So the last thing i tried was a small 60mm fan i got off e-bay, hooked to a 4.5V wall wart supply i had laying around. That blows enough air over the sinks and keeps everything cool enough i can now use it for hours without any issues.

 

Put about $15. into it with the heatsinks and fan and some time hacking the sinks with a dremel so they didnt touch any of the surrounding caps or components.

 

 

 

 

 

I wired the wall wart to the power switch so that when i turn on the amp it also connects the wall wart to A/C and powers the fan.

 

The fan in the image was a larger case fan i had for testing. The 60mm fan is bolted to the back threw te rear vents.

 

 

[BowerR64]

This fix didnt last, it eventually failed again but i know this main board is the only problem with the amp.