K8060 max input swing?

Hello

I’m at the testing stage of a K8060. The amplifier worked for about 20 minutes then blew-up the TIP147G output transistor. Which now has a short circuit between the collector and emitter. The TIP142 seems to be OK.

The powers supply measures +/- 45V DC on the rails and the transformer input (240V) is fused with a 1A slow blow fuse.

During the test the amp was being asked to drive a pair of 8 ohm speakers in parallel. The input was from a bass guitar pre-amp and was well turned up! It’s difficult to say what the actual input swing was.

I suspect I may have driven the input beyond a reasonable limit.

What input swing would you expect the K8060 to tolerate before destroying the output transistors?

Thanks

  • and - 45VDC is a little beyond the max. input for safe operation.
    We recommend a 25-30VAC transformer.
    At 30VAC, the theoretical max. DC voltage is 30x1.41-1.4=40.9V
    You can use your current transformer, but keep in mind that it is capable of driving the amp beyond the safe operating area.
    Also, make sure that cooling is adequate.
    Input sensitivity is 600mV for full output.

[quote=“VEL417”]+ and - 45VDC is a little beyond the max. input for safe operation.
We recommend a 25-30VAC transformer.
At 30VAC, the theoretical max. DC voltage is 30x1.41-1.4=40.9V
[/quote]
I have changed the transformer for the one supplied by Velleman and the DC voltages on the test points are +/- 43.7V not much different from the Maplin one! I’ve replaced the dead transistors and all is now working OK.

Now here’s the thing I am proposing to build a monitor circuit to indicate the presence of 600mV peak or whatever is a safe input level.

I want to establish the actual peak to peak input to limit power dissipation to 100W RMS. I am testing with a 4 ohm 100W resistor connected to the output. With 600mV 200Hz on the input I see 18V peak to peak across this resistor. Calculating the output power: Current = 18/4 = 4.5 amps. Power dissipation = I^2 * R equals approx 81W peak ~ 51W RMS. The heat sink is just beginning to get warm during this test.

In theory I should be able to push this quite a bit more. The TIP142/147 data sheet says maximum 10A continuous collector current. 15A peak.

So my question is what is your recommendation for how much further I might push the measured dissipation?