Technomad MilPA Amp System Protection Circuit Test Procedure

If the red ‘Clip / protect’ light is illuminated on your amplifier – that is, if the protection circuit in the power amplifier component of a Technomad MilPA system has activated, follow these steps to determine if there is a problem with the way you are using the system or whether there is a fault with the amplifier. If the problem is how you are using the system, you can make simple adjustments to correct, and the ‘Clip / Protect’ light will turn off. If there is a fault with the amp, you will likely need to service / replace the amp.

How to test:

1) Turn off the amplifier and turn down all mixer level controls on the system 2) Disconnect the speaker cables from the amplifier. 3) After waiting for 3 minutes, turn the amplifier back on. If the clip/protect light on the front of the amplifier is still lit up, the amp has a fault which requires factory service. Contact Technomad

Excessive distortion of the amplifier inputs can cause this type of failure, so be sure to operate the amplifier and mixer within the system operation limits. Line level sources such as a CD player or SuperConductor playback device should be operated with the mixer level control set to 12 o’clock. Mic level sources should be operated at a level where the clip light indicator does not light up. This is also dependent on how the operator is speaking into the microphone and at what range.

4) If the clip light is not lit, connect one speaker cable and speaker to the amplifier. If the protection light comes on, then there is a short within the cable or the speaker, although the speaker is unlikely to be the problem. Switch the cable with another cable and see if the fault light is still on.

5) After you have tested one channel of the amplifier without having the protection light come on, repeat the test with the second channel.

6) If you are able to connect speakers to both amplifier channels without having the clip/protection circuitry come on, try playing a CD with the mixer level set to 12 o’clock.

If the protection circuitry does not come on, your system should be operating normally. Remember: if you are clipping / driving your amp in to protect mode frequently, you can permanently damage your amp. Occasional flickers of the clip / protect light are OK, but any more than that may be causing damage to your system. Note also that a clipped amp is usually distorting, and distortion damages speakers even if operated below maximum volume.