Breakers in sub cabs (a little off topic)

Dra

Yorkville Elite SW800 (Grandpa of LS808)
400w cont / 800w program (1 x 18\" passive)
These cabs have a 5A circuit breaker for speaker protection.
The cabs are 10-12 yrs old and 2 times since they have been in my possesion (6 yrs) 1 breaker has tripped. Always in a gym or larger room and always DJing (cRap). Amps never clipping. Once, last spring on a bridged CE2000 (1300w per cab) and last Tuesday PLX3102 (600w per cab). One breaker appears partially tripped all the time (has for years). I assume that the breaker is \"weak\" or disfunctional. The replacement breakers are under $15 each (might as well replace both). The newer Elite subs do not have breakers.
The subs are used 90% of the time with the DRPA, 10% with the 260. Limiters set always.

I have 2 options:
Bypass the breakers and hope...
Replace the breakers and have extra peace of mind.

Input requested. :?

Thanks,
DRA

Gadget

Breakers are too slow to really prevent damage.. the average current that the breakers trip on isn't really a good method of protection... thus they eliminated them in the later versions..I say bypass em! :shock:
G

kpippen

I would bypass the breakers... I agree with Gadget they breakers trip to slow... If you insist on peace-of-mind then you may want to try AGC fast acting fuses... For proper sizing I would start at 80% of the current circuit breaker rating...

Dra

I would assume that the breaker is designed to limit long term (continuous) power and a fast acting fuse would need to be closer to the peak rating of the cab (1600w?).

I will probably jump the breakers.

Thanks guys,
DRA

Dra

Snipped and nutted.

Thanks

Gadget

Good move... I used to protect my top cab horns with an incandescent bulb, and the light would move me to make changes to eliminate the culprit that was causing the overload....Now with the DR I can set it and forget it. NO failures in ........oh my.... more than 6 YEARS! not a SINGLE component failure in over 6 years! OH ... wait there was the warranty failure of the LAB 12 drivers that in my mind don't count! There was also a scratchy midrange in one of the Yorkie 15\" mids that was really strange... but thats more than 11,000 shows with minimal failures...and NONE from abuse!!!Thats incredible!
G