Fender passport goes in to protect

If this system is still under warranty get it to a warranty service center. This is an early stage symptom of failure with the Power Amp IC. Fender has a good warranty policy on this stuff - 1 to 3 years

If not under warranty you may want to wait until it the problem is more persistent - easier for a tech to fix - unless it IS every time right now. A good tech can identify the issue quickly once "on the bench". My 'gut' feeling is the Power Amp IC when the system is first energizing to full stable power.

The protect light generally comes on when the is a short in the speaker cabling. as a test, turn on the mixer without any speakers hooked up. If it still goes into protect mode the problem is in the mixer. Take it to your local music store and have their tech look at it. if it doesn't go into protect, check the speaker cables by plugging them in one at a time. The bad one will send it into protect.

good luck

You are in danger of popping the amp. The Fender passport 150 would be capable of covering about only a 20 foot by 20 foot area. If your area is bigger than that, you need more power and certainly bigger speakers. I would NOT recommend the larger Passport systems as the speakers are too directive for what sounds like your use... also there are reliability issues.

These seem to be tempermental. I would look for radio frequency interference from nearby transmitter leaking into your guitar cable or mic cable that puts this on the ragged edge of feedback. DO NOT boost highs with the EQ... You can get supersonic feedback that you can't hear, but puts the amp into limiting. Any audio input can start the feedback. These amps are VERY hard to work on due to the packaging. A lot of people have smoked their units and then require repairing.

Likely there is either a failure in one of the power amps or the power supply. The protect means excess current is being sensed.

You need to take in for repair... these are really hard to work on due to the packaging.

There is a problem with the internal amp itself. These are extremely difficult to access. Contact Fender for a local authorized service center.

Dan

This needs to go to the repair shop. The protect mode is turned on when either the power supply has a problem or one or both power amplifiers have a problem. These are often blown components.

These units are HARD to work on. To open you have to first remove then front panel before you can remove the back panel that has the power supply and power amps/heat sinks.

Compare repairs of these units to working under an automobile dashboard!

Hint: On startup, use a series 150 wat lamp to limit current while repairing. SInce these use a switching supply operating off the input line, use an isolation transformer for personal safety.

I have one that has done the same. It is the next smaller size. The power supply fried a toroidal inductor in mine. Frankly, these things are a major pain to work on. You have to usually remove the front panel before you can remove the back power supply and power amp section.

If you have warranty coverage USE IT !!!

The protect feature in mine monitors the power supply load and shuts down the supply if it senses overload. They are hard to work on as you have to bypass the protect to troubleshoot and get to the root cause.

Use the old light bulb in series trick to limit the current.

The protect circuit is activated by a current sensing transformer in the *input* of the power supply. If any of the subassemblies of the unit (or all of them in combination) draw excess current then the protect light will illuminate and the power supply shut down to prevent any damage to the system.

The circuitry in the power supply is fairly robust as well as fuse protected so it is unlikely that the power supply itself has failed. More than likely one of your output power transistors has been shorted and it is easy to check this yourself if you are interested in doing so.

Furthermore if you follow a few *simple* precautions you can do this safely and confidently.

Post again on this thread if you are interested and I will spew the details.

-BK