Blown my Kemper

  • I think I've fried my Kemper :( I had it turned on sitting on my desk and a family member turned on an electrical appliance from the wall socket and BANG!! the whole house went out (tripped). Something in my room made a very audible bang and I thought it was actually my lightbulb that exploded as that is what it sounded like. After turning everything back on, my Kemper now won't turn on at all and when I turn the wall outlet power on (with the power lead plugged in the Kemper) I can hear what I can only describe as a 'clunk' coming from the Kemper when it 'receives' the power from the wall. Then obviously, it won't power on using the the chicken knob. I really thought/hoped that the Kemper had a built in surge protector. Sure I read somewhere that it did..?


    I've tried waiting 30mins, an hour, to no avail. I've tried different outlets, different power leads and doing the reset options...still won't come on. I've opened a ticket with support but just came on here to ask if any of you guys had a similar issue or any other ideas I'm missing.


    Other than that I guess I'll be sending it in for repair.

  • I had an issue where my Kemper emitted a pop and locked up, but it still had power even though it wouldn't fully boot. I totally feel for your situation. Support should be able to get this sorted out one way or another.

  • I know you don't want to hear this, but I think it's vital for all the folks who read this thread, considering the investment that we all make in our gear, it's vital to buy the gear to protect it.

  • I know you don't want to hear this, but I think it's vital for all the folks who read this thread, considering the investment that we all make in our gear, it's vital to buy the gear to protect it


    I certainly would agree with this! I'm currently in the process of sending it in for repair. I'll update any information I get as a means of documentation should any future events like this happen to someone else. I'm just lucky I have other gear to rely on as I have gigs this weekend. However I do have to say that I've had my Kemper since 2012 and played countless gigs with it and it has never ONCE let me down.

  • Bad to hear your problem. I thought that the KPA was protected inside somehow for surges or similiar by at least a fuse.


    I recently purchased two Furmans. One for my home rig and one for the rehearsal room and future gigs. Never had any problems until now.


    Hope you get your unit repaired somehow.

  • From the reference manual Trouble Shooting chapter:


    Profiler doesn’t power on
    In case the Profiler does not start, and the LEDs and display stay inactive, please check your electricity supply andcabling. If these are intact, it is possible that the internal safety switch protecting the Profiler against overcurrent hasbeen activated. In this case: pull the power cable, wait about two minutes, reconnect the cable, and try to activatethe Profiler using its chicken-head.


    Not sure if this is something you've tried or not, but try doing exactly as it is stated - unplug cable from kemper and wait 2 full minutes.

  • From the reference manual Trouble Shooting chapter:


    Not sure if this is something you've tried or not, but try doing exactly as it is stated - unplug cable from kemper and wait 2 full minutes.


    Yeah. One of the first things I tried. Also waited a full day lol. The unit is currently winging it's way back to Germany as I write this. I tried different power leads, different outlets etc etc. All to no avail...

  • Just as an update incase this should happen to anyone else and to have an idea of repair costs...this is the reply from Kemper:


    "We tested your Profiler, the power supply needs to be replaced.
    The price for this repair is around 140 Euros + 30 Euros shipping + 19% VAT.
    We will also replace the front boards to fix the Led problem. This will be handled under good will of Kemper for free."

  • I certainly would agree with this! I'm currently in the process of sending it in for repair. I'll update any information I get as a means of documentation should any future events like this happen to someone else. I'm just lucky I have other gear to rely on as I have gigs this weekend. However I do have to say that I've had my Kemper since 2012 and played countless gigs with it and it has never ONCE let me down.


    Here you go:


    Zero Surge model 8R15W-I


    https://zerosurge.com/wp-conte…ads/2016/12/8R-Series.pdf

  • Just as an update incase this should happen to anyone else and to have an idea of repair costs...this is the reply from Kemper:


    "We tested your Profiler, the power supply needs to be replaced.
    The price for this repair is around 140 Euros + 30 Euros shipping + 19% VAT.
    We will also replace the front boards to fix the Led problem. This will be handled under good will of Kemper for free."

    Ouch...

  • Just FYI: A power strip with a decent MOV and/or diode coupling will work just fine, there's no need to drop lots of $$ on fancy power conditioners. If it gets hit hard enough it may destruct itself but you can buy 5 or 10 decent surge protectors for the cost of one power conditioner/protector. Back in the day with glass tube TV's & monitors it was best for the protector to also have under-voltage detection but that isn't much needed any more.


    The smartest thing you can do IMO is put your gear (ALL your gear) on a surge protector and turn off the switch when not in use. Better yet, if you have a wall switch plug the protector in that outlet and simply turn the wall switch off when you are done.


    I live in the lightning capital of the world where surges, brown-outs and outages happen all the time and have yet to have ONE piece of gear, TV, stereo, anything damaged in 20+ years of using this approach. It works.


    Sonic

  • So...you don't even have to unplug from the wall socket even 'though the protector itself is off due to your having turned everything off at the wall, Sonic?


    Whenever I hear a storm coming, I unplug everything from the wall sockets. No protection yet unfortunately. Always thought it didn't matter whether or not anything was turned on when lightning hit, and that decoupling altogether from the wall was the only way to go.


    Obviously I'm no expert; any advice is appreciated, mate.

  • So...you don't even have to unplug from the wall socket even 'though the protector itself is off due to your having turned everything off at the wall, Sonic?


    Whenever I hear a storm coming, I unplug everything from the wall sockets. No protection yet unfortunately. Always thought it didn't matter whether or not anything was turned on when lightning hit, and that decoupling altogether from the wall was the only way to go.


    Obviously I'm no expert; any advice is appreciated, mate.

    Sorry for the delayed reply mate, I somehow missed your response.


    Correct. Granted, hypothetically a direct lightning strike can leap contacts but that would be so incredibly rare and unlikely that it's not a scenario I'm remotely concerned with. Your odds are the same as well, getting hit by lightning. Or bitten by a shark. LoL


    As I said, I live in the lighting capital of the US and in many decades have never had a problem with the approach I mentioned earlier. If you want to be especially paranoid you can also switch off the surge protector/strip as well as the wall switch so you have two layers of physical decoupling going on.


    Sonic