I have a Harman Kardon AVR630 that is having issues with the automatic protection mode. The receiver simply will not stay running for more than 10 seconds. This is with not a single thing hooked up to it except the power cord. I brought it in for service and they could not find a single thing wrong with it. Worked perfect in the shop.

I got the suspicion that there may be funny power fluctuations in my house. I brought the receiver over to a friends house and again, it works perfect. I plug this thing into any outlet in my house and it refuses to stay on. I even hooked it up to UPS battery backup system thinking it would keep the current steady and surge free.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to test the currents running through my house or any other ideas what may be tripping the protection mode? Is there any way to turn off the protection mode on these receivers? I'd rather let it burn up and fry than go through this frustration.

Funny thing is that it was working fine for over a year and all of a sudden it doesn't want to work in my house. I'm also having problems with a couple other electronic equipment that may be caused by the same problem.

I'm sure there is some testing tools you can pick up at either a home improvement store or an electronics distributor. Or maybe just get an electrician to stop by who has all the testing/meter tools and may be able to isolate the problem. If the problem does not occur at your friends house, the shop, neighbors, or wherever else you've tried it, only at your house, it has to be something in your wiring. Especially if you say you have other electronic equipment acting strange.

good luck

Are you 100% confident there are no single strands of wire shorting the speaker terminals left over from the last time you hooked up the speakers ? It doesn't take much to trip the protection on a 630, trust me on this

Hold on -- you can move the receiver to other houses and it's OK.

Next question -- have you stuck one of those cheapo ground checkers with 3 neon lights into the outlets in your house ? Sometimes a bad ground (or, even worse, a ground with some power on it) can do this.

Good point John, I have one of those little cheapo yellow test dealy bobs, got it pretty cheap at the local home depot. Just plug it in and the lights will tell ya if things are kosher dills.

Shag says he's doesn't have a thing connected to the receiver so that *should* eliminate the single strand of speaker wire theory I would believe ... if he's having problems with other electronics *throughout* the house I'd certainly have a certified electrician take a good look at the whole house electrical wiring, sounds to me like something may be amiss with it.

Well also think about this get u a extension Cord an try different outlets around the House maybe it is only one Room or one outlet, how old are the outlet's ? how old is the wiring ?

This is a brand new house, only 2.5 yrs old so I never thought there would be a problem with the wiring.

I also have a garage door opener that keeps flipping out. One minute it works, ten minutes later it doesn't and the only way to reset it is to unplug it and plug it back in. I kept thinking there was another RF signal in the area that was confusing it, but with my recent receiver problems, I was thinking they may be related.

I'll double check to make sure I don't have any wire strands on the back, but like I said, it works perfectly fine anywhere else but in my house.

Got a warranty on that house?

As others suggested, try the receiver in another room and see what happens. Find out if it’s that particular outlet, if it is, try another one in the same room that should be on the same circuit. If it continues to shut down on the second outlet on the same circuit, chances are that the circuit has a ground fault or the polarity is backwards (lights and motors will still work on a 110v ass-backward circuit). If it’s located to the individual outlet, well…..then it’s the outlet, and chances are that the wireman has the polarity backwards on that particular outlet or you have a ground fault on that receptacle.

Once you determine if it is the outlet or circuit, get an electrician over there to fix it. If it's reversed polarity, that's a 20 minute fix. If it's a ground fault, that can take some time to localize the fault but the repair is usually very simple.

I wouldn’t put to much merit into coincidental electrical issues. You garage door opener issue may be related so how if it’s being feed by the same circuit, but I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet.

Other things to look for, since it happens house-wide:

Neutral bonding strap in the main panel: It HAS to be there in the main breaker panel (and not loose) and should NOT be connected in any pony/satellite panels.

Also, a floating neutral can do some pretty fun stuff - when a neutral wire just isn't connected, bulbs burn brighter, there can be dangerous voltages on the neutral conductors. All fun stuff.

Good luck!
Bren R.

Good points Bran....Others, if you read above, Shag stated that he HAS tried other outlets throughout his house and has the same problem.

Shag, coming from an IT backgroud, it is clear it is something in your wiring/ground/etc. in your house. If your comfortable with checking the things Bren and others have mentioned, be careful and go for it. Otherwise, the answer is to call your builder, or an electrician and get them in there to verify things. Most likely it is an easy fix, you just need to isolate the problem. To me it is obvious it is not the receiver.

I've finally confirmed, there is something wrong with the receiver. It was acting up again when I took it back to a friend's house and it finally did it at the electronics shop right in front of the tech. At least it's a relief nothing is wrong with the wiring in the house.

Thx for the posts everyone.

>>Shag, coming from an IT backgroud, it is clear it is something in your wiring/ground/etc. in your house

Awww. I was expecting "coming from an IT background, it is clear this is a user problem and is in no way our fault"

Would the processing function of this receiver cause the problem or the amplifier function be the culprit I wonder ... if the 630 is out of warranty you may then be able to connect some amps (a couple of monos or etc...) to the unit and use it as a processor.

I'd believe the amp function of the receiver would be the cause of the problem. Only a guess.

I'll get it fixed and continue using it until I upgrade to something full HDMI compliant. The HK AVR 630 does not have any HDMI connections. I've had my eye on the Denon 4306 as my next receiver.

Also, I'm still waiting for a further shake out between HD and Blue Ray. I'm still undecided on these two standards.

Bren, Bran, Breen....say that three times real fast.

LOL! Deftly handled comeback.

I had a similar problem with my original HK AVR130. It turned out to be a poorly soldered internal ground. It took a couple of trips in to the service center before they were able to duplicate the problem but was finally resolved successfully. Good luck.