problem is unconditional, specialy when cold in morning n powering up, the amp keeps shutting down, going to protection i dont know what its doing exactly but the subs turn off, then i turn down the volume knob n they turn on again... what sort of protection do these amps usualy have, it isnt overheated (its still booting up) it isnt the ground, it isnt power n isnt voltage, the car voltage guage shows 13 volts especialy in the morning yet the amp dunno what it does just the subs stop then go then stop then go, it isnt in protection i dont have to turn the HU off n on, nope somtimes i dont even have to turn down the volume, just wait a few secs n it powers the subs then off again......... :2guns: :angry: im gonna blow my brains out i cant seem to trouble shoot it PLZ HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :blowup:
somtimes lets say on a certain song it would shut off at volume 15 somtimes 18 somtimes NEVER i can crank it all way up no problem.... its always weird i dont know what to do to trouble shoot it... somtimes after a few minutes (maybe internal caps need to be powered up n charged properly) then it wont shut down at all the same ground, same current, same alternator same battery source i dont change anything it just unpredictable , somtimes even if i have the amp turned on HU on internal caps of the amp r charged properly but still wont hold up to volume it did it with one sub, it did it with two subs, it did it at 4 ohms it did it at 2 ohm, nothing helps nothing changes, some days i can have it cranked all way up all day long at 2 ohm..........
Based on what you say, I'd suspect clipping protection. When your level adjustment is set too high, you'll clip the top and bottom off the waveform, and the end result is that the amp remains at full current-flow for longer durations (how much depending on how much it is being clipped) than if you weren't clipping the amp. That's harmful to the amp, because the internal componentry heats up dramatically... and components inside the amp can start melting, like the fuses that are supposed to protect it... but they won't, because it isn't more current that is causing the heating. Consider that music is dynamic.... that means it has elements that are quiet, and elements that are loud. Consider that recordings therefore contain music that is various volume levels, depending on the song, instrument, whatever. From your symptoms, I'd guess that you were clipping your amp... At lower volume levels, the input into your amplifier isn't clipping at all, or at least not dramatically to trip the protection circuit. However, at higher volume levels... ...sometimes, you are playing a song that reaches dynamic peak levels (or perhaps, sustaining them long enough) that the actual voltage level of the input signal is clipping enough to trip your protection. ...other times, the music isn't loud enough, or reaching high enough dynamics (or perhaps sustaining them long enough) to trigger the clipping. The fix? Try turning your gain knob down a bit (or a lot?).
well somtimes using same cd same volume same gain same everything it clips (shuts off or whatever is that is hapening) and at other times all same circumstances it wont not even at full volume, it realy is weird one thing to note is that clipping protection seems to happen more often to beat bass (pop music) rather than rumble bass(bass music) i will try setting the gains lower although im sure they are set perfectly, i crank volume till it is still clean then i set the gain on the bass amp till right before clipping. any other trouble shooting thoughts? im greatly appreciative geolemon
Sounds like the right approach to gain setting- certainly would at least get you "close enough" even if not perfect. Other things to check would be really ANYTHING causing the amp to draw more current through it's circuitry than it was designed to... I believe ultimately that's at least what some of those protection circuits trip based on. So, one thing to think through is this: Power is voltage times current. P=VI 100w = 10v x 10a or 100w = 5v x 20a I mention this to show that if you create any sort of low-voltage situation, the amp must draw more current through it's circuitry trying to produce it's rated power... and that is bad for the amp, and that creates heat, etc. What would cause this? For one thing... insufficient wiring. 4 or 8 gauge wire on a 1500w amp. Another thing would be poor connections. Poor crimps. Bad grounds... could be as simple as a ground wire connected to a factory bolt that was loosened on something that isn't the chassis itself (for example, a bolt on a seat that is in turn bolted to the chassis). Could be a ground location that the installer didn't sand the paint away to bare metal first (since paint is an insulator). All these things introduce resistance in this series circuit that is your power wiring... In this circuit, you can follow it like a road: Some sort of connection made at the battery + terminal... then wire...then within 16" of the battery is a fuseholder...then more wire to the back of the car... then a distribution block... then more wire... then the connection at the amp... the amp itself... then the ground wire... then the connection made to the chassis of the car (ground connection)... then the metal of the chassis itself... then the connection of the factory battery ground wire to the chassis... then that wire... then the connection at the battery - terminal. Phew! Resistance at any ONE of those places will cause current to burn up (heat! wasted power!), and a voltage drop accordingly. That's WHY you want to run at least sufficiently sized power wiring... and that you've upgraded the "magic three" (which not only upgrades that factory battery ground... but the alternator's power and ground path as well)... and is exactly WHY you want to make sure every termination and connection is done very well. ...if not, you introduce losses... possibly even enough to cause your amp protection to be triggered. You could try taking a voltage reading from the + voltage terminal on your amp to the - voltage terminal of your amp, and comparing that to the + and - voltage reading at your battery, with the car running. The only other thing (other than a defective amp) would be that you are running too low of an impedance - whether by ignorance or accident. You can check this too, but you have to remove at least one of the wires from the amp before measuring the DC resistance of the load on the amp. I'm sure it's one of these two: 1) power wiring issue 2) too low impedance ...or else it is a defective amp, but that's usually a situation caused by something - like one of the two above.
i sincerly thank u geolemon for taking so much time in my case, i appreciate it very very much, thank you i am running 4ga to the back n a distributer with 8ga going to amp the ground is right on the rear car chassis all grounded down to bare metal more than once to make sure it isnt a grounding problem, i dont have an analog volte meter to show me the voltage at the amp during operation but i will try today to get a reading using digital voltemeter, i will try to see what the load resistance is, ofcorse it isnt a fixed load since enclosure volume and coil position during playback changes it dramaticaly n there is no real way to find out my minimum load. i will folow the wiring today from a-z hopfuly its somwere there n not a defective amp that "sometimes" runs correctly n somtimes not, maybe due to road bumps etc changes performance (of the defect), somthing inside got hot enough to loose solder conection maybe a probability hopfuly not. again thank you very much geolemon im frustrated with this problem but i appreciate that u r there helping
Even cheap multimeters will read voltage and impedance. Definitely something worth picking up, regardless of whether you are spending $15 or $150 on one. The voltage readings will tell you if the problem is due to losses in your power wiring... If you measure 14.3v under the hood at the battery, and only measure, say, 12.5 or 13v at the power connections at the amp - that's not good. That would indicate that there is some resistance somewhere - probably due to a bad connection, or a corroding, or degraded one - somewhere in that voltage path I walked through earlier. If you only measure a couple tenths of a volt difference or less, then there likely isn't a problem in your voltage supply path. As far as resistance goes... Just bear in mind that you are measuring DC resistance (the speaker's DCR), as opposed to a nominal impedance rating. For example, 4 ohm subs have a DCR that is close to - but not exactly - 4 ohms. Typically, a 4 ohm sub will have a DCR somewhere in the range of 3.4 to 3.8 ohms. And a 2 ohm sub will typically be somewhere between 1.6 and 2.0 ohms. But these aren't exact either. Just keep in mind, you are simply performing a 'sanity check' here... you should be measuring a DCR close to the impedance you think you are running. If your amp is rated stable to 2 ohms, and you have two subs hooked up that you believe are yielding a 2 ohm load... ...if you measured 1.8 ohms, that would be fine. ...if you measured 0.9 ohms, that would obviously be too low. ...and if you measured 3.7 ohms, or 6.8 ohms... that would be higher than you expected, and might be an unexpected sign of a problem: If it were simply that you weren't familiar with the wiring, and inadvertantly wired them in series or something, then your amp is happy happy... that's an easy load for an amp. You simply won't get the power from the amp that you thought you were. That's a bummer. However, if it is because you have a blown sub in the mix, that can be dangerous, because when you take this measurement it isn't electrically 'there'... but when the subs are in motion, that dead cone might be in motion because of the air pressure in the box, and whatever windings became broken/unglued/rubbed may come in contact, and present a random impedance that might be very much lower than what your amp can handle... sending it into protection. You can check for blown subs or voice coils with a very simple tool... ...of course one way is to use your new multimeter to measure the resistance of each voice coil. The other way is to take a 9v battery, and touch it to the voice coil's terminals. The cone should move either in or out (depending on how you are holding the battery). If it doesn't move, it (or your battery) is probably dead. Good luck!
I'm curious about something... How is your powerwire run from the battery to the interior of your car? did you run it through the firewall or down the side of the door? If you went the 'ghetto-rigged' way and ran it alongside the door you could be getting a pinch point in there...
