Hi guys, I've got a problem ive been racking my head over this Easter. I've just installed some sounds to my car, from 6.5 speakers at the front, 6x9s at the back and an amp and 1000w sub. Everything is brand new except the sub. The speakers work fine, it's just the amp and sub I'm having trouble with. Bob Dylan plays fantastically well when the car isn't running, however when I start the car and drive, the amp goes into protection mode (red LED) for a few seconds and then goes back to normal and then goes back into protection mode and so on. While it goes into protection mode the green power LED fades out and comes back on resulting in bursts of subwoofer function.
It's well earthed (sanded down area until cable was screwed into bare metal) All my connections and wiring are sweet and tight I've tried connecting the sub bridged and unbridged All fuses are intact This only happens when the car is running
Whats happening here! How can I fix it! Hope your Easter weekend is treating you well.
A frustrated Dylan fan.
skittles93,
Mar 31, 5:17am
Oh and amp has 4 channels at 350W each resulting in 1400W of peak power. I'm still learning about car audio so please feel free to point out simple things like correct wiring etc in case I've missed something.
saxman99,
Mar 31, 5:29am
I wonder if your car's charging system is running over 14.4v !This would probably cause an amp to protect itself from over-voltage.Check by putting a volt meter across your battery terminals while running and see what it reads. Should be around 13.8v or perhaps slightly higher.
Then you could try running your sounds with lots of accessories running too (headlights, rear window demister. Fan blower etc) and see if that drops the voltage and helps the amp.If yes then you may have a voltage regulator issue.
Maybe.
In any case, I'm sure the answer is blowin' in the wind.
sw20,
Mar 31, 5:33am
BTW peak power figures are near meaningless.
Do you have a Sony amp bychance!
skittles93,
Mar 31, 5:44am
Oh an interesting point saxman I don't have a meter to check but the car is an old 84 Honda city turbo, so I wouldn't have thought it would be causing over voltage, but I will try running all the accessories and see what happens!
skittles93,
Mar 31, 5:46am
I don't have a Sony amp, and the most info I could find was this: -4-channel RCA input/output -Output power(MAX):1400WATTS -HPF/LPF/FULL/SUB/GAIN Controls -Frequency response:10Hz~20KHz+1dB -Input sensitivity:<250mv -Signal ratio:98dB -Speaker impedance: Stereo: 2-16ohms Bridge: 4-16ohms
12rider,
Mar 31, 5:49am
Car running, full electrical load (lights on, heater on, wipers on & idling in gear if it's an auto) what voltage are you getting across + & - terminals with a multi meter. ! If all is well with your electrical system you should safely expect anything up to 14.8 volts, anything above that suggests a regulator / rectifier problem - doe's this change dramatically if you bring the engine speed up. !What type of amp are you running (watts rms per channel, 2 ch or 4 ch) & are you absolutely certain all of your connections are correct. Come back to me. Cheers
beast9,
Mar 31, 9:26am
sounds more like your battery or alternator cant take the load from the amp when you start the car or you have a wire in the wrong place what you might need is a 1 farad cap on your amp to stop it clipping
owene,
Mar 31, 10:53am
Even at 720W RMS (more likely what it will be doing), that's 60Amps. Assuming that you have some fancy lights on the car (you sound like you should have matching lights for a big stereo) that suck say 30Amps then already you're up to 90Amps. Does the alternator produce that. likely not. I'd guess that you are hammering the alternator beyond it's comfort zone.
owene,
Mar 31, 10:54am
Correct except thgat a capacitor won't ease the load onm the alternator, it'll merely smooth that load out slightly.
nave12,
Mar 31, 6:17pm
Does it have any brand marking on the amp such as V12 1400 watts!.
owene,
Mar 31, 6:53pm
What would cause an over-voltage!. please explain.
skittles93,
Apr 1, 2:36am
I took advantage of the Easter Repco sale today and invested in a multimeter. Sure enough when the car was running I got about 14.6-14.8 Volts and with the fan on full blast and headlights on it came down to 12V! So I think my regulator on the alternator is out and needs some attention!
bigfatmat1,
Apr 1, 4:30am
did you bring revs up a little while checking under load
neville48,
Apr 1, 8:27am
maybe the person that sold you the system was just a "jokerman"
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