Need help, amp turns on and off randomly
Thread Starter
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6
Ok.......theres no better way to ruin your experience with a new system then when it doesn't work as planned. I recently finished my in the seat sub installation and installed an Alpine MRD-M350 in the center console. It worked just fine for a while (the first several times i turned it on) but then it started to turn on and off for no apparent reason at will. I originally thought that it was an issue with the remote turn on lead, which i checked but it had a solid connection at the back of the deck and the amp.......i also tested its voltage with a multimeter and it's giving off between 10-11V when the deck is on....regardless of whether the amp is on or not.......so that wasn't it.
When the amp was working, the power lead was reading about 13V which is what is expected. When it wasn't working it was reading anywhere between 0.5 and 2V. So I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the power wire, but I can't figure out what. I checked all the connections and fuses, they are all good.
Just to clarify, here's what I've got set up for wiring. I ran 4 AWG wiring from the battery to the distribution block. The 4 AWG wire is fused with an 80A fuse about 6 inches past the battery.
From the distribution block I ran 8 AWG wiring to the amp with a 30A fuse about 6 inches past the dist. block.
The ground wire is 8 AWG as well and is grounded to the seat bolt which I cleaned up with a grinding stone for a solid metal to metal connection.
The subs are two SVC subs, 200 RMS each, wired to 2 ohms at the amp, it is 2 ohm stable (made sure of that when I bought it). The power rating for the amp is 350 rms at 2 ohms but from what I've heard this thing can push more than that........
So, i'm not blowing fuses so it's most likely not a bare spot on the wire. I don't think it's the ground because I used the ground when testing the remote turn on lead (+ to the turn on and - to the gnd) and it always gave me between 10 & 11 V. If it was a ground problem then it should give intermittent problems with that lead as well.
The amp is in my center console but I had the console off yesterday just too see how it behaved and it still cut out.......but the tub right below the amp does get pretty hot so i'm not ruling out a temperature issue just yet. I checked the temp on the amp with my hand when it cut out and it was only slightly warm though.......
Does anyone have any clue as to what this may be? I'm getting pretty frustrated at this point. Fixing all the connections seemed to make it a little happier (doesn't turn off as frequently) but it still turns off. Any suggestions would help me. Thanks, sorry for the long post....my install can be seen here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/818055/2
When the amp was working, the power lead was reading about 13V which is what is expected. When it wasn't working it was reading anywhere between 0.5 and 2V. So I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the power wire, but I can't figure out what. I checked all the connections and fuses, they are all good.
Just to clarify, here's what I've got set up for wiring. I ran 4 AWG wiring from the battery to the distribution block. The 4 AWG wire is fused with an 80A fuse about 6 inches past the battery.
From the distribution block I ran 8 AWG wiring to the amp with a 30A fuse about 6 inches past the dist. block.
The ground wire is 8 AWG as well and is grounded to the seat bolt which I cleaned up with a grinding stone for a solid metal to metal connection.
The subs are two SVC subs, 200 RMS each, wired to 2 ohms at the amp, it is 2 ohm stable (made sure of that when I bought it). The power rating for the amp is 350 rms at 2 ohms but from what I've heard this thing can push more than that........
So, i'm not blowing fuses so it's most likely not a bare spot on the wire. I don't think it's the ground because I used the ground when testing the remote turn on lead (+ to the turn on and - to the gnd) and it always gave me between 10 & 11 V. If it was a ground problem then it should give intermittent problems with that lead as well.
The amp is in my center console but I had the console off yesterday just too see how it behaved and it still cut out.......but the tub right below the amp does get pretty hot so i'm not ruling out a temperature issue just yet. I checked the temp on the amp with my hand when it cut out and it was only slightly warm though.......
Does anyone have any clue as to what this may be? I'm getting pretty frustrated at this point. Fixing all the connections seemed to make it a little happier (doesn't turn off as frequently) but it still turns off. Any suggestions would help me. Thanks, sorry for the long post....my install can be seen here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/818055/2
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Posts: n/a
So you know the voltage is low at the amp, now take the meter under the hood and measure the voltage with the neg probe on the neg battery terminal and the positive terminal on the pos amp connection at the battery, before the fuse holder, after the fuse holder. If one of these reads low, you have a bad connection there. Now go back to the amp, measure from the positive on the amp, and the negative to a known good ground, if the everything checks OK at a known good ground, you have a problem with your ground the amp is hooked to.
Thread Starter
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6
I tracked it down.....I had a bad connection (thought I checked them all.....guess I was wrong) coming into the distribution block from the battery. I actually pulled it out without having to loosen the screw. So I stripped a little more wire off and re-inserted it, clamped it down good with the screw and voila! No more problems, drove it down to my softball game and then to the gym and no problems. Thanks for the help guys!
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