I'm just installed a new system and during certain songs the bass gets really heavy and the amp cuts out. It has no lights but I think it's going into protect mode. Gains are pretty low and I want to start tuning the system So the QUESTION: I wanna put a voltmeter on the amp and see how far it dips when it cuts out. Will doing this hurt the amp at all? Obviously you don't want it doing it all the time but a couple times should be alright?

 

Sounds like a voltage drop to me.....have you done the Big 3 under the hood yet?

It shouldn't hurt the amp to test it like that a couple of times......I'll guess you'll see it drop below 10volts on those heavy bass lines.....

HTH

 

Thanks for the quick reply. No big three yet as I'm try to figure out how to do it without destroying all the original wiring. They have lots of crimped connections and stuff that I'm not sure how to tap into. After that I need to read up on tuning!

 

You don't really need to touch the factory wires.....just add the extra pieces as detailed in that link and it will help......

 

Yeah the problem is the oem terminals on the battery don't really lend themselves to adding anything to them so I would have to cut them off and redo it.

 

I just checked the amp with a volt meter and the volts never dip below 14. I checked the gain and it's almost maxed on the amp so that might be part of the problem. No distortion from the sub at that level though.

 

Actually I should say I think my gain is maxed. My amp has a level x1 and a level x3. Then the screw goes from 3V-130mV. Its almost at the top on level 1 and I'm assuming that level 3 is even more?

 

The switch allows you to use the amp with any deck, no matter how weak or strong the RCA outputs are on the deck.

If your deck has more than 3V output put the switch to level 3. This gives you a range of 390mv - 9v input volts to drive the amp to maximum output. Set the screw to the ouput level of the deck and you should be able to get pretty close to the max. Lowering that screw to a lower voltage will increase the output but will get you into the "distortion zone" very quickly.

Going back to your original post, over-driving the input stage on the amp will put it into protect mode same as a drop in B+ power voltage will.....if the supply voltage is not the problem, the gain issue is the next most-likely culprit....

HTH

 

Thanks a lot. I'm gonna check the voltage again with an analog meter to make sure. My deck has 4V outputs so I will make the adjustments.

 

do u live a bad neighbourhood? sometimes amps' protection kicks in when it thinks the theives are around. protection is to protect the amp from being stolen!