New system, 2 amps in a row stuck in protection mode??????????
 

Hey all new member here, have been into car audio for 10 years and have installed several average systems for personal use, but have never experienced a problem like this before.

I recently upgraded my system starting with a Kenwood excelon kdc-x994 head unit, excelon xr4s 4 channel stereo amp, polk audio 6.5' components and polk 4x6" plate speakers. This setup sounds excellent and I was more than happy.

Then I decided to add some bass so i bought a excelon x1200m mono amp and a pair of JL audio w3's (10"). While I was waiting for the sub box I hooked it up to a cheap sony explode 12" 4 ohm. It ran it great for about 20 minutes then quit. I assumed I blew the cheap sony sub considering it was only rated for 380 watts rms and this amp pushes 800 rms at 4 ohms. so i bought a exile 12 rated for 600 rms and hooked it up. It still didn't work so i began checking the amp out. It was then that i noticed the protection light was on. I unhooked everything for a day, reconnected everything except the speaker and it still went strait into protect.

So I brought the amp back to the place i bought it and they handed me a new one, no questions asked. I noticed in the time the system was working that the rear of the cab of my truck was shaking from the bass and the weight of the amps mounted to it. So when I changed out the mono amp I installed an amp rack made of 3/4" plywood.

The new amp worked for about 20 seconds at half volume, then max volume for 10 seconds and it went into protect. Stuck in protect again. Unhooked everything, let sit for a few hours, still stuck in protect.

power circuit has 4 ohms resistance, ground has 2. I believe this is excessive. But what i am perplexed by is why it wont reset itself like every other amp I have used does. Can anyone help me with this issue? I am sure when i bring back another brand new amp that's dead with the same problem I wont get a new one as easy.

sorry for the long post and thanks for any help you guys can give me as I am losing what little faith I had for kenwood quickly.

sounds like a bad connection somwere , what were all the gains on the amp set at

it wont reset itself because the problem is still present.

check all your connections, read up on them and make sure your gains are properly set, re-check the impedence of the woofer. i'd start with checking the grounds though.

Dude, I am coming to Edmonton today. I will be at the CDN tire near the airport around noon. I will bring a meter only, my tools are still back in BC, here at the end of the month. I drive a F350 CC longbox, silver color pulling a black trailer that is getting handed off to another F350 CC longbox there. If you want a quick once over, show up and I will have a look for you.

Thanks for the responses, the thing that really has me puzzled though is why it wont come out of protect mode. It has battery voltage at the amp terminal and good ground, and with the speaker wire disconnected at the amp and rcas unplugged it still goes right into protect as soon as it powers on.

I wonder if running them with that amount of resistance burnt both amps out due to excessive voltage drop when running?

Thanks for offer to check it out Rob, I'm not sure what you'll be able to find though as I have already checked things out with a meter and the only thing that seems a likely cause is the 4 ohms resistance on the power circuit and 2ohms on the ground. (strange that the other amp works fine on the same circuit though)

Gain was at 4 volt setting, 1/4 turn up from minimum.

did u check your voltage drop while they were working ?

No I didn't have time before it locked into protect again, assumed the first amp was bad and wasn't expecting the second one to do the exact same thing!

You aren't supplying enough current to the amp. Battery,alternater, and cables or a cap would help but a high end battery can be better. You may have blown an internal fuse as well.Service. The amp goes into protect when is senses a wrong signal in or out. If wiring is good and ground is great, check those.

So bottom line if the amp has 12.7 at its positive terminal and power control and its grounded and there's nothing else hooked up and it still goes strait into protect mode the amp has to go in to get fixed?