Amp Troubles
 

Well my epic install is nearing completion, the whole system is installed and working just neating and carpeting needs to take place.

Anyway, on saturday morning I was just bought a new album :D :D

You know that feeling you get from getting a new album and putting it in the deck for the first time - epic.

Again - anyway, about 20 seconds into the album - just the intro, so I was playing it at about 1/2 volume, it seemed that My 4 Channel EA4000 lost power somehow. All my 4 speakers but out and i was left with a rather annoying subbass and nothing else. My first thought was that i must have blown a fuse, but I checked all the fuses and they were all fine. Moved on to check the power supply to the amp and it seemed fine.

I evenully came to the conclusion that i may have blown the amp or somethng went mechanically wrong with it.

Went to work, and 13 hours later I decided to give it one try and it all worked fine for the trip home. Thought that it might be the cold air or just the general coolness of the night.

Then today I went for a drive and it all worked fine for about 5 minutes then cut out again and hasen't worked since. Thought it might work after work but apparently not.

I have disconnected everything including the battery and re-connected it - to 'reset' the amp. But to no Avail.

Have a feeling that it might not be grounded properly or something similar.

Does anyone have any ideas? it is quite depressing not having anything to listen to. I just bought a new album too :(

Appreaticate all advice guys, cheers.

Heb

um that sux's man and you only just got it all happening ....

what gauge wiring do you have?

have you checked to make sure there all pluged into the amp and are not lose?

short of that ya got me stumped hahah soz

Hmmm, could be a couple of things.

It sounds like your amp is either putting it into protection, which could hapen for a few reasons...or simply having the power knocked because of a loose connection.

Firstly what power and ground wire gauges are you using. Remember, your negative should always be the same size, or bigger than the cross sectional area of the positive. Low voltage can be a cause for protection

Where is the amp installed? IE. in a well ventilated area. It could be possible the amp is heading into thermal protection but i doubt as you mentiond it cut out for the first time at like 30 seconds....

The amp could also feature a 'clipp out' system where the amp while protect itself when faced with a clipped signal input.

Protection usually last for a few minutes and then will turn back on. If it doesn't come back on at all the problem is with the amp itself or with the power to the amp itself.

You mentioned you think its the ground wire? I have this feeling too, but why didn't you check that first. Just make sure its solid and clean and obviously bigger than the positive.

Let us know how you go

-Eric

i'd suggest u email Marty Price at fhrxstudios@bigpond.com Top guy and he seems to know just a little bit about car audio :p lol, seriously if he doesnt know i dunno who can help u....

Ahhh its really starting to get to me :( :(

My car used to be a place to chillaxin :)

Now I have lots of road noise and 4 doors that say "Please Sound Deaden Me"

Makes me want to cry :p
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I agree with everything you said Eric, I thought that it might be a proctection of the amp and something was going wrong that made it shut down.

But it can't be that because now it won't turn on. Even after 24 hours of sitting. And it can't be a temperature thing, as it wouldn't run at 2 degrees with the boot open and the aircon running down onto the cables in the foot wells (worth a try :p).

And you can rule out the grounding too. Checked both the sub amp and the speakers amp and they have both been grounded sercurly and the area has been sanded back around the metal to provide good connection.

It wouldn't have been clipping, because i was only playing it at half volume both times it has died on me. And Clipping (other than a protection part of the amp) would be affecting the speakers and not so much the amp.

Both amps are mounted in the boot and have plently of ventilation - so I wouldn't be thinking it would be that.

Before the first time the amp dropped out, I had just spent ages tuning it. but it had been running for at least 2 hours before anything happened. I spose it is possible that something was/went wrong with thte tuning - but I highly doubt that it would kill off the power to the amp - more likely to hurt the speakers. And also, the tuning was done by the fitter - who has tuned many a system. Not that this makes him great or anything - but we did have it pushing to the max at one point (the world was coming to an end I swear it :p) for a good 2 minutes, which I would assume would do more damage then the aftermath.

I think (Hope) that there is a power cable loose somewhere that i can't seem to get a hold on or can't seem to find.

Oh and my wiring kit was $300 and the grounding wire and power cables are 4 guage (I think).

Still it makes me cry :p

Heb

EDIT: My amp is also a digital amp - And can apparently be stacked ontop of each other. No that mine are.

Hmm I seee, then your best bet is to bench test the amp outside of the car, or alternately take it to an audio retailer who will do it for you. It sounds like something in the amp is loose or faulty and would defiantly be a job for the manufacturer. Is it still in warranty?

-Eric

Have you turned the gains up too high ?
The gains need to be set properly. In most cases they dont need to be higher than half way else you start to clip

:p

I read the tutorial on MEA ;)

Having said - I was unclear about how exactly you go about setting the gains.

My belief was that the best way to set them for my headunit (Assuming 4V pre-outs) would be to set the crossovers to 4V. If this is the case then the gains wern't set high - but weren't set low either - and I had not beening running the system loud at all until I got underneath my footwells and changed this.

If that isn't how the gains are set, then it is most likely that they are set too high. Still, I would have thought that the speakers would take the punishment and not the amp.

And yes, the amp is still under its lifetime warranty :p

On saturaday, I will take it into the store and get them to test it.

But I don't want them to send it away - coz then I will be waiting another 3 months :(

Heb

might be worth wile checking if any of the speaker wires or the remote wire are kinked or broken in any places? also have you checked the connections at the back of the head unit?

:D :D :D :D

Located the problem. ;)

The fuse in the distrubtion box was faulty - but not blown - hence why I didn't pick it up the first time around.

I spoke to the installer and he said that it could be that - and buy a new one.

Got in the car - popped the boot - turned the system on and gave the distribution box a slap and Bam! on it goes.

It was liiterally that easy - after taking all the wiring apart - checking the RCA's and everything - 1 tap and it works.

I'll go buy a new fuse tomorrow . . . . maybe

Heb

alsooooooo when you grounded it to the body, did you sand back the paint so that you got a good ground connection? i no i had to cause it was just cuttin in and out...

Theres the answer :p

at least you can tap it and it works. installed a 2ch amp today to run my front splits and on the way how tonight blew a fuse taking out my parkers and all the instrument illumination. speedo is a bitch to read in the dark.

now i gotta trace all my under dash wiring :( at least i made it neat..

Haha - nah i replaced it - no more tapping.

I was very lucky it was just a fuse and not the amp.

If you just blew a fuse - why do you need to trave all your wiring? Just replace the fuse and it should be right.

Heb

not that simple. if it blew once it'll probably blow again. i think i know what it is now anyway. stupid factory HU loom

Must just be me not understanding what you are doing.

You said you blew the fuse taking out your parkers - and it blew because of a faulty headunit loom??

Fuses only blow when they recevie too much current. So how do you blow one with a faulty headunit loom while removing your parkers. And why would you assume it would keep happening - unless you intend on constantly removing your parkers?

Maybe i read something wrong,

Heb
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EDIT: I re-read and re-read your post - and NOW i get it. I was thinking wtf before - But obiously I DID read it wrong.

Won't change the post though - cbf ;)

How and why was your sterio wired up to your dash and its instrumentation?

Now I feel your pain :p Unlucky bro - although wring up things is always fun - aslong as you have the time :p

Heb

found the problem. stock HU has a wire that provides instrumentation lighting to the HU. when you turn the lights on its live. i didnt wrap it up when i put everything back together.

it was fine till i turned my lights on last night and went round a corner a bit fast. wire must have touched metal and pop. out went my lights.

Ahh I get ya. Well it's good to see that you fixed it - or atleast located the problem.

The thing that got me was that I could not locate what was wrong with it.

Heb

yeah i know the feeling. fixed the s**tbox pulsar my parents had sitting in the garage. stopped working like 5 yrs ago. found the problem.. large stone in the fuel tank. how the hell it got in the i dont know, but it blocked the fuel line so the engine would cut :(

took me 2 days to find the little sucker, only found it cause i thought the in tank pump might be had it..