Amp Overheats

[RatedR]

Yo People~! alright, this is my setup:sony explod receiver300w power acoustic ampkenwood 10" sub in a slant-end box

Now I've got an 8 gauge wire for my power wire w/o an AGU Fuse or fuse holder. I just run it direct. I also only have an 16 gauge wire for my ground. I dont know why, but every now and then, the darn thing will overheat and shut off for quite a while. I was considering the fact that the ground wire is so thin would make this happen, but I just want other opinions. Should I also invest in the fuse? Thanks guys~!

-R

[Former_240_s14]

Could be, but where is you gain on the amp set up......

[RatedR]

gain is on the backside, so I can tweak it from the trunk looking inward. I'm not sure if that's the problem though.....

[Former_240_s14]

gain is on the backside, so I can tweak it from the trunk looking inward. I'm not sure if that's the problem though.....

I didn't mean where in terms of location is your gain, I mean where do you have it set at....if you are running it too high and have the impedance missmatched your amp will over heat, even at 3/4 tottaly up.

[RatedR]

ohh, I think I set my gain around half way up. I know other setups with their gains almost up to full but they still dont overheat....dunno....can you explain how their setup doesnt overheat and my setup does?

[SmithSR]

Either the ground/wiring is bad, which you should be able to fix...or the amp has bad internals, which means invest in a high quality amp because you get what you pay for, and why go cheap on the device that puts power to your speakers??

[Former_240_s14]

ohh, I think I set my gain around half way up. I know other setups with their gains almost up to full but they still dont overheat....dunno....can you explain how their setup doesnt overheat and my setup does?

You need to find the impedence of the subwoofer your running (i.e. 4ohm 8ohm, etc etc.)

Then find the impedence your amp runs at rms....

if there is a mismatch, your amp will run too hot and shot off....

If you need anymore help just post.....:help

[bigE]

Your Amp is clipping, it goes into a protection mode to shut itself off, before destroying itself. You have a couple of problems,

First, you need to have an inline fuse, to protect your amp, it sucks having to go buy a new amp because you fried it by not running an inline fuse, they generally aren't too exspensive, you can pic one up at your local stereo shop for a couple of bucks.

Second, your ground wire generally needs to be the same size as your power wire, plus 16 gauge, I run 12 gauge speaker wire.

Third if you want our help, we need to know model numbers, what model amp and what model sub. Most likely you have a 2 channel amp, probably not stable in mono at 2 ohms, you also most likely have a single 4 ohm voice coil sub, so when you you bridge the amp to run the sub in mono, your cutting the impedance of the sub in half when bridging it so the amp sees a 2 ohm load, which your amp most likely can't handle.

Sometimes you can run an amp in mono at 2 ohms thats not meant to be, but if you are, your gonna wanna add an inline fuse, bigger ground wire, and cut the gain down on the amp. Find out the model of both the amp and sub, and also the impedance of the sub, and we'll be able to help you out a little better.

Eric

[RatedR]

Cool, I'll get you guys model #s soon as I get home~! Thanks for the info guys~!

[RatedR]

Man, I couldnt find the specs for the amp or the sub. Here's what I do know though:

300w 2 channel bridgable Power Acoustic Neon amp (purple neon)Kenwood Single VC 10" Sub (Silver)-Specs say it can handle 600w

Other than that, I dont have a clue. I bought the amp on ebay just to have a system while I drive, I'm going to upgrade to 2 10" Alpine Type-Rs paired up with the Alpine V-drives or JL amps. I'll be running around 800-1000w on those. But anyway, that's besides the point.

Big-E: You got it bro. That's the setup I'm using right now. Didnt think the inline fuse would've mattered since it was low power, but you say I should run at least 16 gauge speaker wire???? That's already what I'm running last time I checked....

[Former_240_s14]

You didn't give us the impedence on the sub or amp.....

[bigE]

I've checked out the amps and sub, and your most likely running a 2ohm mono load, which the amp can't handle, so it clips. If you're gonna be changing eveyrthing out soon, just get you an 8 gauge amp kit, wiht the inline fuse, rewire it all, turn the gian down, and don't push it as hard until you swap systems?

Eric

[Sygerwulf]

You deffinately need an 8 gauge ground wire. Putting a 16 gauge ground wire on a 300 watt amp is like putting a size small condom on a man with a 12 inch johnson.

[Former_240_s14]

You deffinately need an 8 gauge ground wire. Putting a 16 gauge ground wire on a 300 watt amp is like putting a size small condom on a man with a 12 inch johnson.

I agree Syger that 16 is too small, but I TRULY doubt that its a true 300 watt amplifier............

[RatedR]

Well, just bought a few more stuff...3' 8 AWG Ground WireAGU Fuse holder40 amp fuse60 amp fusebatter connector

i've done the wiring, sadly, I should've invested in an amp wiring kit in the first place~!!!!! (Damn store ripped me off $23 just for the stuff above~!) I've paid an estimated total of $50 just for wiring alone. Let this be lesson to you kids, its cheaper to get the amp wiring kit than to go piece by piece...

Results: The amp doesn't overheat anymore, and the bass is more apparent and crisp. I knew in the first place that the ground wire wasnt going to hold up, but I just didnt bother cause its just a beater system. I've got the amp half way up and it's knocking harder than before. I dont think it'll go into protect anymore, but I'll let you guys know wassup. Thanks for all the info and sorry for the lack of specs, I really appreciate it~!

[bigE]

Sounds good.

Eric

[RatedR]

Quick update: the damn thing shut off again~!$H!t man~! The only thing I can think of right now is NOT to bridge the amp and make sure that I run 12 gauge wires to the sub....AAAGGGGGHHHHHHH~!

PS - What did the pirate say when he got his leg chopped off?AAARRRRRGGGHHHHHH~!

[Former_240_s14]

Your impedence is still off like I have been saying the whole time man..................

[bigE]

Yeah the impedance is running at 2 ohms, it should be at 4 for that amp, some amps can handle it even though they specify it won't, I had an ESX 12 dual 4 ohm voice coil running to a Kenwood 827 300x1 at 4 ohm mono, but I was running it at 1 ohm, and I had it that way, gain 3/4 up and running it hard as hell for over 2 years befor eit gave me any problems with clipping. So some might work, others won't. Since it won't handle, either run it off one channel, which you probably won't like, or go buy another 4 ohm 10, run the in a series, then bridge the amp. But still, we don't even know the impedance of the 10 you already have. I'd say before you try anything else, check the box, or look at the bottom of the sub, and it should tell you the impedance, or the ohm load of the sub.

Eric

[RatedR]

I just got done using a multimeter, I measured the ohms at 4....Dunno what else could be goin wrong. How do I measure impedence?

[RatedR]

Hey guys, got the specs on the sub from crutchfield.com....Here ya go~!Impedance 4 ohms Cone Material Pearl Mica IMPP Surround Material Urethane foam Sealed Box Volume (cu ft) 0.8 - 1.25 Ported Box Volume (cu ft) 0.8 - 1.5 Port diameter (inches) 3 Port length (inches) 5 Free-Air No Dual Voice Coil No Sensitivity 91dB Frequency Response 28 - 0.8k Hz RMS Power Range (Watts) 35-300 Peak Power Handling (Watts) 600 Top Mount Depth (inches) 4 1/2 Bottom Mount Depth (inches) 5 Cutout Diameter or Length (inches) 9 3/16 Vas (liters) 41.7 Fs (Hz) 35 Qts 0.83 Xmax (millimeters) 12 Parts Warranty 1 Year Labor Warranty 1 Year

PS - Ohh yeah, I just figured out what impedence was. DO'H~!

[RatedR]

Here are the specs for the amps the company (Power Acoustik) that made mine. I dont see my model #, but lets say we can presume that they build their stuff similarly enough that it wouldnt matter. Keep in mind I have the 2 channel 300 watt.

MODEL STEREO MONO 1 OHM600-2 1 Ohm 2 Ohm 1 OHM1200-2 1 Ohm 2 Ohm 1 OHM2400-2 1 Ohm 2 Ohm 1 OHM1200-4 1 Ohm 2 Ohm F12X-300 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-400 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-520 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-300 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-820 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-1200 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F12X-1600 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F14X-600 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F14X-800 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G120-2 2 Ohm N/A G320-2 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G420-2 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G540-2 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G840-2 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G1500-2 2 Ohm 4 Ohm G240-4 2 Ohm N/A G640-4 2 Ohm 4 Ohm MODEL STEREO MONO G840-4 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU280-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU380-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU500-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU800-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU1100-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU560-4X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm VU800-4X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm 2APC-1400 2 Ohm 4 Ohm 2APC-2200 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F14X-600 2 Ohm 4 Ohm F14X-800 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK120-2 2 Ohm N/A HK280-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK380-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK500-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK800-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK1100-2X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK240-4 2 Ohm N/A HK560-4X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm HK800-4X 2 Ohm 4 Ohm

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[Sygerwulf]

"I agree Syger that 16 is too small, but I TRULY doubt that its a true 300 watt amplifier"

Heh, yeah true. My mind was stuck thinking of the 300watt rockford amp that I just helped my brother install.

Hmmm, how long is your ground wire? Did you bolt it directly to the frame of the car, and did you sand/scrape the connecting spot completely? Too long of a ground wire can cause overheating too. And I'm guessing that's 300watts max output right? That means they're going to give it a rated rms of around 150-175watts, and with a cheaper company amp it's going to be loosing close to half of that wattage. It's possible(although highly unlikely) that your sub could be pulling to hard for the amp to facilitate. I really doubt this and I believe that somewhere you have it wired around, and like former_240 said you impedence is off. How do I know this? Because I've had 2 12" cerwin-vega DVC's and 2 Rockford 12" subs (a total of 4) running off of 1, that's right, 1 el-crappo 300watt(hah!) Jensen amp. It's all in the wiring

[RatedR]

My ground wire is 3 feet long. Is that too long? I did mount the gound directly to the chassy, its in the trunk, on a bolt somewhere....lately, with the gain on half, the sub's been nice and the amps been cool. Should I still shorten the ground wire? How short should a ground wire be?

[bigE]

The amp most likely isn't a 300 watt mono amp, it says it runs 300 at 4ohm in mono, which means they probably wouldn't reccomend bridging it to a 4ohm sub, run the sub off 1 channel, the way it should be, and see what it does, if it cuts off, then it's in the wiring, if not, it's just the amp.

Eric

[RatedR]

So that means I cant bridge it to run the 175 watts that the 300 watt amp should be pushing? Cause if its in single channel, that'll only push out 150 rated watts, so thats roughly 75 watts per channel. Right?

[bigE]

When you run the sub off one channel, you will get whatever that amp puts out per channel at 4 ohms. I'd just run it that way, it's gonna hit harder the other way, but run it the right way and see if it clips, you might have a bad amp.

Eric

[Sygerwulf]

And shorten your ground wire as short as you can. The less distance from the amp to the grounding point the better.

[JESTER]

Yo Rated,You got off cheap on the wiring. I paid over $80 when I installed all my stuff like four years ago.

And I had the same problem when I originally bought my subs. I was running the amp bridged at an ohm load it couldn't handle.

[RatedR]

Well, I could've gotten an amp kit for $30~! I had to pay $50 in total so far. Seems I just cant give the amp a HUGE load to deliver to the sub. I'm not sure if its the sub making the amp clip, or if its the amp clipping first...right now I just have it on medium knock (gain half way up) and its doing its job. Not bad for a ghetto system that'll be replaced soon.