My Bose Sub woofer

[thahman]

For some reason my sub woofer turns on and off, constantly. I thought maybe it was overheating but even when it's lightly playing music that doesn't have a lot of bass, it goes off, then comes on... no consistency, completely random.

Does anyone know what it could possibly be? I checked the connections and nothing is loose.

[pfarmer]

For some reason my sub woofer turns on and off, constantly. I thought maybe it was overheating but even when it's lightly playing music that doesn't have a lot of bass, it goes off, then comes on... no consistency, completely random.

Does anyone know what it could possibly be? I checked the connections and nothing is loose.

Not sure of the sub in an 03. You said you checked the connections, was this just on the speaker or the amp. If you did not check the amp side then I would do that.

Otherwise if you can borrow a meter you can hook it up across the woofer and watch the amps output to see if it is cutting out or the woofer. If the woofer then you may have a little work to do if you need to match a replacement speakers impedance.

Do you have one or two woofers? A 2005 for example lists two from what I can see. If not then it is showing a dual voice coil setup which some subs have. If you have 3 or 4 wires going to the sub then it may be such an animal. The speaker can function with a faulty voice coil on one side while functioning for the other.

Perry

[thahman]

Yeah, my car only has one sub, but there are four wires going to it. I'll check all the connections going to the amp to see - but I can try using the voltometer.

[pfarmer]

Yeah, my car only has one sub, but there are four wires going to it. I'll check all the connections going to the amp to see - but I can try using the voltometer.

Keep in mind that typically these voice coils are separate electrically when testing.

Now since this may be the case you can also make a decision of using one or two subs with compatible impedances.

Perry

[dougiefresh7988]

if the sub keeps going on and off it can be pretty much only a few things a loose connections somewhere in the car makes the cents but the head unit may be messed up the bose systems are known for failure from what i was told. mine randoml stopped playing cd 1 day for no resaon at all u may have a loose ground wire in the stero or behind the dash check for that or ur sub may be toased but i dought that .

[pfarmer]

if the sub keeps going on and off it can be pretty much only a few things a loose connections somewhere in the car makes the cents but the head unit may be messed up the bose systems are known for failure from what i was told. mine randoml stopped playing cd 1 day for no resaon at all u may have a loose ground wire in the stero or behind the dash check for that or ur sub may be toased but i dought that .

Are you using a phone to post?

In any case I believe there is a greater chance of problems with the sub, the amp, or connection between them, than the head unit unless something like a loudness control is playing games with it. The reason I state this is he doesn't indicate a problem with anything else other than the sub cutting out. From what I see from the design of the system that the signals for the sub is derived entirely from the signals for the two channels. If a problem was present in the head unit then there would be a good chance that it would affect the other two channels as well.

Perry

[dougiefresh7988]

well i dont know how the system is layed out the car companies do some funky s*** with these cars sometimes i just trying to make suggestions.

[pfarmer]

well i dont know how the system is layed out the car companies do some funky s*** with these cars sometimes i just trying to make suggestions.

The best I can tell on the 2005 is that the Bose amp is supplied with the audio signals for right and left channel. From there the amp itself outputs a signal to a left and a right speaker, that is what the schematic shows. Now to the best of my knowledge there is only one woofer. I would then deduce that means that the one woofer is a dual voice coil woofer.

Perry

[simplewon]

I've tried this cardboard fix with temporary luck. I tried deox with termporary luck. I then resoldered the relay to the board thinking a broken solder connection. The solder connections looked good prior. Still did not fix the problem. I could thump the relay and the sub would work for a moment or two.
Fix: Replace the amp or...
Replace the relay on the board or...
Bypass the relay(short the two contacts that normally short when the relay is energized) or...
As I did. I removed the amp then removed the metal shield then I took a small pocket knife and pried the grey plastic cover carful not to break the small relay within. The relay contacts are simply dirty. It is not a conventional relay with somewhat exposed contacts I could not clean them with a contact burnisher or small file. I used deox. Radio sells it. A small aerosol can of "deox-it". It is a contact cleaner. Just douse the relay with a quick spray. Leave the plastic cover in the trash can. Leave the metal shield from around the amp circuit board off to keep the relay from shorting to it and your done. Full time non cutting out bass.


Update....

Mine quit again. This time I removed the relay and bypassed it. The relay has battery power to it full time. The audio head unit energizes the relay turning on the amp. Bypassing would put power to the amp full time. I replaced the amps fuse, number 17 15amp fuse with a blown fuse, tied the non power side of the fuse to the non power side of the cigar lighter fuse and changed the cigar lighter fuse from a 10 to a 20amp since I also power another accessory from that fuse with a wire wrapped on the non power side of the cigar fuse. The cigar fuse is switched from the ignition so now my amp only comes on with the ignition switch. Here are a few pictures of the relay removed, the bypass wire and the jumper on fuse 17. If I had left a good fuse in fuse 17 fuse holder the amp would be powered full time and could drain the battery. The jumper pic is a bit blurry but there are five pins that went to the relay, three on the left, two on the right, the bottom right goes to the center left. A simple fix.

[pfarmer]

I've had my zr for nearly 2 years now, purchased with 36k on it, now has 95k. I've taken the sub and sub amp out twice simply reconnecting the connectors to make it not cut out(sub quits). It only repairs for a day or so. I've used Deox when working with electronics in the past, requested a bottle from a couple of friends who still work with the electronics company where I worked for 13yrs. Trouble is that was 10 years ago and these two always claim to be out when I see them from time to time. Told my oldest son about the trouble, he said I could get it from radio shack. Sure enough,

Many companies go with a certain 'green' vendor so they in fact my be out of a supply they squirreled away.

I used to maintain a stash of 'Little Wonder' which worked great but was on everyone's bad list.

Perry

[thahman]

I've tried this cardboard fix with temporary luck. I tried deox with termporary luck. I then resoldered the relay to the board thinking a broken solder connection. The solder connections looked good prior. Still did not fix the problem. I could thump the relay and the sub would work for a moment or two.
Fix: Replace the amp or...
Replace the relay on the board or...
Bypass the relay(short the two contacts that normally short when the relay is energized) or...
As I did. I removed the amp then removed the metal shield then I took a small pocket knife and pried the grey plastic cover carful not to break the small relay within. The relay contacts are simply dirty. It is not a conventional relay with somewhat exposed contacts I could not clean them with a contact burnisher or small file. I used deox. Radio sells it. A small aerosol can of "deox-it". It is a contact cleaner. Just douse the relay with a quick spray. Leave the plastic cover in the trash can. Leave the metal shield from around the amp circuit board off to keep the relay from shorting to it and your done. Full time non cutting out bass.


Update....

Mine quit again. This time I removed the relay and bypassed it. The relay has battery power to it full time. The audio head unit energizes the relay turning on the amp. Bypassing would put power to the amp full time. I replaced the amps fuse, number 17 15amp fuse with a blown fuse, tied the non power side of the fuse to the non power side of the cigar lighter fuse and changed the cigar lighter fuse from a 10 to a 20amp since I also power another accessory from that fuse with a wire wrapped on the non power side of the cigar fuse. The cigar fuse is switched from the ignition so now my amp only comes on with the ignition switch. Here are a few pictures of the relay removed, the bypass wire and the jumper on fuse 17. If I had left a good fuse in fuse 17 fuse holder the amp would be powered full time and could drain the battery. The jumper pic is a bit blurry but there are five pins that went to the relay, three on the left, two on the right, the bottom right goes to the center left. A simple fix.

Wow you're clever! I actually found a used one on eBay for 40 bucks and it worked great for about almost 2.5 years. My heavy techno beats must put wear on the relay because it just today started turning off. I was waiting for the day. Must be a common problem with this Bose subwoofer. Haven't decided whether to buy another from eBay or try your method.


Appreciate it!