Jasdip

Hey guys,

I keep blowing out all the amplifiers that get installed in my car, luckly I bought 5 year warranty with my system...but its still a pain when an amp has to get sent for repairs or watever...They keep telling me to put in a high output alternator...does anyone know where I can get a good high output alternator at a good price?? Also, do you guys think this will solve the problem?

This is what I currently have...

2005 Civic Coupe (stock alternator and battery)

2 12" kaption SPL-1200 subs (600rms/1200peak each)
1 Pheonix Gold Tantrum 1200.1 amp
1 Phoenix Gold 1 farad capacitor
1 Pioneer Premiere DEH-P8MP head unit

Thanks!!

mneuls

When you "blew" the amp, did you check the fuses inside the amp to see if they could just be changed? What resistance are you subs running at, is the amp stable to run at that resistance? A new alternator should have no effect on blowing an amp. running an amp with insufficient power doesen't really cause those types of problems. most likely you just need to re-wire your subs.

Jasdip

The system is wired at 2 ohms...and all the amps that I have used are stable at either 2 ohms or 1 ohm.....By the way, both subs are dual 2 ohm voice coil subs

christmaspie

That amp has an 80A fuse. The stock alternator is rated for 70A output. I can't say for sure why your amp is blowing but I know the above is an issue.

On a side note the owner's manual for the amp states it shouldn't be operated in lower than a two ohm load. I'm guessing the subs are series/parallel'd back to two ohms so that probably isn't your problem.

Jasdip

I checked the fuses on the amps, they were never blown on any of the amps...

Jasdip

Do you guys think wiring my system at 4ohms instead of 2ohms would solve my problem?? I know it will reduce the output, but will it stop the amps from blowing out? I'd rather have a bit less output then lose my amp for 6-8 weeks each time it blows!!

hwt101

iTrader: (12)

www.4alterstart.com i love my alt that i bought from them it has been great.

eye_see_you

iTrader: (13)

what is your fuse rated at or near the battery? Have you isolated that there are no wiring issues anywhere ?

The reason I say this is I was running a Jl 300/4 Jl 500/1 and various other items with no issues ever to my stock alternator besides that I installed a Optima yellow top

_unclejuice

iTrader: (8)

are they 4 ohm subs?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i think somethings wired wrong. people have run 3+ amps on our stock charging system without problems. there are some crazy guys running well over 1000wrms

_unclejuice

iTrader: (8)

i run 1000 rms all day. i keep blowing altenators. for the amp to keep blowing your impedance has to be below what your amp is rated for. you need to check how they are wired. if your subs are 4 ohm dvc, you could either have them wired for 4 ohms if its series/parallel or 1 ohm if its parallel/parallel.

TransformedBG

iTrader: (6)

DO you have a capacitor on your system?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

shouldnt matter, cap just reduces apparent dimming, nothing more. if anything, it will rob additional alternator power.

TransformedBG

iTrader: (6)

Ever heard of under driving an amplifier's?

Jasdip

eye_see_you:
There are two fuses installed near the battery, they are 80 amps each and have their own connection from the battery...they then are saudered into one connection (after the fuses) that goes to the amp (I can take pics if that doesn't make sense)

_unclejuice:
They are dual 2ohm voice coil subs (2 Kaption SPL-1200s)

TransformedBG:
Yes, I have a capacitor on the system, it is a Pheonix Gold 1 farad capacitor...and no i haven't heard of under driving an amp, i assume it has somethin to do with underpowering it..?

In addition to that, it is a tantrum 1200.1 amp..and i've heard it puts out about 1400watts (i dont know how accurate that number is)...the amp is 2 ohm stable, and the system is wired at 2ohms...therefore, i shouldn't be blowing it because the impedence is below what it is suppose to be...unless it can still dropped under 2 ohms with this set up...if that is the case, how would i eliminate that problem??

Thanks a lot guys!!

_unclejuice

iTrader: (8)

if they are series/parallel they are running at 2 ohms. if they are parallel/parallel they are at 0.5 ohms. you might want to double check the wiring.

christmaspie

Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to disconnect the speakers at the amp and take a resistance reading with a meter if you can. If that comes in around two ohms I would be leaning toward a wiring issue, either a ground problem or maybe even something with the "soldered fuse" setup of your power wire. We should get pictures of that if we can. You might need to do some voltage measurements at the amp to verify that is/isn't the problem.

civic-driver

iTrader: (4)

i would guess your wiring is in parallel and you have th .5 ohm resistance. do you have all the positives wired to one channel and negatives the same? try hooking up one of the subs. if you have it in parallel that should hit the 1 ohm load, i doubt the amp could handle a half ohm very few can... i have a 900rms system and my alternator has held up for almost 5 months... like he said ^ check resistance and see what it runs with one hooked up then add the other...

Jasdip

I don't really know how to do all the tests with the meter, I can probably borrow a meter off a friend if you guys can describe exactly how to do the tests (I don't have the amp right now since it's in for repair if that might be an issue)...Here is a pic of the subs and wiring...and i believe both of the positives go into the amp's positive and both negatives go into the amp's negative...this SHOULD be wired at 2 ohms..

civic-driver

iTrader: (4)

ok i believe that is wired in series. im not familiar with how the resistance would work out. I was under the impression that series was bad for DVC speakers... something with the differences in voltage to the coil... i duno second hand knowledge from a few years ago. either way you should check the resistance... change the meter to the resistance setting usually marked with the omega symbol and use that to check. did you set this up your self or did you have a pro do it? hope i helped

Jasdip

It was professionally installed by Audio Video Unlimited...now i'm wondering what "professional" means to them:|

Jasdip

A while ago, one of my subwoofers blew out (voice coil blew)...my car was filled wit smoke etc. anyways...that sub was replaced under warranty; however, do you think since both of my subs are wired in series that the other one that wasn't replaced would be damaged as well.. and is now causing the amplifier to blow?? Someone told me that at certain frequencies the voice coil in the other sub might be vibrating the wrong way and shorting something and causing the amp to blow...could this be true? Personally, it makes sense to me that if one were to get totalled, the other one was very close to being totalled as well but just survived but may still have issues...if there is any way to prove this, i may be able to get that one replaced too..

05reverb

iTrader: (1)

in the pic, they are connected in series/parralelle, wich gives you a 2 ohm load. and your amp can handle that, so thats not the problem.....you should show us that fuse thing your talking about and show us how your cap is wired and is your ground any good?

JMUCivic03

Any update? If your box is one single large box with no divider, then you could have possibly harmed the other speaker. If one sub suddenly dies in this type of situation, it can change the output and specs of the other sub so drastically that you can hurt the remaining speaker. As for the whole voice coil vibration thing....if you have it wired correctly, both subsubs should be hitting in harmony and should not adversly affect the other in any way that it would not affect itself. In other words, subs vibrate...a lot...and if there is damage to the frame or coils from simple vibration then you need to perform a very complex and time consuming procedure: 1st, take the sub out of the enclosure. 2nd, throw it in nearest dumpster. 3rd buy a better sub. Again, im not sure how everything is wired up, but if the first sub died completly and caused some type of surge of excess power to the remaining sub, it could have harmed it either mechanically or thermally. In turn, one or two bad subs could cause a drop in impedence which could be f*ing up your amps. It could also be your wiring that is causing a problem as well. From what I read you have 2 fused wires leading into one soldered connection? That really does not make too much sense? Can you post some pics to clarify?

darklegacy540

iTrader: (1)

Transformed: What would a capacitor have to do with this? If adding one will help the situation any, please educate me.

JMU has a good point about the box.. Might wanna check that situation out.

Okay.. if this was all professionally installed, didn't they take a look at it? They should be offering a lifetime warranty on the labor... I would think they would want to figure out what was causing your problem just as much, if not more than you just so they don't have to see you in their shop every month and a half!

Also, no wiring in series is fine even for DVC subs.. as long as the total impedence isn't under two ohms.. and even then, your subs will be fine.. It's just that most amps will go into thermal protection if the subs are wired under two ohms.

Jasdip

darklegacy540: I do have lifetime install warranty, but when i'm amp dies...all they do is take it out and ship it off for repair...they don't ever try to change up the wiring or upgrade anything...anytime i suggest somethin (such as the "big 3", they give me a price that it will cost me) I don't understand why i have to pay to have it fixed when it's lifetime install warranty and 5 years extended warranty...they do take any steps necessary to fix the problem at no cost to me..

Civic03: I think the sub that wasn't replaced is possibly damaged in one way or another and may be causing the amps to blow...however, how can I prove this to them since they won't want to replace it without any evidence?

Also, where should I be looking for the ground wires? I'll take pics of whatever you guys think will help solve the problem and post them up...I'll start with the fuse layout and the one ground wire that i know that they "upgraded" since I know where that is...

mneuls

your ground wires. one goes from the battery to the chassis to the block. another goes from the block to the chassis, i think that is it. Also I will mention that I had to run a ground direct from the trunk to the battery to get a good ground. for some reason, the ground to the trunk was slightly resistant 3+/-ohms I'm running 1350Watts with the stock alternator no problem. It would be nice to get a new one though. A cap didn't do much for me it helped with the dimming lights a bit but all around, i was a bit disappointed.
I don't know it this was mentioned, But I had a problem with my amp for a while cuz I had the input sensitivity set too low you might want to double check the voltage output of your deck to the input sensitivity on the amp.

Jasdip

Hey guys, here are the pics of the fuse setup (there is an 80A fuse in each holder) and the ground wire that they told me that they "upgraded" last time...







The ground wire "upgrade"

christmaspie

I have concerns about the two 4AWG into one but I don't think that's related to your problem. There's no question the subs are wired individually in series to themselves. We can't tell if the two subs are paralleled together for sure from the picture. If you can get a shot of the amplifier and it's connections we could confirm it is in parallel. The subs will most likely be in parallel but after seeing what they did with the power wire some crazy wiring config wouldn't completely surprise me.

I'm gonna go back to the DMM to make sure you aren't having vc problems. So you say you need a little help with that, here's what I got. You need a meter, two leads: red and black. Go to the connections at the amp for the subs, unhook them. If they are in parallel you will go red lead to the red sub wires, black lead to the black sub wire. Set the meter to resistance (ohms, upside down U, greek letter omega). You should have around 2 ohms. Anything else requires further investigation.

If the two subs aren't in parallel (red with red to positive, black with black to negative) none of the above applies so just take a picture of the wiring so we can figure out what's going on.

Also, upgrading that negative batt terminal to ground is a better ground "upgrade" in my opinion than the one they did.

Jasdip

I'll take some pics of the amp side tomrrow if I get a chance but there's no amp right now since it's in for repair, but i'm pretty sure that both red wires come together and connect into the amp's positive connection and both black wires come together and connect into the amp's negative connection