AMP

[bvicklund]

I just installed the square 15 solo and when my sub hits my amp light goes out and then my sub wont hit untell i turn my music down any ideas why?? should i up grade and get a new amp and if so any suggestions on what kind, how many watts and so on i have a 600 watt kennwood P.O.S thanx for any help

 

[PekingMan]

Is the protection light coming on? My guess is your putting your amp into a protection mode because it can't produce enough juice. That, or its wired up wrong. Putting a capacitor in may help. In terms of an upgrade, MTX and Rockford Fosgate are amps that I have had great experiences with.

 

[leenjen]

what gauge power and ground wire do you have?
it might be too thin. and what impedance are the voice coils on your solo baric? and how do you have it wired (series or parallel)? if you have it wired in parallel, then that is probably the biggest problem. dual 4 ohm coils will make a 2 ohm mono load (i dont think your kenwood amp is stable to 2 ohm mono). if it has dual 2 ohm coil, then parallel will make a 1 ohm mono load. that is way too low of an impedance for your amp. hopefully your sub has dual 2 ohm coils and you wired it in series. that will make a 4 ohm mono load, which is what your amp was meant to operate at. if it has dual 4 ohm coils and is in series, it will still work but wont be very efficient. you will only see about half of the rated power @ 8 ohms mono.

 

[InS0mNiAc]

3 words, too much power. it sounds like ur sub is maxin out and thatz why it turns off, ur maxin out both ur amp and sub, or maybe just ur amp, but i agree with pekingman about you puttin your amp into protection mode.

 

[leenjen]

Originally posted by InS0mNiAc
3 words, too much power. it sounds like ur sub is maxin out and thatz why it turns off, ur maxin out both ur amp and sub, or maybe just ur amp

that doesnt make sense.

 

[InS0mNiAc]

ya it does
when i max out power through my amp sometimes my whole system turns of for like 10 seconds to keep my subs from blowing

 

[leenjen]

i've been doing installs for over 7 years. i have done many high power installs.

what is happening is either due to thin power wire, which causes too much current or not enough power to reach the amp. or incorrect subwoofer wiring (wrong impedance).

sometimes my whole system turns of for like 10 seconds to keep my subs from blowing

the amp doesnt know how much power the sub can handle. it will not shut off so it doesnt blow the subwoofer. your amp is either too hot or the pwr wire is too thin or the sub's impedance is too low.

i use high current amps in my cars with unregulated power supplies. that means with more voltage i will get a lot more power. if i run 16 volts to the amp which is rated @ 12v, it will put out a lot more than the rated power. my amps have never shut down because of too much power. also, i give the amps a clean 5 volt signal so the gains are all the way down. i can play music for hours and the amps will not even be warm. they dont have to work hard to put out all that power.

 

[InS0mNiAc]

i can also play music for hours without a problem, but lets say i'm playing a song with a lot of bass in it, sometimes my system will shut down for 5 seconds and then continue....why is this then?

 

[leenjen]

then that is most likely your charging system. you system might be drawing more power then your alternator can supply. if it only happens occaisionally and on deep bass, then a capacitor could end your troubles.

here's a decent capacitor:
Dead Link Removed

 

[leenjen]

here's a cap with digital voltmeter if you like them better:
Dead Link Removed

 

[bvicklund]

im running 8 guage which i know i need to change, and on my sub its wired by the four connectors on the back to both coils neg. and pos. and then i have a seperate coming from both neg and pos to the back of my box. on my amp theres a red light and when i turn in up loud enough the light will shut off and then my sub wont hit i can turn it up to like 15

 

[leenjen]

do you know how many ohms each voice coil is on your subwoofer?

the way you should have it wired is:

one + terminal on the sub to the + on the amp
one - terminal on the sub to the other + on the sub
the other - terminal on the sub to the - on the amp.

hopefully you have a dual 2 ohm sub. this will give you a 4 ohm mono impedance which will be the most efficient.
if the sub has dual 4 ohm coils, it will still work, but the amp will only put out half the power because it will be 8 ohms mono. if you amp still shuts down, then it's cooked from runnind too low of an impedance and going into protect too many times.

 

[Yng_pnk]

It might be just pulling to much from your battey. and when you turn it down your alt is betting it back to normal , then you juice it again, Id listen to leenjen though hes a god when it comes to this department. I used to use a 8 gauge wire, its dangerout if your using a huge load like that can you say "FIRE HAZZARD?" Mine got hot enough to melt the wire down to and completely fuse my fuse so when it blew it didnt blew you know? haha think about it.

 

[DocVijay]

Manny amps have aprotection mode to keep the AMP from being damaged either from underpowering or too low impedence. It has nothing to do with your subs (weel the imp. does). It means your amp is trying to protect itself from damage. It doesn't sound like it's heat, as some amps turn off when too hot. Read the manual. I'm sure it'll tell you what the light means.

 

[XXXplorer_nc]

:redexp: There is one aspect everyone seemed to overlook......THE GROUND!!!!! If you do not have a very good ground on your amp it will cut out with the increase in power! If its a brand new sub...brand new amp....even running as small as a 10 guage wire it will not keep a amp from running...but a loose or faulty ground (paint, grease, etc) will !!! I personally run 2 guage wire to my capacitor and 4 guage wire from it to my amps ( one 600 watt and one 1200 watt). Hope this helps ya!!

XXXplorer NC

 

[Brian's98XLT]

It sounds like you have your amp bridged. Your voice coils are in parallel and if you have the dual 2 ohm voice coil your running it at a 1 ohm load, not good for a Kenwood amp. If you have the dual 4 ohm voice coil you are at a 2 ohm load on a bridged Kewwood, also not a good thing. The only way to run it would be having 2 sets of wires coming out of the box and wiring 1 voice coil to each channel.
If this is a none Excelon amp 8 gauge is more than enough for it.
As far as the post on using 8 gauge and having it melt with out the fuse blowing, well the fuse must have been to large.

 

[leenjen]

Originally posted by Brian's98XLT
The only way to run it would be having 2 sets of wires coming out of the box and wiring 1 voice coil to each channel.

actually he could wire the coils in series and still run it bridged mono. either way the amp will see an 8 ohm load, but this way will be mono.

 

[Brian's98XLT]

Yeah he could do that but then you cut the power in half and it would be the same as running it in stereo.
But I was goinig off how he said he had it wired.