Why is my amp smoking?????

[truckinat15]

So i get my new sub and amp and build a simple box for it but when it comes to wiring i suck. So instead of trying to do it myself and messing something up I took it to fry's and had them do it for $50. They do it with 8 gauge but it seems that they did a good job. Well im bumping really good for about 45 min and then im bumping about 1/2 the max and the subs just stop and smoke comes from my amp. So i take it back to frys and talk to the guy (he seemed like he knew what he was talking about) but by the time i get to frys my amp is working fine again????? So he checks it out and tells me i need 4 gauge (thanks for saying that before you installed it) i already figured i needed bigger wire but thought maybe 8 gauge would be fine. So i leave frys thinking that everything is fine and i get almost home and the same damn thing happens. I dont get why the amp would smoke like that but then work perfectly fine 10 min later. Maybe you guys can help. Thanks

 

[white96x]

what brand of amp is it?

 

[99explorer5.0]

same question as above ... what brand amp and speakers you running? Exact model numbers would be a good help also

 

[BigDave]

Just my opinion, but smoke means fire and fire in your truck can't be a good thing, especially coming from your amp. I would leave the amp off until you get an idea of what is going on with it.

Just my .02, but I can't help you figure out what is going on, I am not an audio expert.

Dave

 

[truckinat15]

The amp is an audiobahn A2800E and the sub is the AW1500x.

 

[white96x]

i have never dealt with audiobahn anything so i'm not sure on the quality of their products but your amp shouldn't just start smoking for no reason. when i used to have a crunch usa 1000 watt amp-my amp would work fine on low volume but when i would turn the volume up the amp would smoke and go to protect mode. i took it apart and the reason for this was that one of the coils inside had burnt out-but if your amp is new i highly doubt this is the problem sorry i can't help.

 

[falconace]

I have audiobahn subs and an audiobahn amp for my highs and have never had any problems and don't know of anyone else that has had problems with audiobahn either. What gauge wire r u running from the amp to the sub.

 

[99explorer5.0]

My suggestion to you is to not use the amp at all or carry a fire estinguisher with you at all times. My last amp i had started smoking and then all hell broke lose. It was like a spot welder inside my amp with fire shooting out of every vent hole. Luckily my friend noticed what was going on and i pulled over and literally ripped it out of my car. Its amazing what a little adrenaline in the blood will do.

Smoke with car audio is not good. It is hard to say exactly what the problem is. How do you have your subs wired up? If you have that amp bridged to two powerful subs they could be taking too much power from your amp. Did you wire them up in series or parellel. That will affect the ohms rating on the subs. They could possibly bring the ohms down to a level that the amp cant handle.

The fact that it smoked and you turned it off and turned it on later and it worked fine just means that you turned it down in time before the smoking part was completely toasted. The fact that it happend again tells you that there deffinatly is a problem and it will continue having a problem.

If that amp was bought new bring it back and get something else CARbiques are not kewl. The last thing you want is a fire in your vehicle.

 

[99explorer5.0]

I just looked up that model # of the subs you got. The site iw as on said that they were 800 watts RMS and your amp was only rated at 200 Watts.

Plus those subs are dual voice coil which means that in order to get the correct ohms rating out of them requires that you connect the coils up right. You can either run each single sub as 2 ohm or 8 ohm.

Are you running those subs bridged to that tiny amp?

 

[truckinat15]

Im only running one sub and i think that the amp is putting out 560x1. Do you think that if i upgraded to 4 gauge it would help? Im looking for a solution other than getting a new amp if possible.

 

[99explorer5.0]

Usually electronic devices wont smoke becuse of a lack of power but they will smoke if they are not putting out enough power fast enough. Personally i do not think the power wire has anything to do with it but then again i am not a professional although i do have 8 years experiance installing crap.

Is this amp new? Please dont tell me you bought it from Ebay.

 

[psychotic]

your sub needs more power, that amp isn't made to power something like that.

 

[truckinat15]

I got both the sub and the amp from Thezeb.com. I dont think i could find a better deal on an amp for $149. i mean the specs say 560wattsx1 for 150 bucks i mean thats pretty good if you ask me.

 

[Rscotts1]

Does your amp have an internal fan? If so, is it working? If not, this could be the problem.

 

[99explorer5.0]

Im not trying to bust ball here but yes you could get a better deal. You could actually buy an amp that works and doesnt smoke.

And also you said that you were only running one sub. I looked up the model # that you posted and it was a dual 4 ohm voice coil sub. Which brings me back to my point that you can either run it at 2 ohms in parallel or 8 ohms if you run it in series. That amp can be bridged to run at 4 ohms and it is not 2 ohm stable.

If you have that sub wired up as 2 ohms than that could be your problem right there. Actually i will pretty much guarentee that is your problem especially with the wattage that sub is.

If you run that sub as 8 ohms that amp will not have enough power to push that sub to its full potential.

 

[Rscotts1]

That particular amp is 2 Ohm stable.

 

[99explorer5.0]

That amp is 2 ohm stable if it is run in stereo. However it is not 2 ohm stable BRIDGED which if he is running only one sub i would imagine that is how he is running it. 2 ohm stable stereo and bridged are two completly different things.

 

[Rscotts1]

Truckinat15, does the fan kick on at all?

 

[truckinat15]

I just checked and the fan is not working at all. IS there a way to make it work like with the wiring?

 

[99explorer5.0]

RETURN THAT JUNK !!!!! It should work automatically and not have to get wired in. The only way i can help you is to convince you to bring it back. And you still have not answered how you were running it ... IS IT 2 OHMS or 8 OHMS. Either way it does not matter. That particular amp is not a good match for that sub. The amp that i have the BD1000 would be a perfect match for that sub. It is rated at 1000 watts RMS @ 2 ohms mono and 500 watts RMS @ 4 ohms mono