[dubbs]

Ok here is the deal.
I have 2 rockford amps. sub amp = 1800 max power.. High Amp (speakers) = 2025 max power.

I have 2 seperate grounds that I made better with some sand paper. They are at each seatbelt bolt.

I was driving in traffic listening to music at 20 out of 35 on an Alpine head unit. The gains on the high amp were at around 80%. Ive never heard any engine noise. Then out of nowhere the high amp just cuts out (protect mode) but the subs are still playing.

I have a 4 guage wire going to a dist. block with two 8 guage wires going to either amp. The grounds are 4 guage. Now whenever i put the music at about 15/35 it goes into protect mode. And as soon as the high amp cut out i started to hear my engine through my speakers.

Heres the wierd thing. With my head unit powered off and both amps are clearly off. I still hear engine noise through my speakers. Why is this happening? Any ideas???

Thanks and sorry for the novel i spent 4 hours after work trying to figure this out.
:bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :bonk: :scratch: :cursin: :cursin:

 

[EIDROEDYR]

You will want to change your ground locations. The seat belt bolts are not clean grounds. A good rule of thumb is to run your grounds to the sheet metal/frame if less than 500W and run directly from the battery if more than 500W. If you haven't already, run your power/ground wires and speaker wires down opposite sides of the vehicle to eliminate engine noise.

 

[dubbs]

The way i have it run is RCA's on one side and Power and speaker on the other. What side should the speaker wires be run? I was told running them with the RCA's was worse. So i should run a ground wire to my battery? Then can i use a dist block for it?

 

[EIDROEDYR]

The way i have it run is RCA's on one side and Power and speaker on the other. What side should the speaker wires be run? I was told running them with the RCA's was worse. So i should run a ground wire to my battery? Then can i use a dist block for it?

I meant to edit my post to say RCA's. If you have high frequency inputs to your amp, you can run that instead of RCA's. Yes, run your ground wire from the battery to a distribution block. You can then run your grounds from there to your amps. I would also look into upgrading the alternator as well as a secondary power source (i.e. second battery for your system).

Also, check how you have your speakers wired (series/parallel) in order to determine the load (resistance) at the amps.

 

[zx636r]

lol im havign the same problem with my buddies explorer. just put the sub in like normal with the best ground u could imagine, wire brushed with a drill and its about a 6 inch bolt that goes through the sheetmetal and the frame. and the amp does the same thing, it just goes into protect mode. makes no sense at all, if u figure it out let me know.

 

[dubbs]

The only thing that doesnt make any sense to me is the fact that ive never heard any feedback from the ground before yesterday. The amp just went into protect mode and I can hear the feedback very loud.. Even with the stereo and amps off. I dont get how my grounds just all of a sudden went bad.

 

[dubbs]

The speaker amp is a 4 channel.. so they are hooked up normally. The subs are bridged.

 

[EIDROEDYR]

lol im havign the same problem with my buddies explorer. just put the sub in like normal with the best ground u could imagine, wire brushed with a drill and its about a 6 inch bolt that goes through the sheetmetal and the frame. and the amp does the same thing, it just goes into protect mode. makes no sense at all, if u figure it out let me know.

Is the gain turned all the way up? Does it get to hot to touch when it goes in to protect mode? Also, check you power wire connections. I had a system that was fed from the battery through an inline fuse holder to a distribution block with inline fuses to the amps. I found the power feed at the inline fuse (under the hood) starting to back out causing some of the copper threads to rub against bare metal.

 

[EIDROEDYR]

The only thing that doesnt make any sense to me is the fact that ive never heard any feedback from the ground before yesterday. The amp just went into protect mode and I can hear the feedback very loud.. Even with the stereo and amps off. I dont get how my grounds just all of a sudden went bad.

I would start with relocating the grounds and work from there.

 

[R1up0n1]

The way i have it run is RCA's on one side and Power and speaker on the other. What side should the speaker wires be run? I was told running them with the RCA's was worse. So i should run a ground wire to my battery? Then can i use a dist block for it?

I am the car stereo expert here, I am certified MECP, and InfoComm CTS certified in this area, and I have been installing mobile audio, and comercial audio/video for a very long time. Run your power down the side your battery is on. Run your RCA's and remote turn on wire with the RCA's. Are you using a twisted par sheilded RCA's if not that's what you want to run to eliminate noise.
You need to find another ground, solid pure metal. Find one ground and get a distribution block for both grounds on the amp. Next you need to run a 1 fared capacitor (cap) on your power this will give you the extra power you need to run both amps, this will also take the strain off your battery, alternator and electronics.
Also check your gains on the amp, you want clarity not distortion, you may be driveing the amps too much.
Also check the ohms on your subs, you may have fried the voice coils by not running enough power which is caused distortion, or you have drive'd the speakers with too much power and fried the voice coils. Take a multimeter to your speakers, select Ohms then put red on + then black on - that will give you your ohm reading. it should be 4 or 8 ohms. If it is reading close you are ok, however if you are seeing it 1/2 of what the speaker is rated at that mean you have fried atleast 1/2 or more of the voice coil.

If you need any other help, definatly let me know.

 

[dubbs]

Gain was up pretty high on the speakers.. About 80-85%.

I never got any distortion when i turned it up.. It got way to loud for me before any distortion started.

 

[R1up0n1]

Gain was up pretty high on the speakers.. About 80-85%.

I never got any distortion when i turned it up.. It got way to loud for me before any distortion started.

You really shouldn't run the gain up more than 60% on the amp, that creates a lot of heat and will send the amp into protection mode.

The gain on my amp is hardly even turned and I have pure clairity, if I wanted I could blow the windows out of the truck if I turned the amp up a little bit.
I run a major system in my truck, 2 JLW6 v.2 10"s in a custom box, JBL 1200x1 mono block amp recessed flushed in the center of the box, 1 audiobahn 4 ch crossover, 1 fared cap, 2 JL audio component speakers, one dvd player flushed in under the Panasonic head unit, and one flush mounted Clarion flip down LCD monitor. I also have aux in's where I run my MP3 player, and aux video input of the digital camera.
I have well over $5,000 in A/V in the little 2004 single cab Chevy Colorado, however I do A/V for a living also.

 

[zx636r]

ouch my friend has the almost the same setup in his chevy colorado but his is the 4 door version or whatever u call it and his w6's are in the bed of the truck and Ported to the cab. lol all i can say is loud real loud

 

[dubbs]

When I get home I will try to find a new ground and turn down the gain to 50%. I hope it works. I hate not having a system.

 

[zx636r]

im gonna guess it aint gonna work cause i turned my buddies gain allll the way down and as soon as u turn the stereo up, protect mode comes on. but please let me know if u ever fix this

 

[dubbs]

Its the amp.. i tried another amp.. works fine.. jus hooked up the highs to the deck for now

 

[R1up0n1]

Its the amp.. i tried another amp.. works fine.. jus hooked up the highs to the deck for now

:dthumb:

 

[zx636r]

yup thats what i was thinking about my buddies too, is that the amp was shot. really its the only thing that could be wrong casue if you got power to the amp and its grounded it should work, but the things just go into protect. thank you for letting us know what was wrong, lol now i get to tell my buddy he has to spend a few hundred to get a new amp. lol

 

[jeeps84]

I had this problem once also. I turned out to be the wires on the speaker from the magnet to the voice coil were to long and would touch on higher volume only. It took me for ever to figure it out. I to changed the amp for only a temporary fix. After I started tuning the system. I ran into the same thing again.

 

[zx636r]

lol first sub i had was an old jl in a truck box. i use to rip the wires that rand form the connection to the voice coil, had to soder them back on all the time. had that sub untill i finnally blew the surrounds.