Printer Friendly Forum Posts - Audiobahn A1800D amplifier troubles

I have an Audiobahn A1800D amplifier. I had it running two woofers at 1ohm (1800 watts rms) over the winter. During the 3 week break in period, the subs pumped hard. I turned the amp up to normal listening power over the spring, where for several weeks I had no trouble. As the summer heated up though, the amp began to shut off, without any warning lights. It would just cut off, and pause several seconds before it started playing again.

The problem progressed over the summer, to a point where i disconnected one sub. It continues to cut off at loub beats, though not as often

What options do i have to fix the problem.....(I"M NOT GETTING RID OF IT YOU AUDIOBAHN HATERS!!) :o)

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~WAYLAND

Are you using a bandpass enclosure?

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

It's ported, 2.5 cu ft per woofer, as the factory recommended. The woofers work fine....it's the amp

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~WAYLAND

Sounds to mee like insufficient cooling. Summer temps cause shutting down, winter temps do not. Two woofers at one ohm is TWICE the load of one woofer at one ohm, and when you disconnect one, it plays a little longer without shutting down - this indicates cooling. If possible, raise the load the amp sees by playing with your woofer wiring - i.e. series, parallel, series/parallel, etc. Does the amp get hot? Check these options, and let us know. BTW stevdart, what does the enclosure have to do with it?

Oh, and one more thing, get rid of the Audiobahn... posted_image

(jab, jab, jab)

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Yep I concur, it's overheating. Cheap amps are very prone to this, and it is an indication that it may be getting ready to die altogether. Running at one ohm will do that, especially when the weather is hot. Try running it at a much higher impedence loading, like 8-ohms.

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Support the12volt.com

or tey adding cooling fans to the bottom of the amp, will void any warranty but should work use cpu fans they run on 12 volts

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Turn the gain back down dude, it's not a volume control. This is a good part of what is sending the amp into thermal protection.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Okay, first of all, I tried to fix the heat situation already. It was originally in a small 2 in. area, out of view. There were a few air holes, but not many. I Moved it to a place where the A/C could hit the amp directly. It doesn't get hot, just warm to the touch, like body temperature.

The gain has been set at about 1/4 power, for several weeks, but it only solves the problem by very little.

By the way, wouldn't a over-heat shut off yield a warning LED??? No warning LED's here.....just cuts right off.

I did re-wire a bit, as well. I was running 1 ohm, but I'm only running 4 right now. Still a problem...

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~WAYLAND

haemphyst wrote:

BTW stevdart, what does the enclosure have to do with it?

Overall picture of the system and what's going on. The indicator lights aren't warning of heat, and I thought there might be a fault in the sub wiring inside the enclosure.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

The wiring has been checked, and rechecked twice before. Every single portion of the wiring looks fine. And the subs are wired 1ohm. (Although one sub isn't hooked up). Audiobahn beleives my problem may be due to my alternator. They feel my stock alternator may not be sending enough current to power the woofers, so the amp Shuts off on the larger beats.

Would this make sense? I'm not running a capacitor (Everyone here insists that you should just save for a high-output alternator)

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~WAYLAND

wayland1985 wrote:

The wiring has been checked, and rechecked twice before. Every single portion of the wiring looks fine. And the subs are wired 1ohm. (Although one sub isn't hooked up). Audiobahn beleives my problem may be due to my alternator. They feel my stock alternator may not be sending enough current to power the woofers, so the amp Shuts off on the larger beats.

Would this make sense? I'm not running a capacitor (Everyone here insists that you should just save for a high-output alternator)

Is your ground good and tight? What kind of car do your drive? No, a capacitor will almost never solve your problem.

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Ground is tight, although im going to try a differen ground ring, for a bigger surface contact area. I'm driving a 1994 Ford Explorer XLT

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~WAYLAND

Once you disconnected a sub, you went to a 2 ohm load because now you are not paralleling two loads into 1 ohm. If the impedance at 1ohm is what caused the shutdown, then it shouldn't be happening now at 2 ohm. So impedance is probably not the problem. Customsuburb's concern about the ground wire might be the reason. And, again, check the wiring to the amp to make sure there are no stray strands touching the wrong post.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

The wiring is fine. I've checked it all. I'm also running a 4 channel, 300 watt rms amp to four speakers.
The setup is from battery Back- 1 Foot of wire to a 200amp fuse. Wire (1/0g) Runs all the way to the rear of the truck, about 18 ft of wire, where it is distributed by a Scosche EFX Distribution block. A 40 amp AGU fuse runs 5 feet to the 4 channel amp using 8 gauge, A 150 amp ANL fuse runs about 1 foot to the 1800 watt amp. The grounds from each re-enter another fuse block, into a 1/0 gauge final ground. about 2.5 feet from the large amp, and 6 feet from the small amp.

The small amp (which is audiobahn) NEVER has trouble, and has been running strong for over 2 years now. It is very succeptible to heat.

The large amp is open for cooling, and gives me trouble on nearly a daily basis.

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~WAYLAND

Stevdart, I'm not positive by what you're talking about impedence.

What Audiobahn is trying to say, is that the 10 year old alternator (which is dying already, as seen when it can barely power windsheild wipers, a blinker, and headlights at once) isn't putting out enough amperage for the 1800 watt amp. It's getting about 14.2 volts (when it' should be getting 14.4, but this is found at most connections around the truck) but volts dont really mean anything in my case. Audiobahn says i should have at least a 140 amp Alternator, for my setup. They say that the 70 amps my truck puts out is hardly enough.

When my subs hit, the amp is drawing as much current as it can, although there isn't enough. What Audiobahn beleives is happening is that it's sucking amperage out, but by the time another beat comes up, there isnt' enough juice to power the subs. So they say the amp is essentially starving itself of power, causing it to shut off, until a surge comes up, giving it enough fuel for another series of beats before it shuts off again.

I probably didn't word this all correctly, so try and correct me. Right now I'm just trying to figure out if my alternator is my problem's source. INPUT PLEASE!!!

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~WAYLAND

Yep, as the doctor says...I concur. A new higher output alternator is needed here.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

So does everybody else agree? And if so, can you refer me to a good reliable alternator company?

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~WAYLAND

Sounds like an alternator.

Do a quick test. Turn you lights and air on and turn up your system and see when it cuts off. If it cuts out sooner when your air and light or on it could be your alternator.

Also check the fuses on the amp itself. If you have more than one fuse one could be blown. I once had the problem of the amp cutting out on heavy beats and could not figure out why. After checking all connections and speakers I could not figure out what was going on since the amp played but only shut down when being pushed. I was about to uninstall the amp and removed the fuses and there was my problem a blown fuse.

Make sure your belt is tight under the hood. It could just be loose and not turning the Alt to its fullest potential, but I would guess it needs replacing.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Okay, so the new alternator is on the way. Wanna help me install it???   https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=40001&PN=1&tpn=1

Thanks again guys...

BTW- the fuses were all fine, as was the belt (which is about a month old). Thanks for all the input, and I'll keep you all updated.

ALSO- AUDIOBAHN HATERS:   The tech support rep who helped me had one of the amp's engineers call me in person. Since he knows what he built, he gave me about 15 minutes of check ups to do. Everything was okay, so he also blames the alternator, and even possibly not enough power for two amps from my Sony's (I AM A SONY HATER, THE HEAD UNIT WILL BE GONE BY THE END OF THE YEAR... how are those pioneer AVIC N-1's?)   turn on wire , and that I should run a relay too.   DOES YOUR COMPANY GO OUT OF IT's WAY TO CALL YOU IF YOU NEED HELP?????

I DOUBT IT!!!   HAHA    posted_image

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~WAYLAND

Look through this whole thread, Wayland. Do you see any remarks made about Audiobahn? No, I didn't think so. Goofy way to end a thread where you asked for help and got it, IMO.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

haemphyst wrote:

Sounds to mee like insufficient cooling. Summer temps cause shutting down, winter temps do not. Two woofers at one ohm is TWICE the load of one woofer at one ohm, and when you disconnect one, it plays a little longer without shutting down - this indicates cooling. If possible, raise the load the amp sees by playing with your woofer wiring - i.e. series, parallel, series/parallel, etc. Does the amp get hot? Check these options, and let us know. BTW stevdart, what does the enclosure have to do with it?

Oh, and one more thing, get rid of the Audiobahn... (jab, jab, jab)

That's one...haha... Besides, I was talking about the entire Forum in general. EVERYBODY has something to say about Audiobahn.

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~WAYLAND

Oh that...okay, you got me.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

It's not the worst i've heard...but hey, it's something...

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~WAYLAND

UPDATE:

While waiting for my new alternator, I disconnected the RCA's from the amp. The amp still powers up though (everythign else is still wired in)

Why would the subs "POP" every once in a while then? There's no audio signal coming in... It seems to occur mainly when I hit small dips in the road.....although it does happed other times as well?

Do I need a Relay for the Turn on lead, or is my problem from elsewhere?

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~WAYLAND

Ummmmm, I didnt see anyone in here state what seems to be a legitamite possibility here. Mabye your amp is plain f**ked. Lets look at this situation here for a second, amp just cuts out for no real apperant reason, the other amp in the vehicle works fine, the rca's are unpluged and the subs still produce a response of some kind, and the wiring is, as has been stated numerous times, absolutly fine. I think the amp is screwed. And BTW I have gotten called from both MTX and Pioneer in the past so trust me audiobahn isnt unique in that sense.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Audiobahn, the S.T.D. of the car audio world . . .

gotta love the haters....never give anybody a chance, until they are blown away.
It's a newer company, that, as far as I'm concerned, has gotten lots of things right. Mind you, this amp has a "D" suffix, indicating that it was a model from about 3-4 years back. I bought it as a clearance item. People with newer versions of this amp, from this area, have nothing to complain about it. Dollar for Dollar, based on performance, Audiobahn will give JL Audio (a company with what, 50-75 years experience?) a run for its money. Just because companies like JL audio are more exclusive, doesn't make it the better brand. Sure, they have awesome products, I like JL myself. Overall, I found Audiobahn to be a good fit for me. It's what I liked on the market. I didn't want to spend 700 bux on a single W7 Woofer, so I took one that Suited me better. When working, the setup I had was perfect. The perfect blend of SPL and SQ for the dollar. And I'm sure that if there is any reason this amp isn't working, is because I killed it. It worked perfectly for months, but not giving it the power it needs kills it. I'm sure I'm to blame, not audiobahn. And if it comes down to it, I'll go out and buy a newer version of that SAME amp.

And I rest my case...

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~WAYLAND

Before anyone gets too honked off, I used S.T.D in a previous post to mean S tereo T ypical D evice. Sorry for the confusion. Meaning people hyperfocus on brands and not the equipment itself. It is not always one component that is at fault. Because most people don't like a brand, they are quick to blame any and or all problems on the unit. Audiobahn is very subject to this.

I am not attacking nor defending Audiobahn, just stating that trouble shooting shouldn't be brand biased.

I'm not getting honked off. And the reason I went on my rampage isn't you, cable guy....it's some of the other people. Just trying to open their minds up a bit.

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~WAYLAND

Thats a good sized amp.you may need a capicator. do your headlights dim when the bass hits really hard? you should be using a good quality 4 gauge power wire, nothing smaller. also, your ground should not be over 18 inches or so. sounds like some kind of power problem. If you have been not using a cap, your alternator may be going out. If you ever need more a'bahn stuff goto www. mycarjams.com. He is a customer of mine. He dosen't have bahn on his site yet, but he can get it. He's a nice guy and will treat you right.

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John Newman

As I have had explained to me in the past, the lenghth of the ground wire doesnt matter as long as the resistance is low enough. A 18 inch ground wire can easily carry more resistance than a 20 foot ground wire depending on how the ground is terminated. For what its worth, my negative response to audiobahn comes from two sources. First I have seen to many problems with it from a reliability stand point, and second, I went up a lot of it in competion this year and almost every time, on paper it should have put me to shame, and everytime I embarresed the people using it. To be fair some of those systems were installed by what looked to be a farmer with a butter knife, but there were probally half a dozen that were designed to spec and seemed to have decent installs and everyone of them dissapointed me. Im not "hatin' " on audiobahn here, I am simply stating person al experience and explaining myself. BTW with all the Audiobahn I have seen blow up I wouldnt jump to conclusions and blame yourself if the amps blown, it likly wasnt your fault.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

The amp "POPS" even when there are no RCA's plugged in. So It shouldn't be emitting a sound at all. There is 4 gauge, if not 2 gauge (i forget, but go with the 4) wire flowing about 2 feet, from a fused (200amp) distribution block, which is supplied by 18 feet of 1/0 gauge right from the battery. The ground is about 1 foot of the 4ga running into another unfused distribution block, into about 1.5 feet of 1/0 gauge into a pretty isolated (nothing else around it) ground. Again, there is another amp, 300 watts (audiobahn) that has about 5 feet of wire between it and the distribution blocks, and it works perfectly.

I once considered competing with this rig, but since there aren't any events in this area (boston) i don't. The closest I come to competeing is cranking mine up, when some kid with his Xplod woofers comes up next to me (yeah, that was a sony bash). So If i push mine, it isn't often. Again, this amp is a few years old. So I'm sure the more up-to-date version has fewer bugs...

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~WAYLAND

I've got an audiobahn amp and subs that I've had for about 5-6 months now and havne't had a problem with. However, i keep hearing audiobahn makes inefficient stuff. I'm pretty much convinved that they do. Anyone else think that?

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

I don't like to diss anybodys stuff, but my wholesale guy saw the audiobahn demo car fry its amps @ daytona spring break nats. If the audiobahn guys can't make there stuff work, well it makes you think. I like Boss amps, but they get dissed all the time. I have had no trouble myself, but i guess that all brands have there lemons that go out. Try using another amp just to see what happens. hook it up the same way and see if it does the same thing. Your amp might just be toast. Good luck.

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Big Dave