Dead Amp?

The other day a friend of mine asked me to take a look at his amp and see if anything was wrong with it because he couldn't get it to turn on.  It is a Kicker KX600.1 monoblock running 1 Kicker SoloBaric L7 10" in a Kicker prefab box.  At first glance all connections seemed good but a bit crude, so I reworked the ground and the battery connection.  A closer look at the head unit wiring revealed that the remote turn on wire was almost detached, so it was put back together.  At this point we tried to turn the amp on and only the protect light would come on.  Every once in a while the power light would flicker on, but the protect light stays on all the time.  Pulled my amp out, hooked it up, and it worked like a charm, so no wiring problems.  Installed his amp in my car and no dice.  I'm guessing this means the amp has an internal problem, but wanted to see if anyone knows about this and could help.  Local Kicker dealer said they would bench it for $15, but won't help with wrranty because he bought it off ebay.  My friend is dying without his bass so if anyone has suggestions that would be great.  Also, he was recently victim of an enourmous pothole that poped his tire and ground was partialy loose (he instaled it himself), so could have had power turning on and off as it rode.If quiters never win, and winners never quit, who the heck came up with the idea that you should quit while your ahead?

What size power/ground wire are you using? According to the manual you should be using at least 4 gauge wire. Here's an excerpt from the trouble shooting section of that manual... ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// If your amplifier does not appear to be working, check obvious things first such as blown fuses, poor or incorrect wiring connections, crossover switch set properly, gain controls properly set, etc. There are two LEDs on the end panel of your Kicker KX series amplifier, one green and one red. When the green LED is lit this indicates the amplifier is turned on and no trouble exists. If the green LED turns off and the red LED is lit this indicates that the protection circuitry (SORT) is engaged. The power indicator on top of the amplifier which illuminates the model badge follows the same function as the green LED. Green LED off, no output: With a Volt Ohm Meter (VOM) check: +12 volt power terminal (should read +12V to +16V). Remote turn-on terminal (should read +12V to +16V). Ground terminal. Green LED on, no output: Check RCA connections. Test speaker outputs with known good speaker. Substitute known good source unit. Check for signal on RCA cable with VOM meter in AC position. Red LED on, no output: 1.) Amp is very hot. Thermal protection is engaged. Check for proper impedance at speaker terminals. Also check for adequate airflow around amplifier. 2.) Amp shuts down only while vehicle is running. Voltage protection is engaged. Voltage to the amplifier is not within the 9-16 volt operating range. Have automobile charging/electrical system inspected. 3.) Amp will only play at low volume levels. Short circuit protection is engaged. Check for speaker wires shorted to each other or the vehicle chassis. Damaged speakers or operating below minimum impedance will also cause this. Low Power Output Swap speaker connections from positive to negative. If bass improves, the speaker was out of phase. Alternator noise (whining sound that varies with engine RPM): Check for damaged RCA cable. Check routing of RCA cable. Check source unit for good ground. Check gain setting, turn down if set too high. CAUTION: When jump starting the vehicle, be sure that connections made with jumper cables are correct. Improper connections can result in blown amplifier fuses as well as failure in other systems in the vehicle. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Squirrel

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sounds like amp is going into protect mode either due to a malfunction inside the amp or because impedance of sub is exceding amps operational limit...i.e. if the L7 is 2ohm DVC sub and the coils are wired in parellel the impedance is 1 ohm that amp is only stable to 2 ohms, so check the sub wiring, and if all is ok, then my friend another reason not buy off Ebay...hope this helps any

He has a 4 AWG Moster power kit for the amp and the sub is 4 ohm dvc wired in paralell.  The amp is designed to deliver 600W RMS @ 2 ohms so the match as far as power and ohm loads go is perfect (I told him which models to buy so that everything would work rigth).  I have two 4 ohm svc subs in my car so the load when tested in my car was also 2 ohms.  He has 14 AWG speaker wire running from his amp to his box, and thought this might be a little to small, so I used a double run of it just to make sure but it made no difference.  On the ebay thing I really agree with you.  Tried to get him to buy from the local dealer, but the lower price was just too tempting.  The sub sounds really good though, even running off my amp.If quiters never win, and winners never quit, who the heck came up with the idea that you should quit while your ahead?