what is wrong with my amp and cap?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=107044
Printed Date: May 13, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Topic: what is wrong with my amp and cap?
Posted By: bwh0002
Subject: what is wrong with my amp and cap?
Date Posted: August 25, 2008 at 11:31 PM
I have a kicker 850.2..had it reinstalled in my new car (2001 nissan pathfinder) along with a 600.4 alpine (wired to component and 2-way type-r's) all wired to a 5 farad cap. the cap and alpine still work fine..but for some reason my kicker won't turn on..the fuses in the amp are fine and so is the one connected to the battery..i checked the connections on the amp with my voltmeter and they're putting out 14v..the ground is well grounded too..what's wrong with it? any suggestions? Also: Lately my cap has only been turning on 1 out of every 2 or 3 times and sometimes beeps when the car starts (a noise that supposedly indicates going below 10v or over 17v, but the lowest and higest i've seen it on start up and running is anywhere between 12.6 and 14.2). do i need to discharge and charge again? the kicker had been working, but two days ago it stopped..i checked connections and when i pushed my seat back into place(amps are installed on the back of my seats) the 850.2 kicked back on and i decided to think nothing of it..then today when i started my car i realized i had no bass and it hasn't been working since. i checked everything with the voltmeter..all terminals..all fuses..and i have a feeling that my other amp wouldn't work if the cap was the problem. my protection light isn't on.
Replies:
Posted By: ragsports
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Does the amp turn on at all? did you meter your remote turn on wire going to the amp that isent working properly? It could be a number of things. Ground, Power, remote wire or maybe a fuse. Since you said you checked your gound and your power wire it is probably one of the other 2 issuse. If not then you have more serious issues. meter your remote wire and check your fuses and let us know what you find out.
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:56 AM
checked remote and it is fine. and by fuses do you mean the three in my amp?..if so, those are fine. other suggestions? lol
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:58 AM
oh and the amp doesn't turn on at all
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 3:58 AM
With the system turned on, check voltage at the power and ground terminals of the amp that does not come on. Do not ground your meter to the chassis of the vehicle, black lead to the actual ground terminal of the amp, red lead to the power input terminal of the amp. The system must be on while checking this.
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 11:07 AM
ok. i just did that and it's putting out the correct voltage
Posted By: ragsports
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 11:26 AM
What was the voltage between the 2 terminals with the car running? also you may want to try to connect the amp that isnet working to the power, ground, and remote of the other amp that is working. See then if your amp with the problems turns on.. If it does then you know it is something with your wiring to that amp. if not it may be a problem with the amp itself.
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:01 PM
14.04-14.07 and i'll have to switch the amps and try that when i get a little bit more time. i was hoping i wouldn't have to take them off the seats, but if that's what it takes to figure out the problem then so be it. lol
Posted By: ragsports
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Well try this first. Since we know you have a good power supply going to that amp take a small peice of speaker wire, connect one end to the power terminal of the amp then the other end of the wire to the remote terminal of the amp. It should power up without a problem. If not then it is likely your amp. if it does then it is your remote wire comming from your headunit that is giving you the problems for that amp.
Posted By: 04nata
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 12:56 PM
I had the same problem, it would go out, then work and finally went out and did not come back on, I tested the remote and it was putting out, and when checked the fuse it was good on the direct power cable. I tested the direct power cable and found that I had power to the fuse but not beyond. (used a paperclip), so I replaced the fuse (that seemed to be still good) . It worked and has since, so I broke open the bad fuse and found that the solder connection on the inside of the fuse had broke and lost contact (way up under the cap where you cannot see), kinda wierd but that is what happened, don't know if it was defective, or broke from vibration, heta or whatever.
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 2:36 PM
That is what a gold plated AGU fuse does.
Posted By: 04nata
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 2:49 PM
It was not visually blown as a fuse normally is, it was broken, so your telling me that the AGU gold plated fuse does not blow so you can see it thru the window, that when it blows the solder joint breaks,,,,,c'mon, I must be mis-understanding what you said.
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:10 PM
ok..so i ran speaker wire from the remote terminal to the power terminal and it clicked on!!..so i just ghetto rigged it by running wire from the remote on the amp that works to the remote on the amp that wasn't working. is that sufficient enough? or do you think i need to run new wire?
Posted By: joch1314
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:17 PM
That should be just fine, but it brings up another question? Where were you getting the remote turn on for the amp that was always working? i'd think that you would get the remote turn on lead from both amps at the same place? ------------- ...half of the truth can be worse than a lie. <----Roger Russell said that..
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:33 PM
that's what i thought!..i figured that when it was installed there were two wires running from the HU to either amp..which doesn't make sense that the alpine was still working when the kicker wasn't..you'd think both of them wouldn't work if one wasn't
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:37 PM
04nata wrote:
It was not visually blown as a fuse normally is, it was broken, so your telling me that the AGU gold plated fuse does not blow so you can see it thru the window, that when it blows the solder joint breaks,,,,,c'mon, I must be mis-understanding what you said.
A gold plated AGU fuse will blow if you pull too much current through the fuse. If you are pulling 50 amps through an 80 amp fuse for a long period of time, heat will build up in the fuse and the solder will melt off of the element.
Posted By: joch1314
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Well just as a precaution, you should find where the remote leads are coming from! There has to be a reason that the kicker remote turn on quit working, and the Alpine didn't. If it was hooked to the remote turn on from the deck then your remote turn on output just went out.....if it was hooked to an accy or ignition wire from the actual vehicle then something else went out in your vehicle. I'd check just to make sure nothing else crapped out. Also, if the Alpine's remote turn on lead IS hooked up to an accy/ignition wire from the vehicle, make sure that it is fused to prevent possible problems in the future. Not to difficult to do, but could save you some headaches down the road! ------------- ...half of the truth can be worse than a lie. <----Roger Russell said that..
Posted By: bwh0002
Date Posted: August 26, 2008 at 4:53 PM
thank you!
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