Sub Cuts out

Ive tried various car audio boards and no one answers. Except a few close friends and we cant come up with anything. so heres my shot.

Ill be driving and all the sudden the sub will cutout, i look back and the amps still running then all of the sudden the sub comes back.

This has been on going and random lately. Just this mourning, im driving and my HU just shuts up then comes back on. I think it has somthing to do with the electrical system, somthing is surging. But im not sure where to start looking....

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Drove it around all day today, dint cut out once.

Yes i have had problems with flux(tinsel lead) but when this happens, it burns it up and its gone like that. Which i thought is what it was to begin with, but the sub came back on. Honestly i think its an electrical problem. More then likely somthing to do with the alternator. I just put this one in about 4 months ago. I am running a 100amp alt with a 1200 watt amp. Another thing, is its just 1 sub, Which i KNOW i should be running a Maxpower 1000W sub on an amp this large but yaknow, I never got around to buying another one.

I think it mainly happened when i guned my car. Or comming around a corner. I also noticed that it happened more when it rained outside. Moisturebuild up causing my ground to fail? I noticed the term in the back, thats mounted to the frame, for ground, is lose. So thats one place to look.

Thing is, when the amp dies, the LED goes out slowly. When this happens, i think all power goes out, then comes back on. In the past in this car, i did have issues with it. Id start the car and the voltage guage would read low and the HU wouldnt come on. So id turn the car off, restart it and everything would come back on with the guage up fully.

Overall, i bought this car for 400 bux. Its a 91 Beretta, When i bought it, it had 228k on the engine. Runs like a charm tho, until this power sh*t started happening, now it runs a little ragged. Im getting a 3.1 and rebuilding it beefy style so the engines not an issue. I think what ill end up doing is running a new ground from the alt to the battery. And finding a better point to mount my ground for the amp at. There is only 1 fused point, which is from the battery to the amp, and no fuses on the amp. Which again i know is a bad thing. Im just mad lazy :P

Ill be parking it in the garage this weekend and looking at the wiring, hopfully ill come up with somthing, ill let ya guys know.

i had the same thing happen when the battery is going dead or is dead. so i would check the battery an if your alt is any good u may need to upgrade your alt. just a thought.

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southsider

Sad to say the battery is like 6 months old. I may have to look into getting a new one. Ill have to stroll down to the local autozone and have them to a diag on the battery and the alt.

well it might be lose wiring too. but let us kno what happs

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southsider

battery is not the issue if car is running. Is it the whole car that looses power or just the radio?  If its the whole car im thinkin its the igition switch- happened to my accord.  Also check for loose wires and bad grounds, corrosion too

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I need quality equipment, feel free to donate.

Several things could be happening, the most likely being a bad or loose power or ground cable.  Have you checked the main battery ground cable and the engine ground strap for corrosion?  Is there a stiffening capacitor in this system?  Has the alternator ever been upgraded?  Does the amp always simply shut down or does it sometimes go into protection (LED turns red or red LED lights up)?  What kind of amp is it and what kind of impedence load is it pushing?

Hey dogmeat, I am having the exact same problem. Ive checked my grounds, and all the cables and my subs will just cut out out of nowhere and then come back on right away. If you find out whats going on please please tell me!!!!

The amp is a Phoenix Gold Tantrum1200.1, Dosnt have a LED that shows it going into protect, but im sure its not that issue.

The alt is about 5 months old, bought it at checker (first mistake). The alt is 100amp when the original is a 60amp.

I have been driving it for 2 days now, and not a problem. So im not quite sure what is going on. This weekend im gonna take it all down and see what i can figure out.

What are you pushing with this amp?  The PG Tantrum 1200.1 is a 250 watt (nominal) amp that requires a minimum 4-ohm load.  If your load is less than this, it will shut down during peak demand.  Also, this amp can only handle a maximum 4-volt line-level input, so if your head unit (or crossover or whatever is feeding the amp) delivers more voltage than this, the amp will shut down periodically during high demands.  Same thing if the gain is simply set too high.

Heh, power and ground are 4guage,

I have 1 12" Phoenix Gold Titanium Sub. It runs at 4ohm.

The deck is a pioneer, i dont think the preamps are more then 2.5, which kinda sucks.

I think bigger amps generally require more volage on the imput. But i could be wrong.

nah the inputs should all be the same

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---- 1996 Chevy S10 ----
1 Lightning Audio S2.600.2 Amp
2 Lightning Audio 12" Subs
1 Lightning Audio 1 Farad Cap

Then what is the purpose of a line driver?

A line driver increases line level voltage to help prevent audible interferrence and increase signal strength when using long cable runs.  In most car audio installations they are actually unnecessary unless the line-level signals from the HU are very poor quality, or the installation requires splitting a signal into multiple amps.  Your amp cannot handle the high voltage from most line drivers, and if your HU outputs 2.5V the input gain should be set to just below 1/2 scale to begin a matching process.

Finaly, some good info.

I redid my gains, wiht that info, and i get so much more pound outta my sub. I havnt had any kind of cutout issues at all lately, so im alright, i havnt even got a chance to look at it yet, my garage is cluttered with crap that needs to go away.