Alpine MRD-M501 Troubles

hi there

i recently bought two Alpine type R 12" subs and to power them I got the alpine MRD-M501. Everything is all wired up, but the problem is that when i turn the music up to about 14-17 (usually i listen to drum n bass), after about 10 - 15 seconds, much to my annoyance the amp completely turns off. After between 1 minute and 10 minutes the amp turns back on and functions as normal until i try to turn it up again.

Also on occasions, the amp doesnt even turn on when i turn my car on, but after about 5 minutes of driving it then decides its going to work.

I am just wondering if anyone knows what is causing this - would it be that im trying to push too much power into the amp and it just cant handle it? Or could it be that my battery cannot push out as much voltage as the amp is asking for? Is there any settings on this amp which I could adjust to help this?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!!!

Have you checked your ground wire? I had a Punch 150 that would cut off whenever I shifted my weight in my seat. It did not take long to figure out the problem. I had a poor ground connection through the bolt that held my seat down. I trimmed my wire back an extra inch or so and really wrapped it tightly under a bolt that I knew went directly to the frame of the truck. After that, the problem went away.

Check your power wire as well.

Mike

If its a new amp it sounds like some sort of wiring problem. Also that amp is very complicated to set up. Look at what tcss had to say in my post titled "Alpine Break-in"


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Nik
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Check it out.

What ohm rating are the R subs? If you are under 2 ohms at the amp the amps protection circuit is kicking in.

the type R's are 2ohm i am pretty sure (it says 2+2 on the box). how do i found out what ohm it is running at the amp? is there any way to increase this level by just tweaking some settings on the amp?

i really appreciate the help so far!

I think that means there dual 2 ohm? If they are wired in parallel you are putting a 1 ohm load on the amp which will cause it to go into protection mode and possibly cause permenant damage. If you wire them in serial you will have a 4 ohm load but only be getting 250 watts. Unfortunatly thats your only option.

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Nik
Jeeputer Progress
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Check it out.

Oh wait, I just saw that you have two of 'em. Scratch what I just said. Wire the voice coils in serial to get 4 ohms on each speaker. Then wire the speakers to the amp in parallel to get a total of 2 ohms.

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Nik
Jeeputer Progress
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Check it out.

When the amp goes into protect mode, it will say a code, like E-1, E-2, or E-3 , check out which one it is.  If you have it wired to 1 ohm, then the overcurrent protection will kick in,  ,since you are pushing near 1000 watts at 1 ohm haha.  I sucessfully ran a m-500 at 1.4 ohm for a summer, but it shut down once and a while.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

thanks for the replies-
the problem is the amp does NOT say a code when it shuts off (i was hoping it would) - the power just literally stops and the amp shuts down. there is no noise or anything when it shuts off, and my splits and other amp continue to run fine. i have recently adjusted the input from +6db to 0db and this let me turn it up louder without cutting out, but it still did not fix the problem.

the way I have it set up at the moment is the two type R's are in a ported Beva box, and the cables from these run into the one port on my MRD-M501. Another point to note is that the MRD-M501 does not turn on if my car is off. Whilst my car is off it gives the amp 11.9v, and when the car is on it provides 13.9v. As soon as i start up the car and drive for about 30 seconds then my amp kicks in. I dont know if this is indicating a power problem or not, but I was advised by the store that i bought my equipment from that I would not have any power problems unless i bought any more equipment.

alpineguy - are you saying i am trying to push too much power into my amp? Can this be altered by the cables or by a setting on the amp?

once again I appreciate all the help! hopefully i can get this sorted soon!!

To me it sounds like its not an output problem, , but more of a power supply to the amp problem.  Try the amp in another car with a very solid electrical system that runs at 14 volts while the system is running.   From the voltage reading you got with the car off, , it sounds like 1 of the cells, or all of them are nearing there life end.  You cant tell for shure unless you bring it in to get tested,,,thats usually free..

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

ok sure, thanks very much for your help Alpine Guy! I am pretty sure this will be the problem, as when i turn the music up, the voltage slowly drops from 11.9 down to 11.4 ... 11.3 ... then cuts off completely. The amp itself requires a constant voltage of like around 12 or else it will turn off, correct?

I have noticed that when it tries to push really low bass (i listen to drum n bass so low bass is LOW!) even at a very small volume, it still turns off. Is this because lower bass actually requires much more power to produce the sound than mid range bass? It is very strange because in some songs, the bass is very very heavy (more doooooooooooooof than doof doof..) and the amp doesnt struggle at all, but in other songs when the bass is less constant, it is not as loud but generally cuts off very quickly. very very strange :(
any ideas about this?

Still sounds like an impedance problem to me. I've run an m-501 as low as 10.5 volts on my display board Your subs should be series wired at the woofer and parralled at the amp, this will show the amp a 2 ohm load. Does the digital read out go off when the amp shuts down?

i had my battery tested and the dude said it was busted up, so i have borrowed one of my friends batteries and it gives at least 12v at all times to my amp. it seems to have helped the problem somewhat but i am still experiencing these cut-outs. The digital readout on the amp DOES turn off, its like the amp just is not getting any power whatsoever. It seems to be happening more random now though, ill have the volume up and it will be fine but then i turn it down for a few mins and it cuts out!

very very strange. Does this amp show ohms at all or would this be something i would have to work out myself? I am quite sure that after changing batteries and the problem still occuring, i have made a minor mistake in my wiring, just trying to find it is the hard part :(

at the moment each sub is wired up to its own ports on either side of the box, and from here the two wires run to my amp and join at the same point. should I have this running in a different manner?

thanks for everyones help so far!

hmm that last part of the post might be a little hard to understand. basically the two type R's are dual voice coil and im pretty sure its 2ohms per coil. I currently have this set up as parallel, and what I am asking is should I have the subs set up in series or keep them as parallel? I have a feeling at the moment i am just overloading the amp.

i have actually located the problem i think. My remote lead from my head unit to my first amp was very dodgy so I have since replaced it and now the amp at least tries to turn on every time i turn my ignition.

The problem now is that my amp is struggling to turn on completely. For people familiar with this amp, It has a digital LED and below this is a blue light which illuminates the LED display somewhat. If i turn my ignition, the blue light lights up for about half a second and then turns off, and my amp remains turned off. Whilst driving, every 30secs - 1min or so the blue light flashes again but the amp doesnt totally turn on (and show information on the LED). After trying to do this for a while, the amp actually turns on completely and the LED lights up and powers my subs for about 5mins or so (depending on volume) and then out of nowhere, it cuts out and we are back to the beginning, with the blue light flashing on and off randomly. Also, my subs seem to be lacking quite a bit of power, even with bass comp turned on, it just does not sound like they are being pushed hard at all. Can anyone please attempt to explain what on earth I have done wrong here? Hopefully it should be something small.

I am basically on the edge of giving up and driving my car off a cliff and catching the bus to work for the next 5 years :(

Please tell us you don't own a Ford and are trying to use the factory head unit.  They have 5v turn on leads.  If so, try putting a relay on it to get 12 volts or go to an accessory lead.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

It sounds like an installation issue to me and oh yeah, what exactally is "pushing to much power to my amp mean", that sounds like user error.  I have the same amp and its a great amp, probubly the most effecient amp ever produced......have someone check your wiring and the overall installation..........

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another remote start season survived...but plenty of custom work ahead...MECP? of course ;)

it still sounds like a bad remote lead. My HU used to do that, then I discovered that the switched power wire off the harness was shot. So, I tapped power from the cig lighter, and now it works great. Not using the stupid stock harness for anything now....

Check the remote turn on again. Just take a voltmeter back there and put the + on the remote lead, and the - on the ground. Watch and when your amp turns off, see if your voltage drops.

I can vouch for that amp too. It's awsome! To bad my kappa perfect couldn't handle the power...haha

-Drew

haha no i dont own a ford, i have quite the opposite actually (well, in australia anyway) - a holden commodore. i am using an alpine CDA-9827 HU. i will take it in to get tested on the weekend, but could this be a grounding issue at all?