Can a relay go bad and how to tell

Hi ya all,

Im having a crappy week, first my memphis amp dies in my suv and now my wifes civic sound system is acting up

First off is there a way to tell if a 30amp relay is going bad or has gone bad?
For some reason even at low volumes my wifes Bruts amp is shutting off, not going into protect mode, completely shutting off no lights no power nada, now I have a Bosch 30 amp relay that is connected to my remote turn on from the head unit, the remote on from the amp and a neon thats built in to the sub box

Now since the relay controls when the amp turns on, im thinking this maybe the problem
Since its dark now I cant do anymore trouble shooting until tomorrow but what Im going to do is

1. Remove all grounds and steel brush them again
2. Disconnect the neons to see if thats a problem
3. Then disconnect the relay altogether

Am I missing anything else I should do?
Is it possiable the HU is not putting out enough voltage on the remote wire?

Later

--Skold

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell

Make sure the remote turn on from the head unit is truely a remote turn on and not a power antenna trigger. (some units have both) Your amp would shut off anytime you switch from the radio to the cd etc..

Also I'm assuming both the neon and the amp are both connected together to the output of the relay? If so and the amp and neon both shut off, that really narrows it down on where to start troubleshooting.

As far as relays going bad I don't know what the failure rate is, but it's extremely rare from what I've seen unless they are exposed to water. Aside from water damage I've only seen 1 or 2 relays go bad on their own the rest were all wiring connections etc..

Good luck,

Mike

NowYaKnow wrote:

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Make sure the remote turn on from the head unit is truely a remote turn on and not a power antenna trigger. (some units have both) Your amp would shut off anytime you switch from the radio to the cd etc..

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Its a dedicated remote wire, but my amp does shut off when I switch between inputs because of a standby mode the Kenwood has, so its CD.. Standby "amp off" Tuner.. standby "amp off".. AUX

NowYaKnow wrote:

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Also I'm assuming both the neon and the amp are both connected together to the output of the relay? If so and the amp and neon both shut off, that really narrows it down on where to start troubleshooting.

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Yes thats exactly the way its wired

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell

The easiest way is to replace the suspected faulty one with a one dollar known good one. If everything works all of a sudden, the suspected faulty one is indeed faulty. If not, then there is something else wrong, and now you have a spare relay for when it DOES go bad...

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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."

Well I cleaned the grounds, got a new relay and it was still doing it

So I thought to myself what did I change with her car, and then it hit me, for 6 months she has been running without Sound Dampener in the trunk, and just the day before this all happend I filled the trunk with dampener, since dampener turns energy to heat, it actually increased the temp in the trunk causing the amp to shut down from overheating

My mini experiment I had my friend come over with his 05 cvivc that has no deadener in the trunk
All measured with a digital thermometer

Temp outside today a lovely 82 in sunny south florida

Temp inside 05 Civic trunk with no deadener after 15 minutes in the sun = 93
Temp inside my 04 civic trunk with 3 layers of eDead after 15 minutes in the sun = 117
A 35 degree change from the outside air
I cant wait until summer when its pushing close to 100

So once I had the back seat laying down exposed to the fridged air in the cabin, it has been working great again, though it does suck having to have my back seat down, but since we dont have kids or ever carry passengers I guess we will have to live with it

Oh the joy

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell

Try picking up a 12 volt fan and mount it to run across the fins of the amplifier. 

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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You know a relay has gone bad as soon as you see the runner drop the baton.

(Sorry - its Friday!!)

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2000 F150 Supercab Lariat, Alpine CDA-9831, Polk MMC570 in Doors, One Polk MM2104 Sub, One Polk Carbon C400.4 Amp.

John 3:16

Steven Kephart wrote:

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Try picking up a 12 volt fan and mount it to run across the fins of the amplifier. 

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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Well that might be hard its mounted directly behind the back seat, you wouldn't happen to have a tutorial or maybe some photos of how something like that would be mounted?

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell

Here's an example of a fan that would work great: https://www.cardomain.com/item/STISF3  However it is pretty expensive. 

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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Steven Kephart wrote:

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Here's an example of a fan that would work great: https://www.cardomain.com/item/STISF3  However it is pretty expensive. 

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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Thats not that expensive, if it does the job.. now I just have to see if I have room to mount it

Thanks Steven

---Skold

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2004 Honda Civic Ex 4Dr

Kenwood DDX-7015/W Nav
4 Fosgate T152C
Hifonics Brutus BX1500D
RE XXX 12 in a 4 Cube Snail Shell