burned power wire
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=61336
Printed Date: June 02, 2024 at 3:12 PM
Topic: burned power wire
Posted By: dh205
Subject: burned power wire
Date Posted: August 14, 2005 at 11:08 PM
here's my situation: 4awg from batt to distro block; 4awg from distro to 1 farad cap, 2 8awg's from same distro block to 4channel amp and mono amp. another distro block handling 4awg ground from cap, and 2 8awg's ground from amps; 4awg running to ground point. both amps recommend 4awg for power wire, but my buddy said it's fine to give 'em 8awg's. my 4 channel amp keeps going into protection after 25-30 minutes of playing, and the 4guage coming from battery to distro looks burned.(has black sticky stuff on it). what can i do to fix this problem?? kicker 650.4 amp and kicker 600.1 mono. i am using a tsunami distro for the power and a monster distro that came with an amp kit for the ground...both non-fused i think. Help!!!
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2004 hondaaccord sedan alpinecda9827HU, 2kicker sx650.1monoamps, alpinemrv-f540 4ch, 2 kappaperfect 10.1svc subs(350rms ea.), kappa 6.1 components(front), kappa 693.5i 6x9's(rear).
Replies:
Posted By: dh205
Date Posted: August 14, 2005 at 11:18 PM
the fuse next to the battery is 60amps, if that helps
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2004 hondaaccord sedan alpinecda9827HU, 2kicker sx650.1monoamps, alpinemrv-f540 4ch, 2 kappaperfect 10.1svc subs(350rms ea.), kappa 6.1 components(front), kappa 693.5i 6x9's(rear).
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: August 15, 2005 at 3:04 AM
Are you SURE the "black, sticky stuff" is burned primary wire, or is it just floor goo, or OEM damping material, or electrical tape residue? If your wires are too small AFTER the distro block (which is what it sounds like) then the chances of the number four burning are slim to NONE, let alone the fact that a 60 amp underhood fuse would blow LONG before a number 4 wire could get hot enough...
Your amp(s) is/are running hot because it sounds like you are not allowing them enough current. Replace the 60A fuse with a proper 150A fuse and fuseholder. Do your amps have fuses individually? I hope so, or you are flirting with disaster. Also, WHENEVER you change the size of a power wire, it should always be fused for the SMALLER sized wire - example - the #4 power into a non-fused distro... to a #8? This is an ABSOLUTE NO-NO!
Make sure your ground is NO LONGER than 18-20 inches OVERALL, and be absolutely certain it is a SOLID, CLEAN ground point - I hope you are not using a seat bolt...
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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."
Posted By: stevdart
Date Posted: August 15, 2005 at 7:25 AM
"here's my situation: 4awg from batt to distro block; 4awg from distro to 1 farad cap, 2 8awg's from same distro block to 4channel amp and mono amp." That forms a weird picture: the cap is not inline with either amp by this description. You want to look over that power wiring one more time? Or were you looking at the wire routing in both directions when you described this? IMO, neither one of those amps should be drawing as much as 100 amps, which is the max limit for 8 gauge wire. If the main power wire fuse doesn't blow, being 60 amps, that indicates that the amplifierss are never drawing (or trying to draw) more than 60 amps of current with this setup. Ask your installer how the power distro is fused if you can't figure out whether its fused or not. In a situation like this, where you are experiencing amplifier failure, you either have to know for certain how this install was done or you have to go back to the installer and have it checked out. Did you change any of the settings after the install was done? Like, did you adjust the 4 channel amp in any way? And do you know what speakers, at what impedance, are connected to the four channel amp? The shutoff is occurring a half hour into playing, which indicates excessive heat buildup in the amplifier. After you've ascertained that the wiring to the cap is actually going on to an amplifier (you've indicated the ground wires are connected with each other), find out about the speaker loads and gain setting. After that, cool the install location with fans if that is the problem.
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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.
Posted By: dh205
Date Posted: August 15, 2005 at 11:30 PM
thanks for your replies. it turns out the 4guage from the batt to cap was not burned, it was just some gunk. my buddy was perplexed and finally realized that all the interior speakers (6.1kappas and 6x9 kappa coax's) connected to the 4 channel amp were wired backwards!(+ to -, etc.) so now all the speakers are hooked up correctly (+ to +, etc.) but the amp still goes into protection after 30 minutes of playing at 18 or 20(system was tuned at 20.) he ran a seperate ground for the 4 channel...same result. the power wire is not getting hot, the speaker wire is not getting hot, it's just the amp...and i mean you could fry an egg on this thing. he's gonna call kicker tomorrow and see what they can come up with for a solution...if all else fails, i'm gonna swap it for a new one. could running the amp with out-of-phase wiring have damaged it?
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2004 hondaaccord sedan alpinecda9827HU, 2kicker sx650.1monoamps, alpinemrv-f540 4ch, 2 kappaperfect 10.1svc subs(350rms ea.), kappa 6.1 components(front), kappa 693.5i 6x9's(rear).
Posted By: dh205
Date Posted: August 16, 2005 at 12:15 AM
the 6.5" components and the 6x9's are on the 4channel and all those speakers are 4ohms. the 4 channel amp im using is rated at 120Wrms x4 @4ohms. the components are 100Wrms and the 6x9's are 110Wrms.
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2004 hondaaccord sedan alpinecda9827HU, 2kicker sx650.1monoamps, alpinemrv-f540 4ch, 2 kappaperfect 10.1svc subs(350rms ea.), kappa 6.1 components(front), kappa 693.5i 6x9's(rear).
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