voltage drop d-block to amp?
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=72110
Printed Date: July 05, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Topic: voltage drop d-block to amp?
Posted By: groggy23
Subject: voltage drop d-block to amp?
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 1:25 PM
First I'll explain my setup. I have 2 amps, both Alpine, T220(components) and MRD-M605(sub), 1 fuxed stinger d-block, 1 stinger ground d-block. 1/0 gauge from power and ground to d-blocks, 4ga to sub amp, 8ga to comp amp. Here's the situation... I was wiring my new Alpine MRD-M605 couple days ago. Worked fine, I then re-arranged the 2 amps, 1 for comps, 1 for sub, thats when problems occured. When I did that I must've messed with the power/ground connections somehow. Anyway I turned it on amp gave me VLT error, meaning excessive voltage.. shut down. I moved the connection wire around to see if its a solid connection it is. Turned it on again, same thing but this time with a CUR error or too high of a current.. shut down. This happened ONLY with the sub amp, the comp amp worked fine all the time. So then I disconnected the battery terminal, took out the power and ground connection from the d-blocks to amp pushed the wire further to make sure there wasn't any exposed strands of copper wire and secured it a little tigheter this time. Now its working fine, however I noticed a slight voltage drop from the d-block to the amp. d-block reads 14.3, amp reads 13.4, but with the engine off they read about the same. Is that normal?
Replies:
Posted By: pendulum
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 3:03 PM
Volt drops mean high resistance. Check the resistance in the block and the wire going from block to amp.
Posted By: groggy23
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 3:11 PM
i do this with a voltmeter right? what should the ohms read?
Posted By: pendulum
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 3:44 PM
You'll need a multimeter. Something that reads volts, ohms, amps, and maybe more. Mine reads a few other things but I never need to use 'em. Set the meter to ohms (The Greek Omega symbol is used often) and put a probe on each end of the wire. acceptable resistance depends on length. I'd say more than 2 ohms is too high on ANY ground. Your ground should be as short as possible.
Posted By: Mad Scientists
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 6:30 PM
In my opinion, measuring voltage drop is the absolutely best way to check for high resistance connections.. crank up the amplifiers and measure voltage drop while under full load. To stimulate discussion, can anyone give me an acceptable resistance reading.. and an acceptable voltage drop reading? Jim
Posted By: groggy23
Date Posted: February 03, 2006 at 11:59 PM
Alright well I checked and double checked everything, and everything seems to be fine. I swapped in a working amp and it worked. So now I think I have a messed up amp. :( Its an Alpine MRD-M605, just bought it and installed it a couple days ago. Was working fine till I arranged the amps, I swear I dunno what I did but it screwed it up somehow. It keeps on reading "CUR" which means there's something wrong with the current. I've swapped wires, d-blocks, checked voltages, ohms, power, grounds, etc... you name it.. It just keeps on flashing "CUR" everytime it powers on. I even tried finding a way to reset the amp, no-go.. :( So I already put back my MTX 202 for now, which works perfectly and always has been. I'm going to get either a refund or exchange for that amp. Any other suggestions would be great.. And thanks a bunch for the help, I highly appreciate it. :)
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