I am running into some problems installing a minor system . I have a Optimus 170 watt 2 channel bridgeable amp and (1) 8" Kicker 200w 8ohm svc sub. It's going into a Chevy Tahoe to replace the factory 8" located in the driver side rear panel. I have ran the Power wire , ground wire , and remote wire . Also the amp has (2) 30 amp fuse in it . I have a 30 amp fuse in the "in line fuse" is that enough also i am only running one pair of speaker wires into the amp. Well i hooked everyting up and the sub would just make popping noises and the amp's power light would blink while running like the power was fading . Does this even sound right ? Any heelp would be greatly appreciated .
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Jay Knouse
No..this does not sound right at all. Either you have a defective amp and/or a power/ground problem. The best way to quickly check this is with a digital multi meter..if you do not have one you must get one to do this without "guess work". Set the meter to measure voltage...place the neg probe to the ground terminal at the amp..place the positive probe to the positive terminal at the amp. If you don't read at least 12v theres the problem. Check the ground and power connections/wires/fuse holder etc..it's only 2 wires so really no rocket science. Just that without a meter you have no other accurate way to "see" what the electricity is doing.
Also you mention the amp has 2 30a fuses. Sounds to me like someone put those in as a 170w optimus amp would no way in this universe require 60 amps of current to operate.
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I wouldn't worry about the fuses yet but once you get it working I would try a 15 or 20 amp in each one and a 40a for the inline by the battery to protect the wire. I can't imagine that amp needing more then that.
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One more thing was the wires i have running into the amp shouldn't i just stick them in the right speaker inputs and then run the wires to the speaker from the bridged left and right outputs or would that be usless
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Jay Knouse
Um...rca cable should go into the input jacks...sub woofer should be bridged to the channels specified for bridging
Ok, if you are metering over 12v dc AT the amp then it is another issue. Also don't forget to make sure the remote is also 12v..I have seen in some instances that low voltage on the remote wire can cause this problem.
If the remote checks out as well you want to meter the speaker..make sure it measures a DC resitance close to what the ohms rating of the speaker is. If the voice coil is internally shorted it could cause the amp to cut off as well.
If everything checks out you might want to bench test that amp or subsitiute another and see what happens.
Good Luck
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