Hi,

I recently invested some money into my sound system

Got
2- 12 inch Kicker DVC subwoofers (400 watts rms each)
1- 7540a Infinity 4 channel car amp
1- 2 Farad Tsunami Capacitor
+ 4 gauge wiring
already had a nice dual pre out mp3 player HU
Problem =
Everytime I pump the music up... the amp shutz off, than turns back on. When I went to my trunk to see the amp , I see that the power light on the amp goes off and the protect light comes on for 2 seconds, than it returns to power for another 6 -7 seconds,and back to protect for another 2... (like a pattern) <--- Also it dims the lights like mad... (even with the capacitor), but whenever i keep the music low it doesnt shut off or go to protect.

Does anyone know whats going on? Is it my amp? will I need another battery? another cap?


Btw... for those few seconds that it works, it is unbeleivable! great bass

 

Without knowing the specs on your subs and amp or how you have them wired, it seems like your pulling too much power for the amp. Are your subs 4 ohms each? If so, did you bridge them to the amp? What ohm rating is the amp stable down to, 4 or 2 ohm?

 

ac delco batteries are darn good batteries. Imma yellow top optima myself but ac delcos are great. Like stated above you need to check your ohm ratings and see what you have your subs wired at. They are pulling to much juice cuasing your amp to go into protect mode.

 

My amp stats says it can use 2 ohm
Details:

ť 4-channel car amplifier
ť 111 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (139 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)
ť 278 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms in bridged mode (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)
ť 2-, 3-, or 4-channel output
ť variable high-/low-pass filters (32-320 Hz, 12 dB/octave)
ť variable Bass EQ (0-12 dB @ 50 Hz)
ť CEA-2006 compliant
ť preamp- and speaker-level inputs
ť preamp outputs
ť 8-gauge power and ground leads recommended — hardware and wiring not included with amplifier
ť 16-3/8"W x 2-11/16"H x 12-1/8"D
ť fuse rating: 30A x 2
ť warranty: 1 year



and here is the sub stats:

KICKER 05CVR12" is subwoofer with dual 2-ohm voice coils.It has the following features:



suitable for marine use
injection-molded polymineral cone
double-stitched, foam-ribbed Santoprene rubber surround
frequency response: 25-500 Hz
power handling: 50-400 watts RMS
peak power: 800 watts
sensitivity: 86.5 dB
top-mount depth: 6-5/16"

 

Do have the subs ran in series or parrell?? also is the amp bridged into 2 channel just for bass?? or is the amp you have run everything in the car?? (door speakers / rear deck speakers) Sounds like the ohm load is too low for this amp thats why the amp is protecting itself.

 

How is the amp grounded?

The reason I ask is because the very first aftermarket system I ever had was installed by a "professional" car stereo shop. After I paid and they brought my car around, I found it exhibiting the same behavior. When I pointed it out to them and demanded they fix it, they told me it was a cheap amp and it wasn't their fault. After messing around with it myself in the parking lot for a little while I realized they had bolted the amp directly to the chassis (underneath the false floor) without any kind of grommits or insulation. So it was just a bad ground loop.

 

the amp iz only used for the subwoofers.... but another thing is, it flickers the lights like MAD... you can fully tell there dimming at night time when it hitz a low bass noise...

 

Yeah, you will need to run each subs 2 voice coils in series to produce a 4 ohm load. Then connect one sub, bridged to 2 channels and the other sub to the other 2 channels in bridged mode. This connection will be a stable 4 ohm load to the amp.

 

Just wondering, why would you use a 4 channel amp for subs?.. Id rather have a b/d or d class amp for subs. But none the less, i would think itd be a ground as well...

Dual 2 ohm subs, means you can wire one in 1 ohm or 4 ohm, so there is no 2 ohm.

 

I thought it would be the right one, because when I saw the subwoofers, I noticed that 1 subwoofer had 2 seperate inputs (2x red/black)

 

dont understand... should I just bridge the outputs (as i would if i used a 2 ch amp?)

 

Inside the speaker box....from the positive on one terminal use a piece of speaker wire and run it to the other voice coil's negative terminal...then take the input from the box to each other positive and negative do this for both of them and the bridge it on the amp

 

Your amps wiring diagram should show how to bridge 2 channels into 1. Example; channel 1's positive and channel 2's negative will drive 1 sub. Then channel 3's positve and 4's negative will drive the other. It could also be arranged 1 and 4, 2 and 3. To run the sub in series you would connect the positive of one voice coil to the negative of the other, then run a wire off the pos. and one off the neg., they will go to the amp. Does this help?

 

oh and good luck getting rid of your dimming lights....i did a system in a 06ss/sc pulling about 1000 watts rms running 2 two farad capacitors and an optima yellowtop...i thought the entire electrical system was gonna shut off..i ended up telling the customer that it was in his best intrest to make it easy to get out of the car(he was looking at a custom fiberglass box from a shop down the street) but was worried that he would have to pay any repair cost so i made sure he could get everything out...his alt is now starting to whistle and is on it's way out after about two months...until they produce a better alt for this car your lights are probaly gonna dim no matter what you do....and rattle like crazy too

 

didn't read through the whole post...but it's a bad ground...trying grounding somewhere else or sanding the area til its rough for a better contact

 

Yes I will do that next thing tommorow, thnx for all the help (will also check the ground)

 

I'd check that cap and its connections. Something isn't right.

 

sounds like your pulling too much from the amp, is it getting warm that fast?

 

yes!... I tried the 4 ohm thing (bridging the subz) and it still didnt make any difference... So I'm guessing it the grounding

 

It still doesn't sound like you did the right thing. The 4 ohm thing is not "bridging the subz." You need to take the subs out of the box and wire their voice coils properly, as others in this thread have suggested.

Better yet, take it to an audio shop and have someone that knows what they're doing fix it before you wreck your amps, subs, or worse.

And know that when you write "subz" it makes you sound ridiculous and like you have no idea what you're doing.