I have a 2003 chevy blazer with a 100amp alt. I installed a 200watt kicker amp and i 12 sub. Im having problems again with it cutting out. Should i really need a hi output alt with only a 200 watt amp?
lol i got a 1000 watt rms amp in my olds cutlass with a 85 amp alt, and it dont cut out or anything, check your ground cables, and use a wire brush to scrape off all the stuff on your batt terminals
Check you grounds. Verify your grounds with a dmm. To do this, get a dmm set it to ohms, usually set it to 200ohm scale, if the factory battery negative ground appears good, then disconnect the battery negative. With the dmm(digital multimeter) place the positive lead on the negative battery terminal and place the negative lead on the factory grounding point, now look at the dmm at remember the value expressed in ohms. Use this as your reference value. Now with the battery negative wire still disconnected, take a long enough piece of wire and measure the resistance of the wire(do this by placing one test lead on one end of the wire and the other test lead on the other end of the wire and take note of the measured ohms). Place one end of the long wire on one end of the test leads of the dmm and the other end of the wire on the the battery negative terminal(make sure you have a secure connection on the negative battery terminal), now with the free test lead(the one not connected to the wire)go to the area where you intend to install the negative ground point for your amplifier, scrape a little paint away and place the test lead on the grounding point and note the measured resistance. (Do not worry if the measured resistance is higher than when you first measured the negative battery terminal to factory ground) Now subtract the measured resistance that you found in the wire earlier from the measured resistance you found at the amplifier grounding point and compare this measurement to the battery negative factory ground, shoot for a difference of no more than .5 ohms from the factory negative battery ground (obviously the lower the difference the better).This would be a good grounding point for your amplifier(s).
Why do people turn sound systems into mathematical equations that are difficult to follow??? Re-wire/check that your equipment is installed to the manufacturers specs. If needed place a good capacitor on it. If that doesn't work just cry.
Edit: The TOTAL measured resistance should not be more than .5 ohms, not .5 difference from the factory ground battery negative ground. So shoot for a total measured resistance of less than .5 ohms. Hey Ryan, car audio involves mathematics but it is not "hard to follow" by any means, plenty of "professional shops" skimp on this procedure, and it is why so many amplifiers fail/overheat over a period of time. When you take this simple step it will add years of enjoyment to your audio equipment that you payed hard earned(or not so hard earned for that matter) money for.
Thanks, im going to try that this weekend. I have to take apart a little of the interior and get a new meter. I am noticing that when I unplug one of the RCA inputs I can get the same volume but it doesnt cut out. The volt meter on the dash still moves and the lights dim but the amp wont cut. I emailed kicker and they said dont run it with only 1 rca input but it was like that for a week when Circuit shitty hooked it up and I tried it like that another time for a few days without problems. Is this a bad thing to do? Thanks very much for all of your help guys!
It might be your rca cable. For around 50 buks you can get a rellie decent 5 meter long monster cable. Id reccommend that. Other companie like fosgate,stinger,jl audio all are producing good cables as well.
I found the problem. The speaker was hooked in series but wrong. Circuit Shitty took one coil and hooked the leads together and ran the bridged wire to the other coil. So I was running the amp bridged at 2ohm. Thats why it kept cutting out and overheating. The battery terminal was only hand tight too. I will never let circuit city touch my truck again. BTW thanks for everyones help, the system sound soooo good now!
Actually, you still dont have anyright to dis on circuit in general. As an x installer for circuit city, also a Product Specialist for computer hardware, I strongly disagree. Just because one person has a bad experience dont mean its a bad company. Yes it was their fault in this one, but the thing is if there was a problem they would have fixed it free. Installation warrenty covers all details like this. So dont be hatin on circuit city. Id just hate the guy that installed it there. Send in a complaint with the employees name. Like i said its a persons fault, not the store in general.
Well, I was told by my girlfriend when I was interested in having the stereo installed that she also had a bad experience with them. Im not a pickey person but there was a laundry list of problems with my install expereince. It seems that they dont hire experienced enough employees for the most part. Maybe you are the exception. I took it back and another guy looked at it and said he fixed it but didnt do anything. Maybe there is a reason you are an x installer. Maybe you outgrew the job and moved on. The guys that installed my gear were representing circuit city so thats all I have to go bo for now. No offence to you Tim but It was an awfull experience that i went through. I was there a few times.