[jetmech]

A buddy of mine has a small sytem that we tried to get up and running today with no success. He has a sub box with 2 15's, a 300 watt amp and a Kewood head unit that came out of his old car. All the stuff has been sitting in a closet for the last 4 or 5 years. Got everything together today, turned on the head unit and the subs didn't do anything except a steady "pop" every few seconds and the two LED's on the amp would flash back and forth(power led and protect led). As far as he remembers, it all worked fine when he pulled it out of his old car. We're thinking either the amp or the subs are smoked,but we don't know how. Any suggestions? Pretty sure the amp is getting a good ground. If it matters, it's an '03 VW GTI. Other than the subs, everything else works and sounds good.

 

[ibanender]

A buddy of mine has a small sytem that we tried to get up and running today with no success. He has a sub box with 2 15's, a 300 watt amp and a Kewood head unit that came out of his old car. All the stuff has been sitting in a closet for the last 4 or 5 years. Got everything together today, turned on the head unit and the subs didn't do anything except a steady "pop" every few seconds and the two LED's on the amp would flash back and forth(power led and protect led). As far as he remembers, it all worked fine when he pulled it out of his old car. We're thinking either the amp or the subs are smoked,but we don't know how. Any suggestions? Pretty sure the amp is getting a good ground. If it matters, it's an '03 VW GTI. Other than the subs, everything else works and sounds good.

It could be a bad fuse (even if continuity checks out), poor ground, or bad amp. Depending on the conditions it was in when it sat, it could be a broken solder joint or bad transistor, or unlikely but possibly corrosion on the board. Again, this all depends how it was stored. If it was stored NOT in climate controlled for a while any of those things could have happened.

 

[jetmech]

Thanks for the reply Sean. I thought originally that it could have been a bad ground, but that's where it ended. I guess we should have explored some more. Frustration was setting in quickly and something might have got broken had we kept going. He's going to mess with the ground tomorrow and see if a better option is available. The amp was stored in a bedroom closet all this time so heat/humidity shouldn't have been a factor, but anything is possible. If all else fails, he may have to have a car stereo shop look into it. I've dealt with one locally that seems to be really good and honest.

 

[Twentyhurtz]

whats the vc config on the subs, is it your typical 2ohm stereo stable amp? Thought maybe for a second it could be wired up at 1ohm mono if they are dvc 4ohm, but then i do think it would only remain in protect, and not tend to alternate between status's. First thing i would do is break out the meter..

 

[ibanender]

Thanks for the reply Sean. I thought originally that it could have been a bad ground, but that's where it ended. I guess we should have explored some more. Frustration was setting in quickly and something might have got broken had we kept going. He's going to mess with the ground tomorrow and see if a better option is available. The amp was stored in a bedroom closet all this time so heat/humidity shouldn't have been a factor, but anything is possible. If all else fails, he may have to have a car stereo shop look into it. I've dealt with one locally that seems to be really good and honest.

You could always disconnect the speakers from the amp and see what it does too. That would eliminate the speakers themselves. If it STILL does it I'm willing to bet the amp is bad. If there are any vents in the amp case, dust could be shorting things out too.

whats the vc config on the subs, is it your typical 2ohm stereo stable amp? Thought maybe for a second it could be wired up at 1ohm mono if they are dvc 4ohm, but then i do think it would only remain in protect, and not tend to alternate between status's. First thing i would do is break out the meter..

No matter the coil config, unless it's a super sensitive protect circuit, you could wire a 4 ohm amp to 1 ohm, or even 0.5 ohm and it would turn on and play at low volumes. When impedance goes down, current goes up, and that's what the protection is for "over current". If the outputs are rated for say, 20 amps and it's a 4 ohm amp, you could max out the circuit @ 1 ohm with say, 20 watts.

 

[FBGM]

Even if it is grounded and you think it's grounded perfect, paint will cause it to not have a good ground. If you do have it grounded to the painted frame, try scraping some of the paint off until you see the metal, then re ground it to the newly exposed metal.

 

[jetmech]

I don't think he got a chance to look into it today. We attached the ground to what we thought was a ground stud in the back of the car, it had two other ring terminals attached. If that's not the problem, I'd say the amp took a shit. We thought about configuration as well, but nothing changed since the last time he had it up and running. Just another typical electrical puzzle. I thought about putting my JL amp in his car for a minute, but don't want to take any chances in case something is hooked up wrong.

 

[DIRTYDIRTY]

id have to guess , to low of a current load

 

[ibanender]

I don't think he got a chance to look into it today. We attached the ground to what we thought was a ground stud in the back of the car, it had two other ring terminals attached. If that's not the problem, I'd say the amp took a shit. We thought about configuration as well, but nothing changed since the last time he had it up and running. Just another typical electrical puzzle. I thought about putting my JL amp in his car for a minute, but don't want to take any chances in case something is hooked up wrong.

Ground should be fine then. Seriously change out the fuse though, even if it looks good. The use of a DMM could come in handy for diagnosis also.

 

[jetmech]

Now that our "weekend" is almost here again, we will hopefully figure something out in the next few days. Going to relocate the ground and try a new fuse and see where that gets us. And we will surely get a meter this time. We both forgot ours at work last week.