I know I know I've been posting alot lately, but ever since installing the new setup today (800w mono amp running two 10" subs and 240w mono amp running two 7" midrange/subwoofers) my car has been having trouble with providing sufficient power to anything. Twice at work tonight my car almost died while idling. the 800 watt amp powers off and on every few seconds, the lights dim to the point where you can barely tell they're workin at all, etc.
in total its a 1040 watt system, but I havent had the time nor resources (aka wiring) to upgrade "the big 3", but the ground wire from the battery to the chassis looks like only a 14 or 16 gauge, so will upgrading that to 8 gauge have any effect if I do nothing to the positive wires? Also, the amps are running by 1 4 gauge wire each (ground and 12v) split into one 10 gauge wire to the 800 watt amp (2-3 feet long), and then a 12 gauge wire to power the 240w amp coming from the amp itself, not the distro block (thats why I bought the 8g wiring in the first place, to wire both amps to the distro block, rather than to each other. Would that have any effect if the 8 gauge wires are only going to be a maximum of 5 feet (5 ft each to the 240w, and 2-3 ft to the 800w)
If there's anything else I should consider, I bought 40 feet of power wires and 17 feet is more than enough to go from the front to the back.
upgrading your ground to the neg terminal of the battery will definatly help with the battery recharging.
also, take a multi meter to your alternator and measure the voltage across the positive to ground and see if it is producing more than 12V. of course, you do this while the car is on. if it is not producing 12+V, then you may have an alternator problem, hence the dimming lights.
Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!
thx, but it turns out the amp is f***ed, apparently the reason my 2 700w 12" subs blew up is because somehow the speaker terminals arched. I took the amp back to MJ Audio and he told me it is fried, ever since removing the amp from the circuit, everything ran fine again. would a toasted amp actually do that? if so, how badly toasted would it have to be? and if not, there's something I'm overlooking.
1st of all...YOUR WIRE IS TOO SMALL
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4 ga wire is too small for 800w mono and 240w mono amps? Or are you talking about the wire from the battery - to the chassis?
4 gauge should be ok, if it went all the way to the amps. Running 10 and 12 gauge wire after the distrobution block defeats the purpose. Upgrade the power and ground that are hooked to the amp.
-Chris
Calvin Di Bartolo wrote:4 ga wire is too small for 800w mono and 240w mono amps? Or are you talking about the wire from the battery - to the chassis?
your doing good with the 4 awg..but running 10 and 12 is probably the main problem your having.
Think of running a 12" pipe for water...then all of a sudden you reduce down to a 1" pipe. think that it's gonna flow? NO, you need to run the same wire all the way through.
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Offical dealer for the following-
SOUNDSTREAM
DB LINK
DB DRIVE
PANASONIC
GARMIN
ROSEN
SCOSCHE
XE DESIGNS
SOUNDGATE
PAC
LITEGLOW
hmm... I hear about electricity in the water metaphore alot, probably because it acts alot like it... except it doesnt always flow downhill
good analogy though. Turns out the problem was the amp was bad though
Ever since removing it, the car's worked fine. Somehow the electricity flowing to the speakers arched over the + and - terminals on the amp itself... I cant figure it out, but the burn marks from it are there...
