Sub turning off....

[koihoshi]

So on my trip to portland my bass suddenly seems to just disappear, leaving only my 4 way premiers to their working.

It comes back a minute later. Goes off, comes back on then goes out for good.

I decide "ok something is wrong, just a sub or not, i'm pulling over." so i pull over and one of the 12v wires was loose. I tighten it back up and it was fine.

does it again an hour later. (these are 1 hour increments.)

Get out, check it out, no wires loose. i figure "must not be the wire."

Checked my fuses but when i touched the amp it was BURNING HOT!

On the way back it did it again. I pull over, amp is BURNING hot to my hand. Obviously not causing a fire, but still hurt to touch it. I turned it off and let it be for 20 minutes, cooled it off...

Do amps have a kick off if they get to a certain temperature?

Here is the things that are fine:

- Ground
- 12v connections
- RCA cables
- Mounting

The only time it's doing this is on very long trips. Mind you i prefer my volume at 20, this trip it was at 21-22, louder than usual. 20 when driving is not really that loud on this stereo system, i can hear it, but the road noise still drowns out a lot. 21-22 is i can hear everything. 23-26 is VERY LOUD.

Perhaps turning it up louder is heating up the amp and it's kicking off over the course of a very long time? It's in my trunk so perhaps it's a ventilation issue? It's a 400 watt amp pushing a 12" pioneer sub.

[koihoshi]

Got the brand and model. Camera pic sorry.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd58/koihoshi/zx2/IMAGE_196.jpg

SPL Z2X-400

[03zx2]

I would suggest giving it better ventilation since It kept getting very hot.It also might mean the amp is on its way out.I have had some amps in the past get hot like that then never work again.Just get a computer case fan and have it blow air onto the amp.

[koihoshi]

Well it isn't normal i go on long trips like this. It's in the trunk. I can try cutting up a section and leading a 12V case fan into it. I do have the connections for it and a leftover case fan from my computer. Time to pull out the dremel. Thanks for the info.

[03zx2]

no prob.

[dragon2200]

Most new amps have a shut off feature for when they overheat to prevent fires or damage to the amp.

Also make sure it is wired correctly, incorrect ohm resistance can cause an amp to overheat very quickly if it is not 1 or 2 ohm stable. just a thought.

[SoCalZX2]

Stop running so much power through it. If you turn the gain down, you won't be pushing the amp to it's limits.

As previously stated, most newer amps have internals that will turn the amp off before a melt down occurs.

[ZX2R]

What ohm load is the sub running? I looked at specs for the amp and I saw that it's 2 Ohm stable in stereo, but I didn't see a bridged Ohm reccomendation.

[JC'szx2]

bridge is usually not recomended by manufacturer. i believe that te ohms should be the same on a d/c circuit bridged or not. 1 ohm speaker could cause this problem

[soundman1024]

I'm guessing you're running at 4 ohms, and that your resistance isn't an issue, but to make sure..when you say you have the amp bridged please explain a bit more. It could be that you have a 4 ohm sub with two voice coils. Depending on how you've put both channels together it would be possible to be operating at one ohm. This could also be with a 2 ohm sub with one coil.
Also if you have a two ohm dual voice coil sub you could be running a half an ohm.


In addition did you check your positive and negative power wires to see if either of them feels warm? Check the power signal wire too. If any feel warm that is a warning sign that there is a bad connection somewhere. Should you find a warm wire check all connections for that wire and make sure there's as much wire making contact as possible.

[ZX2 Sleeper]

I didn't read the whole post. But i had this issue going to a car show. It took me blowing 2 subwoofers and almost an amp. One of the speaker wire's we're shorting out on the body.

I miss that damn bazooka sub!