So I installed a kicker amp and some subs because the stock one didnt beat enough in my 2002. After about 3 setups I found one that I liked. So, it worked for a while days, week?. I was cruising one day, and I notice my subs go out...then they come back...bit of time on and off. In the next couple days it keeps doing this, if I lower the gain and volume it will play..if it goes out I can lower the volume and get them back. The amp is experiencing a fault which is why the subs stop..if I unplug the rcas, the amp is stable. No loose connections I can feel or see. I am getting source from a line driver that is sourced from rcas spliced onto the original channel for the amp for the stock sub. Sometimes I can crank the volume for highs only and the subs will kick in and stay in with no faults. What's causing the power fault in my amp so randomly? I am not really sure where to go from here...

Thanks...still tinkering..

Saddles

 

Set your gains correctly....

 

Get an a/m head unit and run the amp from the HU's outputs, that should resolve any issues.

 

Can you tell if the amp is going into protect mode? Any LED's on it?

 

Yes, the amp is going into protect mode. Thanks for the advice of a new head unit, but I don't want one yet. Its not my gains...

 

It might be overheating...thats what mine is doing. I have a thread about my issue and I am almost done with everything.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=480219

 

that is a possibility...it started after we started having 100 degree weather every day...it seems to be better at night....BUT it first occured at night...so thats why I kind of ruled that out, heat and all... its mounted to the sub box for the time being so carpet and I'm sure airflow isnt the greatest...I keep messin with it and have it going at higher volumes now, by not doing a lot, just keep letting it play...hrmm its got me wondering...I checked to make sure the amp was stable at 2ohms because I thought that might be an issue and all specs checked out...soo but thank you for the suggestions all...about to read that overheating thread

 

I noticed that everything was working better earlier so I reset my gain and boost. Everything played and sounded good at the volume I wanted. I parked the car and drove my truck for the evening to pick up some free mdf and plywood I scored. Came back, got the car, and if I play music at the volume I was earlier when I set everything, the amp goes into protect now....turned down bass on head unit, got it back to volume 13 before I lost it...i drove around for a while, noticied i could go to volume 17 without losing it, so I went back to the same song, it was fine. Little bit later its back to losing it at 13... whats going on..

 

Maybe the amp is defective. But also the signal you're sending it is a distorted signal through the stock hu, it's not as clean as an aftermarket HU would be through the linedriver and the line driver is just amplifying the distorted signal.

Also what subs are you running and HOW are they wired to the amp? Just want to verify you didn't over look anything.

 

Amp sat in my buddies garage for a bit with god knows what exposure to...hopefully not, I havent even paid for it yet...but thats a good thing. I'm aware the signal is distorted..thats just a fact of life when you run stock stereo stuff. The linedriver has to be amplifying a distorted signal, it cant amplify a signal to be better than the one it gets...but it is necessary to get enough signal to the amp to even produce bass.

I am running crappy 10in coustics $15 a pop on ubid...the subs work though...i've used them in my other maxima...they were in my friends maxima...in my room for a while..in my friends mustang, chevelle...no problems, with this amp, more powerful ones, less powerful ones etc.
amp is bridged to 700 or somewhat...its a 300.2 but I cannot remember what it does while bridged on 8guage power wire...maybe thats why it doesn't like to work? i'll be splicing in 4 and trying to figure out how I can fit 4 guage into the connectors on the amp later this evening....so 2 wires off the amp from the bridged pos and neg, over to one sub which has pos and pos and neg and neg connected on it on the dual voice coils, then from that sub over to the other which is wired the same from its voice coils

 

Splicing in 4 guage? I hope you mean REPLACING the entire run from the battery to the amp. It's easy to get it in the amp terminal...either shave the strands till it fits, or get a spade connector.

 

This is your problem. Your amp is running BRIDGED into a 1 ohm load. It is not stable that low.

4 4 ohm voice coils wired in parallel like that = a 1 ohm load.

What you need to do is wire them in series.



Like that.

 

Yeah a spade head connector would be what I was guessing I'd go with., I was about to go shopping for them later on...splicing isnt what I wanted to do...but if I had to...bundling the wires, twisting them together...applying solder, wrapping the whole deal up, it has worked for me before, but only as a temp fix until I can redo the runs. Thanks dj, I'll be trying all this while I'm pluggin the spare tire cover up. Can't want to not have my subs sitting in the hole. Read about the adding of screws, will probably have to go that route so I wont tear it loose, I'm confident it will be fine though.

Thank you nismos for being the one with the right questions to ask. I appreciate you're taking the time to stumble through my description of wiring and find my solution without suggesting I spend a bunch of money haha. But really, thank you a lot. I'll be doing that later on tonight.

 

Also, the way I read that chart...Pos to neg of opposite VCs on each sub...then connect all remaining negatives to the neg of the amp...in the bridged mode of the amp...and all positives to positive of amp in bridged mode? Just clarifing. Thanks again for all the help.

 

Yup you got it, and no problem. Glad I could help. Now if that doesn't solve it I would suggest not buying it as their may be a defect within the amp.

 

Good luck with it.

I really didn't design/build the cover to be strong enough to hold a sub, that's the reason I have the shelf. My explanation is in the thread.

 

BTW I realize its sending the distorted signal no matter what, my suggestion was to get an A/M head unit to send a better signal.

 

Yeah..lol if that doesn't fix it, I'll just stick it back into the garage of whence it came and search out another solution for a system. Yeah I read your suggestions on the shelf...I'll be building a false floor, I procured the lumber yesterday, so I was thinking about having something that would help to carry the weight of the box as well as to mount my amp to..I'll get there...work and getting ready for school...and my girlfriend...has me run so ragged I don't have the time to work on my car for 10 hours in a day like I did on my 4th gen...things are getting slower to get done on this car. Haha...I'm trading a PC repair to get my studs knocked out and spacers installed just to get it done. An A/M head unit is coming...just gotta finish paying off the car first. Soon...sooon....Thanks guys