Need sound system help fast!

[drifterx]

Allright, i drove out to golf practice today, system was bumpin great. I have 2 amps, on a dual distribution block, one small one for my 6x9's, and a big one for my subs, and then a 1.2 farad capacitor. I golfed for about 2 and a half hours, then when i was driving home, the subs quit, and my 6x9's went to static. Then everything quit, and my capacitor went down to about 8 volts (normally 14.5), then when i shut the whole thing off, it went back up to normal volts, and then it quit too. I checked my connections, power cable, rca's, everything is good. I cant figure this damn thing out, and its pissin me off! :mad: I hooked everything up myself, and it worked for 2 months, so i know it was right at one time. I did turn on my truck once, and the subs only worked at low volume, but when i turned it up a little louder, the power light on my amp went out, and i had nothing again.

Please help me!!!!! I appreciate all i get!

[gojk]

Sounds like the battery or alternator. I would check there first. Does the truck start fine. If so, search for a short somewhere in the powerline. If it was a short it should have popped the fuse.

[SHOCKER]

they would work at all if the fuse was blown

[badass300ex]

Check the fuse at the battery. It may look good but somtimes the solder joints on the end can weeken so when the amps are on and drawing current its not making good contact. One way to tell is put a meter on the amp side of the fuse at the battery and read the voltage when its on or jump the fuse out just for a second to see if it comes on.

[drifterx]

I have a fuse in the back, for when i work on it, and i have one under the hood. The rear is fine, and i looked at the one under the hood and it looked ok. My capacitor has a voltage readout, and it was about 6 volts too low, then turned off. I just put a new alternator on it a month and a half ago, so i know that isn't it. The battery might be, but the truck starts fine, and it says its charging great. I'll check for shorts tomorrow, but who knows. I hope my amp isn't fried, i just got it in october.

[SixthFloorFreak]

sounds like the voltage regulator on the alt to me

oh, and ditch the cap...does absolutely nothing positive for your system, and is only an additional draw on your batt and alt

[drifterx]

It says the amp is charging fine though. And the cap did help, when i put it on. I dimmed my lights like crazy, and now it doesn't dim.

[drifterx]

OK, i rechecked the back fuse, and put a whole new fuse block, and fuse in the front. Plugged it in, same story. But now my subs crackle when the bass hits, and the 6x9's are pure static, but cracke with bass too. It still shuts off when i turn it up too. And my cap keeps beeping saying its very low voltage. Please, anymore help would be awesome!

[gojk]

Almost sounds like you fried an amp. I would unhook them 1 at time and see if it still does it.

[ReconRider25]

with it loosing power it sounds like an old battery or bad alternator. but with the static it sounds like there isnt high enough wattage speakers for the subs but you said it was fine before. how did you do all th connections? did you just use wirenuts on them? coulda came loose somewhere, also how do the grounds look?

[kevo081]

check the connections from the radio and i think yur amp is to small and eventually fried

[badass300ex]

Check the voltage at the battery fuse the side going to the cap.Check you cap ground to your amp and your cap ground must go to the same point if the amp ground is bad it going to source ground through the RCAs back to the headunit.

[Fender Bender]

Originally posted by SixthFloorFreak
sounds like the voltage regulator on the alt to me

oh, and ditch the cap...does absolutely nothing positive for your system, and is only an additional draw on your batt and alt

He is right.

Capacitors are constructed by separating two or more conductors called plates with an insulator called a dielectric. if an AC signal is applied to a capacitor's plates, the current will flow through the capacitor. what actually happens is that if an AC signal is applied to the plates, the capacitor will charge one way (hence current flows), then when the AC signal reverses direction the capacitor discharges and then charges in that direction. This makes it appear that the AC current is flowing through the capacitor. a DC voltage connected to the same plates will not pass through the dielectric, and no direct current will flow through. therefore, this capacitor will accomplish a few things: it will block most DC current (accessory noise suppresion), and it will store an electrical charge that can be used later.

But, when your capacitor runs out of the stored power your alternator is now trying to charge your battery AND your capacitor. They arent useless, though, they are good for blocking/filtering DC current. But if you are using a 1.2 farad capacitor, 2 good bass hits will drain it. You would be better off with a better alternator or if you have to store power with a capacitor, a 10 farad.

[gojk]

I have also seen this type of behavior when a speaker burns up a voice coil.

[drifterx]

Another thing i've noticed is that my 6x9's before had a bit of engine wine, and i was going to rerun my rca's to the other side of my cab, but when they first started acting up, the noise got much louder, like really loud. And it started screwing up, then worked fine, and started up again, right before it shut clear off. THe new fuse brought it back working screwy again, and it still works screwy every time i put the fuse back in.

Grounds are good and snug, and the connections are all good. I used spade connectors on all the power cables, and rem's, but i just stripped the speaker wire, and screwed it into the right spot. I'll take out the CD player tomorrow, and check the rca outputs, and then check the whole thing, and make sure its still good.

I don't think the amp is too small. Its an 1800w. 2 channel Soundstorm, and puts out 325w. rms a channel. I just bought my subs 2 weeks ago (2 10" Kicker comp VR's) and they handle 300w rms, so if they're f'd up, i'm going to be pissed. But, i didn't think it was a bad amp, because both my 6x9's, and subs aren't working right, i'm running them off the same connections (distribution block for power cables, and full rca's to the big amp inputs, with rca's to the smaller amp coming out of the output's on my bigger amp), and both started screwing up at the same time. I've had the big amp since october, and got the smaller one for christmas. I'll take out the subs tomorrow, and check the coils and cones and such, but i don't think thats right. The battery is older, so i guess that could be it, but the truck starts and runs fine.