lost power....

[brent338 0]

Lately more and more... its seems that my subs have been losing power.

checked amp grounds, re-did em' and sanded well. tightend terminals on rear battery; a Kinetik 2400HC.

still nothing...

hard to explain, I think my kinetik is shot...but it really isnt that old, nor have I been that hard on it.

to help;

-230A alt.

-yellow top up front

- 1/0 wire under hood, and back to rear bat. with 300A breaker.

- 1/0 to 300A breaker, to distro, to orion 2500d.

it was loud a few weeks ago... so much, it blew the light off the ceiling, and a grill of of my MB Quart's of front in the doors....

it was kinda an of and on thing, so I thought it might be a bad ground/connection, but lately its been getting worse.

Ideas?

[brent338 0]

nothing...?

well I go get the bat tested soon and see if its bad...start there.

[johnecon2001 82]

You haven't really told us anything. Is the amp shutting off? Or are the voicecoils gone on the subs. Is the amp losing signal?

[brent338 0]

amp is not shutting off...

coils on sub should be fine, no blown sounds...

besides, there build to handle 2500 rms each anyway...

It really seems like the 2nd battery is dead, I mean it just lost a lot of punch. like 1/2. which would make sense cuz that battery give it 2600 more cranking amps, than just the yellow top thats under the hood, @ 750 CCA or so. Amps can only make soo much power that they have right?

Its either that, or a blown rail on the amp... being that the orion 2500d is a dual rail amp... and thats how I got it, with a blown rail...but it doesnt act like it did then...

[creyc 1]

Is it distorting or does it sound bad?

I know often times I think my setup isn't as loud as it was at first, but that's just because I'm used to it by now.

I don't really think your battery is the problem. It wouldn't just cause the subs to sound "quieter", most likely it would just result in the amp going into protect, distorting heavily, or completely self destructing.

[johnecon2001 82]

What's the voltage on the batteries when the car is off? Disconnect them and check it out.

[brent338 0]

no distortion at all...

kinetik metered @ 12.5 volts or better disconnected.

measured at the inputs on the amp with car running, got 13+V

I'm lost...

pull the amp cover and take a look I guess.

[brent338 0]

well its the amp...

popped a couple small resistors right next to the side rail.

guess I ran it too low...

[johnecon2001 82]

ah HAH. gonna get it fixed?

[KU40 173]

as I was reading through this I kept thinking it was an amp problem. Then at the end I see you found it. I know the newish Orion amps don't like being fed under 12 volts or so. I've heard a number of people either having the problem or warning about it.

[brent338 0]

yeah gonna take it in tomorrow...

I have a volt meter on the dash, but it is very inconsistant on deciding when it feels like working or not... (stinger)

I followed the sub wiring guide from the older TC sounds site, quad coils can give you many options... I had to choose between .7 ohm or 2.8 ohm, and being an spl/nut/rookie, I went .7...

guess I should rewire the subs, or get a new volt meter...

when working...it rarely dropped below 12 volts when being pushed...

should I stay @ .7? I have a pretty upgraded electrical system...

and with imp rise it should be closer to 1 ohm right? idl much about that stuff...

or go 2.8, and play it safe... I would lose a good bit of power though right?

[KU40 173]

I don't like running amps below rated impedence at all. Box rise doesn't make me feel safe so I don't count on it.

[Van Man 0]

Id go with the 2.8...otherwise if you stay with the .7 more then likly your going to run into more problems fast unless you get a amp that can handle that...

[brent338 0]

well, he said its pretty bad.... several hours to replace parts, and then it still might not even work. parts fried all the way down the board.

soo I dont know what to do now... DBR.com?

or should I say f-it, and start looking for new amp.

[brent338 0]

err dbr.com doesn't even want to touch it...

scrap it...

time to save for a Sundown SAZ-3000...

you guys think it could take .7 ohm, with 230A alt, yellow top & Kinetik 2400...?

or should I go 2.8 with it as well...?

[KU40 173]

if you're just going to ditch it, why not try to repair it yourself? Start with the resistors you blew, and if you have a digital multimeter you can test most or all of the other components. Even if you replace a handful of resistors and tansistors and it still doesn't work, you're only out like 10 bucks. Plus you could learn a little if you didn't already know. Try going to.......I think the12volt.com to look at tutorials on how to test things. I looked somewhere online a few years ago to learn how to test the mosfets that I blew. Don't remember if it was 12volt or somewhere else though.

[brent338 0]

might have to do that...

I just picked up a cheapo meter the other day... $20, its a INNOVA 3310, from shucks. will it work?

something to learn on I guess...

it cant be that hard I bet, once you get the basics down.

[brent338 0]

well, pulled the board from the amp for a close look...

seems repairable to me...

to be honest, looks like an identical repair to the Orion 2500d on DB-R.com amp repair log.

one rail looks perfect, the other has several blown FET's, and toasted a few of the same gate drive and pulldown 1/8 watt resistors.

the guy that looked at it said, it burned threw the board, the whole rail was toast... no way to fix, and no guarantee that it would even work...

board looks perfect. might be a lot of work, but looks fixable to me...but I dont know crap about fixing amps so... maybe someone could point me in the right direction, on how to learn.

that or send it in to DBR

Edited June 15, 2008 by brent338