did my sub fry my amp?

[ranmansnaple 0]

I have a zx1500.1 kicker amp 1500 watts at 2 ohm's//. 2 ohm stable,,,, a duralast gold battery. (primary) 0 gauge knu wire. I just put it all in my f-150 . it all worked great with my two type r 12" wired at 4 ohms. but i recently got a 15" Fi BL fully loaded dual 1 ohm. I built a box and wired it up, set the gains and it worked great for about 4 hours. then the amp suddenly shut off. i'de hard reset it and it would work for another 2 minutes and go in to protect again. so i got the duralast gold. cuz it worked great with the amp and 4 type R's at 2 ohms in my galant. no voltage drops. .......... so i put one in my truck and it made no difference. eventually it just didn't turn on at all.

I figured it was a weak alternator and started saving. i don't have a H/O yet. Now 2 months later of no sub, letting the battery charge, my friend revs the engine and i flick the switch to turn the amp on and straight to a red light. so i put the DMM on the sub and it's 1.4 ohm. would that have fried my amp? running it full blast for 4 to 5 hours at 1.4 ohms.

should i get my amp bench tested?

any help is greatly appreciated. I really would like to listen to my $400 sub again soon. Thanks

[thebiggmann12 14]

did u wire the sub down to .5 ohm or up to 2 ohm?

[ranmansnaple 0]

I wired it in series to 2. But it's more like 1.4. each coil is a little less then 1 ohm.

[kirill007 52]

Was it hot after you have played it 4-5 hours?

Could be fried because you were playing too long, and the voltage probably dropped and keep on dropping till it fried the amp.

[ranmansnaple 0]

yeah maybe. I put the Dmm on the amps connections and it reads 13 or so volts but as soon as I turn it on it's goes to like 9 or 8. And I'm not sure if it was hot. I did smell smoke when I was messing with it once and that's what made me not touch it for two months.

[Tmax98 3]

smoke yikes!

[ranmansnaple 0]

Lol so I should get it bench tested. If it's terminal I should put my alternator money toward a sundown 1500d?

[Tmax98 3]

i don't know how old your amp is but if you aren't worried about damaging the amp and ruining the warranty.

I say crack it open and see if u see any burnt spots.

[Bearlokey13 2]

Put your alternator money toward an alt because it sounds to me like low voltage killed your amp.

[ranmansnaple 0]

I just thought about my post. I don't really want a stack of fried amps in my closet. I should probly fix the voltage problem too. Cuz that's why the voltage drops at the amp cuz it draws more then it's getting right? But the sundown is 1500 at 1 ohm so that's less and is it more eficient?

[ranmansnaple 0]

oh what the heck I'll get an alt no matter what. Just to sleep better

[ranmansnaple 0]

thanks for all your help everybody.

[kirill007 52]

If the voltage drops to 8-9 volts if it's not even playing and just going in protect, then its probably a dead battery.

[ranmansnaple 0]

I don't think so but maybe, the truck starts fine after I tried that I meen I left it alone for two month then I turn the amp on and it instantly goes in to protect

Edited April 21, 2010 by ranmansnaple

[KU40 173]

8-9 volts should not happen and not only means death for your amp in many cases if it does not go into protection, but it can damage various other OEM electronic components in your vehicle as well.

You're confusing the resistance number you're seeing on the DMM for the sub with the impedance that the amp will see. Amplifiers are rated for nominal impedance, in your case 2 ohms. Your sub is dual 1 ohm nominal impedance, so when you wired it in series you have a nominal 2 ohm load for the amp, exactly matching its specs. Resistance is a DC measure, impedance is AC.

Chances are highly probable that you fried the amp with low voltage. Do NOT get a Sundown 1500D until you fix the voltage problems, as it will have the same problem. Don't worry about comparitive efficiencies in class D sub amps as it normally has little net result. If the Kicker is 85% efficient (about average for a class D) and the Sundown is 90%, the difference is that the Sundown will draw 120 amps @ 14 volts to make that power while the Kicker will draw 126 amps. When you already have voltage problems that drop it down to 8-9 volts, that 6 amps is not going to matter at all. Also, unless you get a recone, you won't be using a Sundown 1500D at its full potential since it is rated down to 1 ohm. You will only get about 800 watts at the 2 ohms you have the BL wired to.

Where is your ground wired to? Make sure it's in a very good spot.

[ranmansnaple 0]

wow thanks for the inlightenmemt. I will be getting the h/O alt and hoping the amp isn't fried for good. You will be hearing from me again if it is. In the meen time I'll double check my ground is in a good spot. Right now it's on a seat bolt and I scraped the paint .thanks very much.

Edited April 21, 2010 by ranmansnaple

[ranmansnaple 0]

Ok it's fixed. thanks for telling me to check my grounds. and my friend told me that trucks are different then cars, there not all one piece. the cab isn't attached to the frame except by the pencil thin grounding wire. i had the amp grounded to the seat bracket bolt. but i guessed that wasn't good enough. so i added another ring terminal to that bolt and put the 0 awg through the floor to the frame. them i made my big 3 a big 4 with a frame to batt -.

It works great now thanks for all your help.

and heres my PSA: don't assume your ground is "good enough"

[jcarter1885 995]

, congrats on getting things working. Yeah I hate that about trucks myself.