SAZ-1500D keeps going into protect mode. help!

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

Ive got a SAZ-1500D hooked up to a Fi Q 18. It worked great for about 2 months, and all of a sudden the sub made a pop noise, and the amp went into protect mode. Since then, whenever you turn the amp on, the blue light will come on, and then a couple seconds later the sub just goes all the way down (pop noise), and then the amp almost immediately goes into protect mode. It will do this whether the speaker wires are hooked up or not. The local car audio shop told me i blew the amp, but i took the cover off and everything looked fine. anyone know whats going on?

[emh9009 199]

Just because everything looks fine doesn't mean it really is all fine and dandy. Looks can be deceiving.

[ssh 924]

Check your power connections, positive and ground.

Do you have a stock electrical system? Aftermarket alt, additional batteries?

[sundownz 197]

It needs service.

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

Check your power connections, positive and ground.

Do you have a stock electrical system? Aftermarket alt, additional batteries?

checked all connections, checked fuse holder, checked connections at the amp. every things good and tight. stock alt, optima yellow top under the hood (i don't know what model but its the most powerful one they have), and electrical is stock for now. 1/0 big three is on the way. the stock electrical seems to hold it pretty well. at full tilt the lights dim only slightly

[ssh 924]

Check your power connections, positive and ground.

Do you have a stock electrical system? Aftermarket alt, additional batteries?

checked all connections, checked fuse holder, checked connections at the amp. every things good and tight. stock alt, optima yellow top under the hood (i don't know what model but its the most powerful one they have), and electrical is stock for now. 1/0 big three is on the way. the stock electrical seems to hold it pretty well. at full tilt the lights dim only slightly

You can't gauge voltage drop off the amount of light dimming.

You probably fried it.

You can either contact Jacob or just go directly to http://www.db-r.com/ to get it fixed.

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

Check your power connections, positive and ground.

Do you have a stock electrical system? Aftermarket alt, additional batteries?

checked all connections, checked fuse holder, checked connections at the amp. every things good and tight. stock alt, optima yellow top under the hood (i don't know what model but its the most powerful one they have), and electrical is stock for now. 1/0 big three is on the way. the stock electrical seems to hold it pretty well. at full tilt the lights dim only slightly

You can't gauge voltage drop off the amount of light dimming.

You probably fried it.

You can either contact Jacob or just go directly to http://www.db-r.com/ to get it fixed.

in every other car I've done an install in I've been able to. the brightness of the lights always correspond to the movement of the voltage meter. mine hardly moves. how would i have fried it?

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

It needs service.

any idea why though? i bought the amp from a guy who used it for all of 6 hours. and its gotten about a month of daily driving use

[ssh 924]

What was your voltage at full tilt?

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

What was your voltage at full tilt?

well i take that back, it wasn't full tilt because we didn't have the amp turned all the way up. but it was at least 3/4 tilt. and voltage was around 12.5

[ssh 924]

What was your voltage at full tilt?

well i take that back, it wasn't full tilt because we didn't have the amp turned all the way up. but it was at least 3/4 tilt. and voltage was around 12.5

Well 12.5 is well within operating voltage.

But it obvisiously doesn't work now, so id get ahold of chris at db-r?

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

What was your voltage at full tilt?

well i take that back, it wasn't full tilt because we didn't have the amp turned all the way up. but it was at least 3/4 tilt. and voltage was around 12.5

Well 12.5 is well within operating voltage.

But it obvisiously doesn't work now, so id get ahold of chris at db-r?

yeah i just emailed them. what is acceptable operating voltage? because I've seen people at comps burping with their engine off

[ssh 924]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

[95Honda 486]

The gain setting has nothing to do with the maximum output of the amp. You can get "full tilt" with the gain at 1/10 setting.

The amp is going into protect because of too much DC offset on the output, it has a protection circuit that monitors this and shuts the amp down when there is too much. This means the output stage or control of the output stage of the amplifier is damaged. This is also why the sub goes straight back.

You need to get it repaired. Nothing (input signal, wiring, etc) can cause this problem other than the amplifier itself.

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

The gain setting has nothing to do with the maximum output of the amp. You can get "full tilt" with the gain at 1/10 setting.

The amp is going into protect because of too much DC offset on the output, it has a protection circuit that monitors this and shuts the amp down when there is too much. This means the output stage or control of the output stage of the amplifier is damaged. This is also why the sub goes straight back.

You need to get it repaired. Nothing (input signal, wiring, etc) can cause this problem other than the amplifier itself.

okay well that makes sense. i gathered that it was sending the sub a dc signal from how it just went all the way down and stayed there like that. any idea what causes this or why it happens?

[Duran 387]

The gain setting has nothing to do with the maximum output of the amp. You can get "full tilt" with the gain at 1/10 setting.

The amp is going into protect because of too much DC offset on the output, it has a protection circuit that monitors this and shuts the amp down when there is too much. This means the output stage or control of the output stage of the amplifier is damaged. This is also why the sub goes straight back.

You need to get it repaired. Nothing (input signal, wiring, etc) can cause this problem other than the amplifier itself.

okay well that makes sense. i gathered that it was sending the sub a dc signal from how it just went all the way down and stayed there like that. any idea what causes this or why it happens?

Your answer in red.

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

The gain setting has nothing to do with the maximum output of the amp. You can get "full tilt" with the gain at 1/10 setting.

The amp is going into protect because of too much DC offset on the output, it has a protection circuit that monitors this and shuts the amp down when there is too much. This means the output stage or control of the output stage of the amplifier is damaged. This is also why the sub goes straight back.

You need to get it repaired. Nothing (input signal, wiring, etc) can cause this problem other than the amplifier itself.

okay well that makes sense. i gathered that it was sending the sub a dc signal from how it just went all the way down and stayed there like that. any idea what causes this or why it happens?

Your answer in red.

I know but like how did the output stage get damaged? this amp is only 6 months old

[ford302redneck 15]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

You know that makes no sense. Not saying its your fault but regardless.

For the most part, this is a 12 volt amp, and can take +4 volts above 12 volts but its bad to go less than 1 volt below?

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

You know that makes no sense. Not saying its your fault but regardless.

For the most part, this is a 12 volt amp, and can take +4 volts above 12 volts but its bad to go less than 1 volt below?

i was thinking the same thing. cuz I've been running my mats 3000.1 on a stock alt and often go into the 11's at full tilt. never had a problem

[ssh 924]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

You know that makes no sense. Not saying its your fault but regardless.

For the most part, this is a 12 volt amp, and can take +4 volts above 12 volts but its bad to go less than 1 volt below?

If it's seeing 16v at full tilt, then it obviously has enough amperage for the current draw.

If it's dropping into the 11s at full tilt, there isn't enough amperage to satisfy the current draw, shit starts getting really hot.

Or am I wrong?

Do I believe dropping into the 11s for short amounts of time is going to instantly kill the amp? No.

However, I do believe that if your driving down the road for 45 minutes playing at full tilt, and your voltage is in the 11s for the majority of the time, then yes I think that will eventually kill the amp.

I owned a virtually brand new saz1500d v2 about six months ago, had it on good electrical, no issues, got slightly warm at full tilt, never hot. I only used it for about month then sold it on CL.

I told the guy who bought it, that if he wasn't using additional batteries and/or a high output alternator, or gained down, that he would likely fry the amp.

He called me two weeks later asking if I had a receipt for it, he fried it, wanted to see if the warranty would cover it.

Does my story mean I'm right? Maybe, maybe not, maybe the amp was faulty and it just happened to break right after I sold it.

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

You know that makes no sense. Not saying its your fault but regardless.

For the most part, this is a 12 volt amp, and can take +4 volts above 12 volts but its bad to go less than 1 volt below?

If it's seeing 16v at full tilt, then it obviously has enough amperage for the current draw.

If it's dropping into the 11s at full tilt, there isn't enough amperage to satisfy the current draw, shit starts getting really hot.

Or am I wrong?

maybe sundown is more prone to heating up with low voltage. I've straight up dogged my mmats for 2 hours driving to hatteras, and its not even that hot. lile it'll be pretty warm but not too hot to touch. I used to have a TMA (JL) T2-1000.1, and that thing would burn your damn fingers if you touched it after running it hard

[95Honda 486]

I think the amp has thermal shutdown also (like pretty much all amps these days), so I think you are kind of wasting time trying to figure this out...

Either you did something to damage the amp, or a part went bad. That's pretty much it...

And when something blows and you aren't there when it happens, it is 100% speculation at that point.

Hell, we don't know if you had a strand of wire short between + output and Remote, or ground..... Something as simple as this can destroy an amp.... People forget about these things way to often...

Personally, if I were Sundown, I wouldn't warrantee anything installed by the end user...

[ford302redneck 15]

Dropping into the 11s isn't good, but generally short bursts wont be anything detrimental. I think they've also been ran up to 16v or so.

But jacob would know best.

You know that makes no sense. Not saying its your fault but regardless.

For the most part, this is a 12 volt amp, and can take +4 volts above 12 volts but its bad to go less than 1 volt below?

If it's seeing 16v at full tilt, then it obviously has enough amperage for the current draw.

If it's dropping into the 11s at full tilt, there isn't enough amperage to satisfy the current draw, shit starts getting really hot.

Or am I wrong?

Do I believe dropping into the 11s for short amounts of time is going to instantly kill the amp? No.

However, I do believe that if your driving down the road for 45 minutes playing at full tilt, and your voltage is in the 11s for the majority of the time, then yes I think that will eventually kill the amp.

I owned a virtually brand new saz1500d v2 about six months ago, had it on good electrical, no issues, got slightly warm at full tilt, never hot. I only used it for about month then sold it on CL.

I told the guy who bought it, that if he wasn't using additional batteries and/or a high output alternator, or gained down, that he would likely fry the amp.

He called me two weeks later asking if I had a receipt for it, he fried it, wanted to see if the warranty would cover it.

Does my story mean I'm right? Maybe, maybe not, maybe the amp was faulty and it just happened to break right after I sold it.

I didn't mean it was your fault or your wrong, just stating in general.

And I understand the theory of less voltage needs more current to make the same power. But in a unregulated amp, less voltage = less power.

I just don't see how 11.5 volt is soooo bad but 16.5 is ok. If a amp can be designed to handle over 12volts, why isn't it designed to handle less than 12 volts, just a little bit less. Since any where in 11volts is horrible, even though 11.9 is only .1 difference.

[RAM_Designs 25]

If it's going into protect, something is up. I ran mine(on accident) down into the 9's before it starting cutting output. Looked under the hood and my main power wire was detached, and I had been running it on my extra Batcap 2000 for who knows how long...checked the voltage and it was at ~9.5V! Anyway, the 1500's are tanks, so it's probably some simple little fix that needs to be done.

Edited September 11, 2011 by RAM_Designs

[nevertoomuchbass 0]

If it's going into protect, something is up. I ran mine(on accident) down into the 9's before it starting cutting output. Looked under the hood and my main power wire was detached, and I had been running it on my extra Batcap 2000 for who knows how long...checked the voltage and it was at ~9.5V! Anyway, the 1500's are tanks, so it's probably some simple little fix that needs to be done.

yeah this amp was not seeing much 11's if any at all. the only times it would see 11's would be whenever i was with my friend cuz id always crank it. he doesnt listen to anything with serious bass like i do, nor does he crank it much cuz the bass it too much for him at full tilt haha

and there was no short at the amp terminals. i made sure there were no stray strands when i installed it, and i checked again when he brought it over after it blew. I emailed db-r a few days ago and no reply. should i email sundown too?