Amp Sometimes Turn On/Off

[spiralshock]

Basically i figured out that something is loose, i dont know much about how the sound sys works and the cables and wires - what not lol. neways i need someone to come check out my system for a fee of course lol. I noticed if i go on bumpy roads sometimes the amp might turn on vice versa.
Bankstown Area - Sydney

Thanks

[Huggyb]

a quick check which will give an easy diagnosis is to get a voltmeter and stick it accross ur power and ground connections. This will tell u if you are getting power to ur amp. if you get no voltage, then yeh one of these cables is loose and from experience, its probably the ground cable not making good contact cos its pretty hard to mess up running a cable from the battery into the amp. If thats alright, then it may be your speaker wires, if all speakers attached are turning off, there may be a short in one of the speaker connections causing the amp to go into protection, but this will usually light up some sort of light on your amp, so you could check that out too.

I reckon you should have a go at diagnosing and fixing it yourself. That way u will save urself a buck and learn a thing or two in the process and ull know where to look next time. If you search this site as well as a couple of other car audio forums (such as www.mobileelectronics.com.au) you will find mountains and mountains of information that will help u out.

otherwise yeh...im sure therell be plenty of people on here who would be willing to fix it for you

[keniirox]

a quick check which will give an easy diagnosis is to get a voltmeter and stick it accross ur power and ground connections. This will tell u if you are getting power to ur amp. if you get no voltage, then yeh one of these cables is loose and from experience, its probably the ground cable not making good contact cos its pretty hard to mess up running a cable from the battery into the amp. If thats alright, then it may be your speaker wires, if all speakers attached are turning off, there may be a short in one of the speaker connections causing the amp to go into protection, but this will usually light up some sort of light on your amp, so you could check that out too.

I reckon you should have a go at diagnosing and fixing it yourself. That way u will save urself a buck and learn a thing or two in the process and ull know where to look next time. If you search this site as well as a couple of other car audio forums (such as www.mobileelectronics.com.au) you will find mountains and mountains of information that will help u out.

otherwise yeh...im sure therell be plenty of people on here who would be willing to fix it for you

thats right its most possible reason is ur ground wire from the amp ... if u dont have the voltage meter loook straight at the amp and follow the negativbe wire ( black ) and follow through and see how the connecttion is to the body of the car mayb tighten up the wires that are connected to the amp ! have a fiddle with the amp be sure to have the power offf and be sure not to let the negative touch the positive :):)

[Huggyb]

another replacement for the voltmeter is a light bulb or you can pretty much use any other 12v electrical device and wire it accross the two terminals and see if it works. If it is the ground, try taking off the ground and sand the paint off the area of contact where it is and then put it back on nice and tightly. oh and you can put some dielectric grease or paint over it after u connect it again to protect it from rust.

[ICACHA]

crankin car audio is at

rear of 124 eldridge road condell park (corner of wilfox)

[spiralshock]

thanx, ok so i believe its the ground wire as well, so im looking for a black cable near the battery. is there any precautions i should take will going near the battery lol

[Huggyb]

lol no...its not the ground cable from the battery...it will be a black cable coming out of your amp, which should lead somewhere and bolt to the body of your car somewhere nearby. but yeh, ud be best to unplug the battery (by removing the negative terminal) before working on it to save blowing anything.

[_matt07]

yeah same thing happened to me last year turns out the ground cable was too short and kept disconnecting causing amp to turn off.. not a big problem u can DIY by just searching for faulty conections

[spiralshock]

um, i found out the ground cable is VERY secure... so its not that... wat else could it be?

[beeza]

Mine was a dodgy power cable.

Need to take out all wiring,check,replace if needed and re-wire.

B4 you do that,check the fuse.

[spiralshock]

well, i dont know if its a blown fuse, but when i take out the fuse, the metal piece inside the cover was stuck to the amp, so i had to grab it tightly to take out the whole fuse. plus is amp fuse different to car fuse?

[spiralshock]

if the amp turns on and off, the fuse shouldnt effect it?

[beeza]

Sorry,should have been more specific.I meant the fuse running off the positive side of the battery,on the power cable.
If the fuse isn't making a good connection or the wires at the fuse.But an exposed wire touching the chassis can make it cut out.Just check all connections and wires.

It can only be the amp or the wiring.

The wires should run down the side of the car under the trimming.That just pops in and out.It's not hard,just follow the wiring.

There's a grounding strap off the amp,if it's too short that can cause it to cut out.

Is the amp old,it happens over bumps,could be old sensitive.But probably the wiring.

[spiralshock]

kool, i will inspect the wires.

[_matt07]

nah if the fuse is gone it wont turn on randomly..could be a faulty connection that is touching and separating as you drive

[dahon]

it most likely isnt a fuse,
as the others said use a voltmeter to monitor the amps voltage inputs... and yeh check your wiring... did u wire it to the battery direct or did you stick a switch in between?
also when you wired it to your head unit did you wire it to the trigger switch (usually a spotted cable that when you turn on your head unit itll send a 12v pulse to trigger turning on your amp... check that, that may be faulty - ie your head unit may be triggering the amp for no reason)
what i would suggest is to recreate what happens to the amp... turn the system on and shake it and see what happens.. or turn it off and do the same thing...
if all the external wiring is secure and working you have a problem inside the amp.. then its most likely a loose connection, switch or circuit...

[spiralshock]

ok i fixed the issue>>the pwr wasnt going to the amp cause of corrosion of the fuse next to the battery. anyways another problem arised. the sub now makes noise like squeeling, but it still pumps. so when i turn the volume up, its ok i cant hear the squeel but when the volume is down or 0 i can hear a squeel coming from the sub. Also when i start on the car with the volume on 0 i hear like the engine noise kinda thing pumped through my sub, what u guys think it is? mayb i try record the noise?

[beeza]

Sounds like the amp or the wires.First just jiggle the wires around and see if you can find anything.

[dahon]

amps low pass filter on? change ur crossover settings to a lower frequency... along the lines of 80Hz? might be that the sub may be trying to pump out higher frequencies... and all ur getting are squeels...

[trism]

nah its not the LPF, that wouldnt affect it.

is the squeel only when the car is running?

does it increase when you rev the car?

if so, its caused by a ground loop issue

meaning the amp is grounding out on teh chassis of the car

the amp should not be touching the car metal to metal anywhere

if it is screwed down, check to make sure that its not screwed irectly to metal, or that the screws dont hit metal

[dahon]

ahh ic ic...
chuck carpet under it... hehehe

[trism]

yup exactly

or, get a bit of wood, like mdf, liquid nails it to the metal, then using screws that wont go thru the thickness, screw the amp to it

[spiralshock]

yeh i noticed it only squeels when the engine is on, the amp is mounted behind the back seats, with 4 screws. i dont understand what i need to do lol.
it the squeel doesnt increase if i rev the engine, infact it decreases, only when i idle u will hear it or volume down.

[trism]

checkl what i said anyways

make sure the mounting screws arent screwed into the metal of the seat back

[spiralshock]

ive taken my car to and audio specialist, and they say its earth problem with the head unit rca or something lyk dat. neways its $40 buks to fix it, is it worth it?

[beeza]

Sh!t Yeah! $40 is cheap!