a3000db, 14V on the power and ground wires, at the amp terminals 2V, what's wrong?

[45auto 10+ year member]

I have an Power Acoustik a3000db, which has been acting up lately, now it's totally dead... I have a 4ga power and ground wire, i put the multimeter to them, and I'm getting 14V, I plug them into the amp, check the terminals, and get 2 volts, i check the remote turn on lead, and the ground, and i get 13-14 volts...

What sounds like the problem?

Also, what can i use to get the amp open, it has some weird bolts on the back of it, which I don't think a regular hex key would work for...

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[oglejust 10+ year member]

bad ground maybe? my friends amp did this and it was a bad ground

 

[45auto 10+ year member]

No, the ground is great, I re did it when this first happened, and I'm getting a perfect 14V's from my power and ground... It's just that within the amp where I'm getting the 2 volts.... and it's making me cry, I'm afraid to go out in public with 6.5's providing me with my bass... Little trunk rattlers have one up on me and it's disturbing. I'm stuck in the house...

 

[oglejust 10+ year member]

sometimes when u blow ur fuse on ur power wire the rem wire tries to power it and it does that.... check ur fuse and lmao at ^^^

 

[45auto 10+ year member]

sometimes when u blow ur fuse on ur power wire the rem wire tries to power it and it does that.... check ur fuse and lmao at ^^^

The fuse on the power wire is still in tact, i know i'm getting full amperage and voltage from the wires, it's just somthing inside the amp that's the culprit... It's like it's not connecting the ground and power inside the amp fully....

 

[oglejust 10+ year member]

hm well sorry i couldnt help good luck man

 

[45auto 10+ year member]

No, that's very good help, those are two of the things I looked at when diagnosing what's wrong with the amp. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

hate to sound like a broken record, but not long ago I had a similar problem. Everything looked and measured fine with no load, but when I turned my amp on I got nothing.

After scratching my head for most of a day and taking some more measurements I discovered a short in my main agu 80A fuse holder - the fuse itself was fine. I never did come up with how a bunch of copper and gold plating could develop a short, but it did.

It used some strange spring/tensioner type fittings to squeeze the end caps of the fuse - appearently those were causing the problem.

I replaced it with a 100A anl and it's worked fine since.

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

I've seen an AGU fuse drop voltage like mad before as well... was seeing 5 volts at the amp terminals.

 

[45auto 10+ year member]

OK, I'll go out and check that tomorrow, when I'm doing the install on one of my girls systems... She'll have an amp for me to play with too...

Hope it's just the fuse...

 

[45auto 10+ year member]

Sorry I didn't get back to you guys sooner, I've just been enjoying my time with my music again... The next day after my last post, I check under the hood, to see what was up with the fuse, and that was the problem, that ***** melted.... so I got a new one, and a new fuse holder, no more problems... I also found out where my remote control was for my cd player, but unfourtnantly I brought one off of ebay for $25, so now I have two... Three if I can find the one I ripped Wal-Mart off for...

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Surest way to find something you lost is to buy another.