Alpine problems

[chrisjm_00 10+ year member]

Currently i have one alpine MRD-M605 amp running one type R subwoofer. Yesterday, i was driving down the road, and my sub stopped hitting. i pulled over, popped the trunk, and i saw it blinking from 13.9V to CUR. I looked in my manual and it said when it flashes that up it means that there is excessive current, and it shuts the amp off as a protection circuit. I have no idea what to do. I adjusted the gains ALLLL the way down even, to where the sub was barely hitting, and it still does it if i turn up the volume at all. Im stumped. Any suggestions? Anyone had this problem before?

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[chrisjm_00 10+ year member]

bump

 

[stones 10+ year member]

The subwoofers voice coil maybe damaged causing your amp to go into protection.

Check the coils on your sub with a DMM, the ohms for each coil/s should be in the 3.5 to 4.5 range if your sub is a 4ohm model.

 

[yoshima123 10+ year member]

my 4ch amp did that. cur flashing in the display. but it only did it once.

i think CURRENT= AMPS. maybe your power wire is to big?

 

[stones 10+ year member]

LOL, thats the stupidest noob thing ever.

What makes you think that a bigger power wire will cause an amp to go into protection? seriously I'm listening....

 

[chrisjm_00 10+ year member]

i tested both the voice coils, and i got a 4.1 reading. so i dont think its the subwoofer. do you think the amp could be shot? or could it be a bad ground? my bud is borrowing my amp right now to see if his system does it too..so i cant test the amp right now

 

[chrisjm_00 10+ year member]

i agree with stones. i may not be an audio master and know everything...but last time i checked, the amp decides how much power to pull...not the wire it self.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

If the sub is not the proplem then the voltage to the amp is the next suspect.

The voltage may have dropped below safe operating range for the amp and caused it to go into protection.

Is your electrical system in good health?, the alternator and battery are working properly.

Did you use an amp wiring kit that can supply enough current?, an 8gauge kit is the minimum size for that amp, 10 or 12 gauge is too small.

Did you remember to scrape the paint off of the area where you grounded the amp?, a poorly grounded amp will do funny things.

Another thing to do is suppliment the battery to chassis ground, to do this you connect a large ground cable from the negative battery terminal to the fender, then you do the same for the alternator by connecting a negative wire to the alternator bracket then connecting it to the fender(same place you connected the battery ground).

Upgrading the grounds to the battery can help quit a bit as all the current in the electrical system returns to the battery through these wires, the big negative wire on there right now is just for your starter. The factory system ground wire is usually only a 10 gauge which will bottle neck the system.

Here is a full guide to upgrade your factory wireing-

http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801;p=

props to cj for finding this.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

i agree with stones. i may not be an audio master and know everything...but last time i checked, the amp decides how much power to pull...not the wire it self.

Yes, this is correct. You can have a power cable that is too small that will have too much resistance and starve your amp but it would be really really hard to have too big of a power cable for an amp. Unless you got ridiculous with some 3/O or something to a small 2 channel amp but even then the only problem you would have is connecting that HUGE wire to that little bitty amp.

As far as the amp goes: sounds like a bad amp to me. If its going into protection with a 2 ohm load and its supposed to be able to handle a 2 ohm load with no problem then the amp is NOT functioning as designed. Take it back if you can.

Oh and one more thing like others have pointed out......if your electrical system is weak and can't keep up with the amps demands it will also cause it to go into protection.

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

If the sub is not the proplem then the voltage to the amp is the next suspect.The voltage may have dropped below safe operating range for the amp and caused it to go into protection.

Is your electrical system in good health?, the alternator and battery are working properly.

Did you use an amp wiring kit that can supply enough current?, an 8gauge kit is the minimum size for that amp, 10 or 12 gauge is too small.

Did you remember to scrape the paint off of the area where you grounded the amp?, a poorly grounded amp will do funny things.

Another thing to do is suppliment the battery to chassis ground, to do this you connect a large ground cable from the negative battery terminal to the fender, then you do the same for the alternator by connecting a negative wire to the alternator bracket then connecting it to the fender(same place you connected the battery ground).

Upgrading the grounds to the battery can help quit a bit as all the current in the electrical system returns to the battery through these wires, the big negative wire on there right now is just for your starter. The factory system ground wire is usually only a 10 gauge which will bottle neck the system.

Here is a full guide to upgrade your factory wireing-

http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801;p=

props to cj for finding this.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/iagree.gif.15d6c075ee8d3913ba26866d06993068.gif

 

[yoshima123 10+ year member]

UMM if voltage was the problem then the amp would flash VOL. dumbass. Like he said it is flashing CUR. and yes i am a noob, and your a shithead.

i reason i thought it was the power wire, i thought thicker the wire means more current, since it is getting to much current. it was just an idea. i was just trying to help.

I m sorry god for posting at a forum.

 

[chrisjm_00 10+ year member]

my charging system is fine. i get a constant 14.0 volts, or 13.9 volts when its operating. i think its just a bad amp. but i cant take it back because the people at best buy are a bunch of douche bags. i dont think they will let me exchange it will they? my ground is also fine. i might just say screw it and get an orion amp when i have the money.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

UMM if voltage was the problem then the amp would flash VOL. dumbass. Like he said it is flashing CUR. and yes i am a noob, and your a shithead. .

LOL, You're out of your league if you're tyring to own me kid.

As for the amp it should be covered under warranty and they will most likely exchange it for a new one.

 

[harveyy 10+ year member]

Apparently, some amps need a minimum voltage to work properly. The vehicle's electrical system, if weak, may produce drops below your amps minimum requirement, causing drops in volume and the like. This was explained to me 10 minutes ago from Steve at Profile.

For my situation, it's possible that my electrical system has drops that go below 10.5 volts, this may cause my amplifier to temporarily drop volume. The amplifier needs a higher constant voltage. To test this, he suggested adding a jumper from the power wire to the remote wire. If this is the case, as a solution, I can add a relay to the amplifier remote or connect the decks power wire to a thicker source wire to provide a constant higher voltage.

Hopefully, you can draw something of help from my dilemma. I'll give my amp the the jumper wire test this afternoon.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

^ Thats a pretty good suggestion a weak remote wire voltage could cause his problem.