Am I Just Retarded Or Somethin? (Amp Problem)

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

So, On Sunday I Installed my brand new Hifonics Hercules Amp. I set the gains using a DMM to be putting out max power at volume 61 on my 880PRS. Today i was driving listening to music at volume 50 when my amp lets out the magic smoke. I have a 250 amp alt with a yellow top up front and 2 kinetik 2400's in the back. Big 3 Is Done with 1/0 and all batteries are wired with 1/0. My amp was wired from the batt with 2 ga and grounded at the batt with 2 ga. I checked my voltage at the battery and i wasnt getting any major drops. It would only vary a few tenths of a volt. My Lanzar Vibe 1200D was running just fine for months before i dropped this in. Every amp i've put in that's 2KW or higher has gone up in smoke on me. Any idea why this happens? Am I just a retard? It doesn't make any sense to me why this is happening. And it's not only amps that i've installed myself that have gone up in smoke on me. 1 was installed by Best Buy, 1 by a respectable local shop, 1 by a fellow forum member here, and 1 by me. Could it be a problem with my car's electrical? I don't want to keep spending money to blow things up. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

EDIT: The subs were dual 4 ohm subs wired down to 1 ohm btw

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[walkychalky 10+ year member]

bump...

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

anybody....??

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

So, On Sunday I Installed my brand new Hifonics Hercules Amp. I set the gains using a DMM to be putting out max power at volume 61 on my 880PRS. Today i was driving listening to music at volume 50 when my amp lets out the magic smoke. I have a 250 amp alt with a yellow top up front and 2 kinetik 2400's in the back. Big 3 Is Done with 1/0 and all batteries are wired with 1/0. My amp was wired from the batt with 2 ga and grounded at the batt with 2 ga. THAT could be the problem, too much voltage or sumthin.

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

Probably not anything you've done.

Its not unheard of for Hifonics amps to be shipped defective.

You may have just gotten a bad one.

I hope you have a warranty?

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

Probably not anything you've done.
Its not unheard of for Hifonics amps to be shipped defective.

You may have just gotten a bad one.

I hope you have a warranty?

i do have warranty......i'm just scared to install the next one and have it blow up on me again.....maybe i just have horrible luck??

THAT could be the problem, too much voltage or sumthin.

i've always thought grounding at the batt was good....please explain further if you wouldnt mind

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

how far is the battery from the amp?

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

how far is the battery from the amp?

about a foot....

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

i agree then- probably not anything you've done at all.

with those batteries in the back- no way your cars electrical can be doing anything to it unless it's massive voltage drop

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

i agree then- probably not anything you've done at all.
with those batteries in the back- no way your cars electrical can be doing anything to it unless it's massive voltage drop

i'm positive voltage isn't a problem....i only would see the voltage fluctuate a few tenths of a volt at max....so u think i should give it another try when i get an amp back from warranty??

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

yeah-

why not? it sounds like you have a dmm and have a clue what you are doing- you're problem makes no sense, why blame yourself? double check things and start anew.

where are the batteries ground to?

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

my optima is grounded to the chassis up front and then the other two batts are wired in parallel with it so the negs are wired together and the positives are all wired together

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

the rear batteries are not ground in the rear?

i'm not real smart when it comes to the technical side of things (much better at fabricating), but it seems to me that could represent a problem. It makes your ground functionally much longer than i wold want it to be. I would ground those batteries to the frame (or a good ground point) as close to where they sit as possible. That is how i have my 6 svr's wired.

 

[walkychalky 10+ year member]

the rear batteries are not ground in the rear?
i'm not real smart when it comes to the technical side of things (much better at fabricating), but it seems to me that could represent a problem. It makes your ground functionally much longer than i wold want it to be. I would ground those batteries to the frame (or a good ground point) as close to where they sit as possible. That is how i have my 6 svr's wired.

maybe i'll give that a try then.....

 

[expo5.0 10+ year member]

i've been running many big amps over the last couple years with my current set-up, but i'm not huge into spl stuff or anything. There may be something to what i'm saying though, i hope, since no one else is trying to work through the problem with you.