Amp blowing fuses, and going into protect mode

[buugiewuugie]

New here, signed up because I need some help.

It's been a while since I have done any car audio, but i still know the general setup. But this is kicking my butt.

So i installed a Kenwood head unit, ran my wires, remote 8 gauge power wire, and ground.

Hook up my amp:

Powerbass ATM600.1D Mono

RMS Power Rating:
4 ohms: 250 watts x 1 chan.
2 ohms: 400 watts x 1 chan.
1 ohms: 600 watts x 1 chan.
Max power output: 1200 watts x 1 chan.
Then hook up my sub. Now let me explain before I get to the sub. I had 2 old 12" that I couldn't even tell you what they were and hooked them up just to test until I could build my box for my sub. They started to hit. The amp heated up really fast and went into protect mode. So I disconnected the sub and just to be sure the amp was good I hooked up my new sub set it on the floor and tried again. It ran much much longer, about 15 minutes, before over heating. And going into protect mode.

Kicker 06S8L72

Power range: 50-450 RMS watts
Peak power: 900 watts
Frequency range: 28-100 Hz
Sensitivity: 84.5 dB
Kicker Solo-Baric L7 Series
8' subwoofer with dual 2-ohm voice coils
I had it wire to 4 ohms. It was working but kept going into protect mode.

Just now I wired it to 1 ohm. And it just blew the fuses the second the stereo was turned on. All 3.

Can anyone help me out here. I am a little lost. Will a subwoofer outside of a box and sitting on the trunk floor cause issues?

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[CSCStang]

Where is the gain set and how did you set it?

 

[yogegoy]

Waiting for the "could be another bad ground" people to post another could be a bad ground comment.

 

[buugiewuugie]

Where is the gain set and how did you set it?

I have tried turning the gain down almost all the way. Same thing.

Waiting for the "could be another bad ground" people to post another could be a bad ground comment.

Is this sarcasm? LOL. I am going to try a new ground tomorrow.

 

[CSCStang]

I meant where was it set when the fuses blew. You were clipping your amp. You're not going to get clear distortion with a sub "freestyle" if you're trying to set gain by ear.

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

you sure you have the + and - into the amp wired correctly? If so, power supply in the amp could be going.

 

[yogegoy]

Is this sarcasm? LOL. I am going to try a new ground tomorrow.

Nope, it's just that anyone asking for help always gets a bad ground comment no matter the situation. I'm sure everything is not related to a bad ground because there are only a few who connect the ground using chewing gum which I consider a really bad ground. Blowing fuses has to do with shorting, I meant shorting in general and not just wires. You could have a short from a flake of chrome coming in contact with the + and - inside the pcb or a spec of solder will put your amp in protect mode.

From Basic Car Audio Electronics:

Note on Blown Fuses

When a fuse blows (even one that has been perfectly capable of handling the current requirements of a given piece of equipment), many people will replace it with a fuse of equal size without thinking (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Then, if it instantly blows again, they go to the next larger fuse size (now, that IS a bad thing). They don't think for a minute that the fuse that just blew was the same as the one that worked fine for a long time. They don't think that something just might have changed which is now causing the amplifier to pull significantly more current.

If you have a piece of equipment (especially an amplifier) that has played fine for a while with a given size fuse and the fuse blows, do not replace it with a larger fuse. I'd actually suggest temporarily replacing it with a fuse ~1/2 the rating of the one that blew. If you have a 200 watt amplifier that's been running fine with a 30 amp fuse and the fuse suddenly blows, replacing it with another 30 amp fuse is fine but I'd suggest trying a 15 amp fuse first. With the volume set to its minimum position, the amp should power up and idle with the smaller (lower rated) fuse. It should also play cleanly at a low to moderate volume. If the fuse blows with no volume, there is very likely a problem with the amplifier. If it does not play cleanly, there may be a problem with the speaker(s) or wiring. If it blows the fuse at very low volume, there is most likely a shorted speaker or a short in the wiring.

For amplifiers... What happens many times is that a component fails (often an output transistor) and the fuse blows. Since the fuse has likely been passing a fair amount of current (remember, the amplifier was playing loud enough to fail) the fuse's element was at a higher than ambient temperature and allowed the fuse to blow relatively quickly. When you insert a new (cool) fuse, it will take more to blow it even if it was identical to the one that originally blew. If the power supply components in the amp are operating at the upper end of their safe operating area (common with budget amplifiers), the new fuse might not blow before the power supply components (remember that the amplifier probably has a shorted output transistor). If the power supply components are destroyed (along with the output transistors), the repair bill may be significantly higher (maybe $100 instead of $60). Checking to make sure that everything is OK with the smaller fuse will assure you that no more damage is done.

 

[buugiewuugie]

It's the amp. I re-ran the ground, bought new 12 gauge speaker wire, and wired it for 4 ohms with the gain turn almost all the way down, turned on the car and POP! all 3 fuses. Hooked up another amp with blown channels, and runs fine. With the exception of the sound thing. But no popping. Grr. Now I have to pay for return shipping.