Amp blowing fuses

[j.reddick]

So my amp randomly stopped working, so I decided to see what was wrong. I looked at the fuses in the amp and they were fine along with all connections. I opened up the hood of my car and checked the in-line fuse from the power cable. The 40A fuse was blown, so I went in and replaced it.

My battery terminal on the positive side had a bunch of nastiness on it so I grabbed a battery cleaner and scrubbed it down as well as the connector real well so it had a nice connection. After starting the car back up and attempting to use my cd player, I could tell the subs were still not working, so I decided to check the fuse again. The new 40A fuse was just fine, so I went back and looked at the amp, only to find that it had now blown the fuses in the amp (2x20A.)

I grabbed some new ones and replaced them, only to have them blow instantly after turning the stereo on.

So far the only suggestion I've had is to check the entire power cable to make sure there wasn't a break in the connection where it was touching metal. I inspected the whole cable from battery to amp and it's all in perfect condition. I also re-connected the ground wire with a better connector, although the one time my ground wire came loose after getting my spare, no fuses blew, it just didn't work.

Needless to say, it's still not working. Any suggestions? All help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch guys!

Jeremy

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[NewAgeKing 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like your amp is toast if you checked everything and its still blowing fuses. Mine blew some and continued to blow them when i tryed to re-connect the amp. I had to go under the hood and disconnect the wire, put fuses in the amp, then reconnect the wire so they wouldnt blow. But after that it worked fine and i didnt have any issues with it. You check to see if any of your power wire or ground wire is touching one another on the amp? I had it happen to me years ago when i just shoved the wire in there and some strands were sticking out touching each other.

 

[HlorridiXplorer 10+ year member]

Are you running the amp at an unstable ohm load?

 

[j.reddick]

Hmm. I could try disconnecting everything like you did and then put the fuses in and reconnect. I just got a thing of 25 fuses (all 25A) for like $5, so I am ok for testing a bit more, haha. I'd rather waste a few fuses and find out if it's toast for sure than go buy a new amp straight up.

 

[j.reddick]

Are you running the amp at an unstable ohm load?

To be honest, I don't know a ton about car audio, and a friend gave me the amp/subs/box and installed it. I'd have to say that it is not running at an unstable ohm load though, because I ran it for over a year and never blew a fuse. This just started happening.

 

[NewAgeKing 5,000+ posts]

Hmm. I could try disconnecting everything like you did and then put the fuses in and reconnect. I just got a thing of 25 fuses (all 25A) for like $5, so I am ok for testing a bit more, haha. I'd rather waste a few fuses and find out if it's toast for sure than go buy a new amp straight up.

What is your set up? Amp, subs, voice coil config, ect?

 

[j.reddick]

What is your set up? Amp, subs, voice coil config, ect?

I'll have to look at them to get the exact specs. It's a 600 watt Kenwood amp, but I don't know the model right off hand. The subs are MTX Thunder 7k series I believe, I would also have to check the exact on that. The subs are 250 RMS, and I'm only running the amp at about 1/2. I'll get back to you on this when I can look at the car (I'm on campus now and not near my car lol)

Like I said in one post, I didn't install it, and I'm not pro, so I'll have to look at it more. I'm just not entirely sure what to do, but I'll attempt what I can and I'll try to read up on some more things about amp set ups.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

 

[NewAgeKing 5,000+ posts]

Get some pictures if you can of the wiring on the amp.

 

[Wick 10+ year member]

i had a problem like i have a sony xplod amp, i hate the piece of $h!t, but i had a 40 amp fuses in my distribution block blew on the sony side only, didnt blow the one from the battery which is still a 40 amp, so i sanded down where i have my ground of any paint and added a 60 amp fuse in the distribution block, it hasnt given me any problems, except for being a sony, since then