Amp issues

[ib2loud 10+ year member]

Car is a 2007 Dodge Charger. I am running all Kicker equipment, a 450.2 on a CVR12 and a 200.2 on some 6.2 components and some 2 way 6x9s.

The mids and highs work fine but the sub amp cuts out any time I barely turn the bass up. The voltage stays pretty constant around 12.5 with the engine off or 14.4 with it on and I just re-did all of the wiring tonight hooking each amp directly to the battery hot and ground (battery is in the trunk).

What do you think would cause this? I have the sub at 4 ohms mono and the interior and exterior lights also dim real bad when the bass even slightly hits. The mids all work fine though.

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[funkyab 10+ year member]

i would normally say grounding but since you mention that system instruments dim as well,, you either have poor connections at the batt somewhere, a very faulty or underperforming alternator. That amount of power with the equipment you have should not be stressing your electrical like that. What size wiring are you using?

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

sub my be wrong ohm for amp...putting amp into protect...

 

[funkyab 10+ year member]

Nvm

 

[ib2loud 10+ year member]

I am running 8 gauge cables to each amp, with about a 6 foot run to the battery. The impedance is 4 ohms mono which the amp should be able to handle fine. I think something is wrong with the car because when i was driving down the highway at 75mph the headlights would dim really bad when the bass even slightly hit. All of the battery connections are tight and I upgraded the engine ground and battery ground. The car uses a stock 1/0 gauge cable from the firewall to the battery but for some reason they drop it down to 8 gauge from the alt to the firewall. I was thinking the voltage would drop quite a bit if it was an alternator issue but I don't know a whole lot about this stuff.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

I would add on another 1/0 from the alt to firewall. No need to remove the stock wire, just add it to that wire. The car is not designed to have a large load in the trunk. It is only designed to charge a battery in the trunk. The rest of the load in the car is under the hood. By upgrading that one wire, you should now have the ability to send more alt power to the rear of the car.

Also, you might want to consider replacing the stock battery if that does not help. You should easily be able to fit an Group 31 (HC2400/D3100/9A31/etc).

 

[ib2loud 10+ year member]

I was thinking about adding the alt wire. I also am planning on getting a kinetic battery to see if that helps, plus it's a lot smaller in there too.

The thing worked great a few minutes ago with the engine off and as soon as i started the car it started cutting off again

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

I was thinking about adding the alt wire. I also am planning on getting a kinetic battery to see if that helps, plus it's a lot smaller in there too.
The thing worked great a few minutes ago with the engine off and as soon as i started the car it started cutting off again

That might be due to using the battery's reserve power to start the car. Before you started the car, it may have had enough power, but starting the car may have drained it a bit. After letting the car run for 15 to 20 mins it should come back.

 

[ib2loud 10+ year member]

no it shuts off every single time no matter if i just started it, i'm idling, or I'm driving down the highway. it shuts off at a really low volume. it still is shutting off with the engine off now too but it will let me turn it up a bit louder

it sounds really good whenever it does work so I want to get it all operational. I am going to try upgrading the alt to firewall cable to see if that helps.