Amp problems

[Chris333]

OK this has to do with my amps shutting down and going into protection. The thing that might make this different than the others is that both of my amps shut down at exactly the same time.

I have a 2000 Beetle with 2 Audiobahn amps. A A8002T for the front and a A8000T for the subs. The "front" is a 6"/tweeter component set and a 5.25/tweeter component set, each with their own crossovers. The sub is just one 12".

I have a circuit breaker at the battery. 4 gauge wire to the back with a 1mill cap. 8gauge wire to the amps. The amps are close, but don't touch each other:

If I turn it up (no distortion) I could easily get the amps to shut off within 1-2 songs. A min later they are both back up and running simultaneously!

When first installed I could blast all day in the summer and they might shut down once. Now it happens way more often. And the amps fins do not feel hot to the touch.

Before I can figure out what is wrong I need to isolate why both amps seem to work in unison.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

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[michaellane 5,000+ posts]

voltage drops maybe?

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

wow that setup is spectacular like a liberace outfit

 

[Chris333]

Where would I check the voltage at? Battery, amp? And what should it be 12+, 14+?

Thanks.

Liberace, I had to look it up. LOL The trunk is never really seen, but I do like chrome.

 

[oldschoolboomer 10+ year member]

almost certainly the circuit breaker. pull it out and replace with a fuse and voila.

 

[oldschoolboomer 10+ year member]

back when I used to drive a truck for a tree trimming company I would play jokes on other drivers by replacing the fuel pump relay 30 amp circuit breaker with a 15 amp. The guy would start his truck and drive off no problem. Once the circuit breaker heated up, the fuel pump would shut off mysteriously causing the engine to die. They would pull over and call the boss. By the time the boss would show up, the circuit breaker resets itself and the engine fires up normally. The boss gets pissed off because there doesn't seem to be a problem. The crew leaves and drives another 5 minutes or so and it dies again. They ended up replacing the circuit breakers in all the trucks not only because of the mysterious fuel pump relay issues, but as time goes on, the circuit breakers "lose strength". Sorry for the long story. But this is why I believe the circuit breaker is your problem.

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

Where would I check the voltage at? Battery, amp? And what should it be 12+, 14+?
Thanks.

Liberace, I had to look it up. LOL The trunk is never really seen, but I do like chrome.

LIBERACE'S CHROME SUITE NIQQA //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

 

[Chris333]

I have the type of circuit breaker that needs reset if it trips. Similar to this:

http://cardiscountstereos.com/Images_For_Catalog/CB250A.jpg

And it has never tripped.

Would you still replace it with a fuse? Not a big deal to do it.

 

[oldschoolboomer 10+ year member]

To be sure, make your amps shut down again and immediately put a mm on the + terminal on your amp. If you never lose 12+ volts, then I would have been wrong. For both amps to shut down tells me its the circuit breaker.

 

[Chris333]

I took out the circuit breaker today and put in a fuse. The breaker was in pretty bad shape and I could not get it to trip. Also a slightly melted area of the plastic. Pretty sure this was the problem.

I'll give it a good testing tomorrow : )

I think I should also replace the alt and engine ground cables now.

Hey what size fuse should I be running? The biggest they has was 60 amp, the old breaker was 100 amp.

Thanks