Amplifier stops working at higher volumes - not clipping

[Nu2droid]

I added a Pyle pla2378 (2000w 2 channel amp ) and 2 4 ohm svc woofers to my factory radio in my 2014 kia soul (base model).

The amp is powered by and grounded by 4 gauge wires wired directly to the battery.

The inputs are spliced from the factory wire harness and connected to the amp by rca jacks.

When I turn the stereo up the system goes quite when the dial hits 28-30 (out of 45). Everything goes quite: the front speakers, rear speakers and the woofers. What makes me think it is not clipping is, after it goes quite the only way to reset it is to shut the car off. That, is the only way it resets.

The system qoes quite but does not shut off nor does it go in protect mode (as the green power light stays on and the red protect light never lights up)

If I remove either one of the inputs I can turn the system all the way up.

I am going crazy here.

Any help is appreciated.

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[TheFiverMan 10+ year member]

HPF set too high? Had the problem before. Also check ground into amp

 

[Nu2droid]

The ground was the first thing I thought of. That is why I moved it to the battery and back.

The hpf is set to the lowest level.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

how are you inputting signal into the amp? how much voltage

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Where you at in FL?

 

[Nu2droid]

Where you at in FL?

how are you inputting signal into the amp? how much voltage

I am located in Georgia.

Running right at 5 volts (dc) at the speaker input. I used a rca connections at the amp side and spliced the same wire to the radio.

 

[Nu2droid]

Ok. Thought....

I read on another forum that factor speakers are usually 8 or more ohms.

Didn't think about this, but when I spliced the input wire at the radio, I spliced into the existing speaker wire and I did not disconnect the rear factory speakers. Would that do it. Would that add the resistance of the factory speakers therefore making it more than the amp can handle?

If so, why does it work when I unplug one of the inputs? Shouldn't it also cut out if only one channel is being used?

Edit: I dont think splicing into the wires to feed the input shouldn't do anything to the output.. just spit balling here..

Also, I forgot to mention when it goes silent... everything goes silent. Front, rear and woofers.

 

[Nu2droid]

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. ...

 

[Nu2droid]

Just for giggles I changed out the ground wire again. I ran a new 4 gauge wire directly to the battery. Resistance from the battery to the amp is right at 0 - 0.1

That worked temporarily. For some reason, I am back to cutting off at approx 30.

Thought?

 

[Nu2droid]

At what voltage does the amp usually cut off when clipping?

With a volt meter on the terminals, while the car is running and with radio off, I get around 14. When I turn the radio on at lower volumes it ranges 13.8-.9.

When I turn it up, it seems to cut out at about 13.55 or so. With the car off, the voltage is at 12.5 or so and still turns off when the volume dial hits 30.

When I unplug one of the inputs the voltage, while the car is running, maintains 13.7 or so..

Does anyone have any clues?

 

[Nu2droid]

Ok....... does no one have any idea?

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

All i will say that made any sense to me in this thread is you said you had 5vdc at the input..

There should be 0v dc at the input. It should be AC so there is very bad problem right there.

 

[Nu2droid]

All i will say that made any sense to me in this thread is you said you had 5vdc at the input..
There should be 0v dc at the input. It should be AC so there is very bad problem right there.

Maybe that is the problem....

I put the volt meter to dc, that's what I get. I put it to AC, and it starts at .1 and slowly drops. The last time I watched it drop it went to .009.

Unless I am doing something wrong... that is what it is.

That is measuring the rca plug. The outer ring to the center probe.

If this is wrong... or you have a better way.... by all means please let me know and I will try it

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

The only part of an amplifier that should be measurable in DC on the outside is the Power/Ground section. Measuring DC anywhere else is going to kill both the amplifier and speaker(s).

I do not understand all the splicing you were talking about but something is about to fail.

 

[Nu2droid]

I spliced into the speaker wires from the radio to get the input for the amp. I used "quick connects" to tie the wire for the amp into the + & - of each speaker.

Then I added an extra ground to the radio's ground by using another quick connect and running that to the chassis. (Just supplies a stronger ground for the radio)