Capacitor's

[Chance89 10+ year member]

I was running an ol 2 channel kenwood amp to my ol lady's boston acoustic G2-12

(1.9ft3, ported 35hz) and it was cutting out...So I dug in my pockets and got her a kicker ZX400.1 figuring it's new and would do a cleaner better job of giving power without taking lots. But it still cuts out....I got a good ground, but the voltmeter(on the batt) pulses down between .15v to about .35v with the bass. I've never dealt with capacitors before but it seems like I need one eh? I've heard from some old skewl guys that they're hard on batt's cause they're always drawing power. But I guess I don't have any options, Right? Besides an ho alt which I ain't doin cause it's a new G6. Soo.... any tips to look for in a cap, should they all roughly be the same besides price? I tried scrounging around some old posts but no luck.

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[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

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[mokedaddy 5,000+ posts]

If it cuts out with a .35 v drop, a capacitor is not going to fix the problem.

Chances are you do not have a good ground.

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

really man? I finally went and bought one of those multitester's.... put er on the ohms setting...jabbed one end on the ground conn on the amp and the other to bare metal beside the ground... and it read 0

hmmm...well it pounds alright for a while with a fresh batt...but cuts out after a while...when I tested it today I just tested it right away...b4 it cut out....and it was pulling it down .15-.35

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

really man? I finally went and bought one of those multitester's.... put er on the ohms setting...jabbed one end on the ground conn on the amp and the other to bare metal beside the ground... and it read 0hmmm...well it pounds alright for a while with a fresh batt...but cuts out after a while...when I tested it today I just tested it right away...b4 it cut out....and it was pulling it down .15-.35

your supposed to do that to read voltage.. not ohms.. you prolly blew the fuse in the DMM now, cuz when you read ohms with voltage passing through it can blow fuses in the DMM..

the problem is most likely your ground, it isnt a voltage problem with that many watts

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

well I had the voltmeter(sry it's a multimeter) set on the 2000k setting just on the ground wire

you can have it on the ohms setting and lightly press the pointed ends on the multimeter together, and it will read anywhere from 200-40...then press the ends together tight and it reads a solid 0... So I pressed one end to the ground conn on the amp and the other a couple inches away from where it's screwed into(a #12 x 1inch screw...I scratched the paint away to)

I had boughten a couple big mother f*ckin screw bolts(maybe it's called a lag bolt) to replace that #12 screw if that was the problem....but I did that little test earlier and thought It was ruled out.....should I check it out anyway....thats cool you say that I'm not pushin enough watts for it to be a voltage problem though......Even with that little b*tch *** car alt?

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

is the place where you have your ground, bare metal, and on the vehicles chassis?

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

sry...I guess I should have mentioned that the multimeter read zero when i had it on the amp and beside where the ground is screwed

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

in her old car i used the shock mounting bolt....but this new one there is no bolts.....It's on the top side of her trunk....not the opening trunk lid itself...and I scrapped the paint away

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

caps dont do much. and anyway, youre only doing 400watts. that means you need to find a new ground, preferrably to the frame

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

it's unibody....what kind of bolt/screw you guys use when you can't uses a seat belt bolt

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

well dont ground to the top of the trunk, if anything ground to the bottom. check the gains on the amp and make sure you arent clipping. also check the wiring of the subs

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

Yah the bottom would be thicker generally eh...Wiring to sub good! clipping?....The amp's only idling @ 1/3

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

Yah the bottom would be thicker generally eh...Wiring to sub good! clipping?....The amp's only idling @ 1/3

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do you rev it up to play? lol

you clip with gains set too high and with voltage drop etc

since its only 400watts, im guessing your gains arent set correctly

 

[Chance89 10+ year member]

I've heard there's some formula to calculate that, and I thought this would be a good setup, cause I didn't have to crank the amp for that sub...Like I do with my old stuff...How do you set the gains proper?