Crossovers giving off light at high volume? Why?

[budget76 10+ year member]

Well, I felt like turning up some rock last night, instead of just the bass, and when the volume was at about 40 of 50, I noticed a flashing light under my dash. "what could that be? Only thing down there is my crossovers?"

Pull over, and they're flashing. They are in a clear casing FYI. It looks like the light is coming out of a fuse/mini light bulb looking piece inside the casing. Is this normal, or is this like a clipping indicator or something like that? I'm guessing it's just from the power running through?

FWIW my front comps are a little mix of this and that. Focal 5.25 mids, cheap MTX tweets, and DB Link crossovers. My guess is they're seeing about 60 watts at this volume. Off a nice Sony amp, but it's still an Xplod, so it's not that nice. Built in EQ and shit though, does it's job well. The sound never sounds bad, still as clear as I'm going to be with my hodge-podge mix of components, which makes me believe nothings wrong

thanks for any input.

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[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

That would most likely be some sort of tweeter protection light, or maybe a clipping indicator.

 

[bamaboy 5,000+ posts]

its the protection on them, instead of sending the power to the comps, it glows the lights

which means your not doing something with the amp settings, recheck the settings on the amp and eq on HU

 

[R/T Pimp 10+ year member]

Means turn them down.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

My old kicker crossovers used to light up when givin enough power

resolution crossovers and i think the new ss kicker crossovers are the same

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

It's a tweeter protection circuit. As the light warms up, its resistance increases which cuts power to the tweeter and keeps it from 1) blowing and 2) getting shrill from getting a lot of power.

 

[budget76 10+ year member]

so it's not a bad thing, but not a good thing either? Either way, next time I have time to play, I'll turn down the higher frequencies a little on the EQ for the fronts. I RARELY have it up that high, maybe once a month at most, so i'm not too worried. Glad to learn something new. Never knew they had a tweeter protect built in.

thanks guys

 

[SilverSquared 10+ year member]

RFs logo lights up at the right power. The manual never mentioned anything about a protection circuit or anything. Scared the shit out of me the 1st time i saw it tho.

 

[Mr. C 10+ year member]

Tweeter protection. My MB Quarts did that at real high volume with the comp x-overs.

Had to bump em down a notch or two.

 

[JRock10 10+ year member]

it's a bad thing. means you have DC current coming out of the amp. DC = distortion.

edit: but that's what they are there for, to help "catch" (for lack of a better term) that distortion. If they only blink every once in a while, you're fine. If it looks like a strobe light or a constant glow, then you may need to look further.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

It doesn't mean that there's DC going to the comps. The lights in your house run on AC and so do the lights in the crossover. It only means that the voltage is high enough for you to see the light.

 

[JRock10 10+ year member]

It doesn't mean that there's DC going to the comps. The lights in your house run on AC and so do the lights in the crossover. It only means that the voltage is high enough for you to see the light.

oh yeah? so that means the lights in my dash work on AC current too?

It's a DC distortion filter.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If you apply enough voltage, AC or DC, to a light bulb, it will light. I could run an unclipped pure sine wave to those speakers and get the lights to come on quite easily. A the same time I could apply low voltage DC to them and they wouldn't. You don't know what you're talking about so just stop. An yes, if the lights in your dash are incandescent, they WOULD light with AC doesn't mean that they ARE but they WOULD. LEDs are a different story, but they will light off AC as well but only one half of the cycle.

 

[JRock10 10+ year member]

If you apply enough voltage, AC or DC, to a light bulb, it will light. I could run an unclipped pure sine wave to those speakers and get the lights to come on quite easily. A the same time I could apply low voltage DC to them and they wouldn't. You don't know what you're talking about so just stop. An yes, if the lights in your dash are incandescent, they WOULD light with AC doesn't mean that they ARE but they WOULD. LEDs are a different story, but they will light off AC as well but only one half of the cycle.

My understanding of the lights has always been that they are a buffer for DC current coming out of the amp. And everytime i've tested a comp set that is lighting up, there has been DC coming from the amp, mainly because of low voltage to the amp, or poor ground.
Do you disagree that this is a purpose of the lights, as a protection circuit/buffer to prevent damage to tweeters (mainly)?

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

Means turn them down.

Precisely. The OP is overdriving them. If the optical protection weren't there, the tweeter would be shot soon.