DMM problems.. need help quick

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

Hi, I haven't been on the forums for a while, but yesterday I rewired my subs (only to find out the shop that installed them wired them to the wrong impedance) so now my subs are much louder. I have two 12's (Ascendant Audio Arsenals) in a sealed box. I want to run them at 1200-1300 watts at one ohm which is in the 36-37v range if I'm not mistaken.

well here's the problem... I put the black lead of the DMM in the COM section on it, and the red on the V/Ohm section, just like I'm supposed to. Then I turn it on to the DC Voltage at 200 Volts setting (because it's past 20 but under 200, which are the two closest settings on the DMM) and put in a 50 hz tone at 0 db in my head unit and play it at the volume i would listen to it at. I turn the gain all the way down (the subs are still playing, just not near as loud, I had the gain originally at about 1/2 way, but I'm doing this to check it), and then i turn the gain all the way to half way and the subs are now beating LOUDLY, but the meter is reading 0.00v this entire time...

This is how I have the meter touching the amp...

My speakers are wired parallel each to a separate cup terminal because the box has separate chambers and the pos and neg from each cup terminal is ran to a pos and neg on my amp's speaker inputs. Now, there are two pos' and two neg's on the amp.. all four are filled, because these inputs are paralleled inside the amp (my subs are dual 4 ohm, so they parallel to 2 ohm apiece, then they run to the inputs on the amp which are paralleled on the inside, makin a 1 ohm load), my ED NINe.1 (RMS 1200x1@1ohm).

Now, I tried touching the black (COM, neg) to the allen wrench fastener holding in the neg speaker wire input from one sub, and the red (V/Ohm, pos) to the allen wrench fastener holding in the pos speaker wire input from the other sub, and I tried touching the red to the pos of one sub and the black to the neg of the SAME sub... why am I not getting a reading? I also tried touching them to the screw-on terminals on the cup terminal on the back of one chamber of the box, red to pos and black to neg, and still no reading, all the while gain being turned and volume steady on HU...

WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING??

Thanks!

Trevor

p.s. I tried two different DMM's.. it's not those.. something's not right...

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[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

O, and it even reads negative when done any of these ways... but if I swap the black to be on the pos and the red on the neg, it goes positive... but my system IS wired right... and I just tried to measure my buddies system and it didn't work either..

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

music = AC voltage not DC

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

music = AC voltage not DC

x2

An amp takes in DC voltage (your electrical system) and puts out AC voltage.

 

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

obviously not... cuz i just tried ac on my buddies and my car... and the voltage topped out... and i had it on the highest setting (750v AC), and we tried doing impedance and it rang some numbers up the quickly went back down to zero....

EDIT: I don't mean obviously not as you were wrong I mean obviously that wasn't what the issue was.. cuz it still didn work

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

obviously not... cuz i just tried ac on my buddies and my car... and the voltage topped out... and i had it on the highest setting (750v AC), and we tried doing impedance and it rang some numbers up the quickly went back down to zero....

EDIT: I don't mean obviously not as you were wrong I mean obviously that wasn't what the issue was.. cuz it still didn work

I can go set my DMM to read AC volts and it'll work just fine.

Maybe your DMM is fucked?

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

obviously not... cuz i just tried ac on my buddies and my car... and the voltage topped out... and i had it on the highest setting (750v AC), and we tried doing impedance and it rang some numbers up the quickly went back down to zero....

EDIT: I don't mean obviously not as you were wrong I mean obviously that wasn't what the issue was.. cuz it still didn work

Wait, you tried doing impedence on the voltage setting?

To find your impedence you put it on the ohm "Ω" setting.

Or did you put it on the ohm setting and it still read zero? If so, I would check your DMM leads.

 

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

I used the ohm setting.. and the leads are fine.. i did it with two different dmm's just today.. i dunno what the problem is...

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

I used the ohm setting.. and the leads are fine.. i did it with two different dmm's just today.. i dunno what the problem is...

Well, my conclusion is that you're retarded.

/thread.

In all honesty, I really have no idea what else to tell you. Have you tried something simple like checking your battery voltage? Perhaps the DMM is messed up.

 

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

I'm retarded? Wow, that was totally necessary.

Forget it, I'll take my chances elsewhere.

Thanks for the help so far.

Trevor

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

I'm retarded? Wow, that was totally necessary.
Forget it, I'll take my chances elsewhere.

Thanks for the help so far.

Trevor

Somebody can't take a joke. Notice what I said afterwards? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

People are sensitive these days.

 

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

Just didn't seem like a joke.. anyways ya I have no idea what's wrong with it....

 

[ProgMtl 10+ year member]

try unhooking the subs and actually screw the DMM contacts into the speakers connections on the amp....maybe just by "touching" it you're not getting a good enough signal.

If you used 2 separate DMM's then thats the only thing I can think of.

Or test each DMM on something else to make sure they are working properly.