Fuse in wire going from battery to amp keeps blowing!?

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

What's up everyone...first time posting here...I have a modest set up in my car and, like the title says, the fuse in the power wire running from my battery to my amp keeps blowing. I have an Alpine headunit, Kenwood amp, and a single 10" Alpine sub. I have had this set up in my car for about a year and a half and had the same stuff in another car for three years before that and never had any problems. Now, all of the sudden, for the past week that fuse keeps blowing. When I replace the fuse, everything works for about 20 seconds and then the fuse blows. I didn't change anything else in the car either. Any ideas on what this could be or where to start troubleshooting?

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[TheOtherSide 10+ year member]

It's shorted. Replace the power wire. The wire got exposed somehow and is no good anymore.

OR...some strands of the power going into the amp are shorting on the amp chassis...blowing the fuse.

Look into it more...but look closely at ALL the power wire and make sure it is not exposed or frayed or that random strands are touching a ground.

 

[Gilliz 10+ year member]

^^^ Yep. Sounds like ur grounding out. Visually, If you can't find a problem with your power wire, try changing it out with another, and see if that helps.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

That's what I had thought when it first started blowing...that there was some exposed wire somewhere. So I disconnected that wire and ran a new power wire. I ran it on the outside of my car from the battery to my amp in the trunk so there is no way the new wire got knicked up at all. The fuse still blows.

 

[gl0ck 10+ year member]

Your amp is broken.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

Ha ha...that's kinda what I was thinking...I wanted to double check though....Is there anything else I can try before I go looking for another amp?

 

[t-rex audio 10+ year member]

pull the power off the amp. replace the fuse and if it dont blow the amp is bad.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

I'll try that and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

OK...I disconnected the power wire from the amp, replaced the fuse, and it didn't blow...I gues that means the amp is done...

Are there any visual signs that the amp is bad....if I opened it up and took a look inside?

I also have another question...I have a 4-channel amp (MTX Thunder 4244). Would it be possible to power my sub and a set of component speakers with just that amp?

 

[hemi=22s 10+ year member]

OK...I disconnected the power wire from the amp, replaced the fuse, and it didn't blow...I gues that means the amp is done...
Are there any visual signs that the amp is bad....if I opened it up and took a look inside?

I also have another question...I have a 4-channel amp (MTX Thunder 4244). Would it be possible to power my sub and a set of component speakers with just that amp?

u could power componets off front 2 and sub bridged off the rear 2

 

[ace_800 5,000+ posts]

^beat me to it.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

Good...thats what I was hoping to hear...could this do any harm to my components or sub or new amp though?

 

[95BlackGA 5,000+ posts]

What fuse size and what amp? You could simply be pulling too much amperage for that fuse. Just because you have had the setup for a while, doesn't mean it can't happen all of the sudden. Mine did, but I had it for about 4 months.

 

[jh131mt 10+ year member]

The amp is a Kenwood 729s and the fuse is 30 amp....I have been using that amp for about 7 years now...lol

 

[95BlackGA 5,000+ posts]

What is the amp rated for?