Headunit is over heating ..Please Help..

[mike11872]

bought the pioneer class d gdm 7500 amp (built in speaker level input) with alpine SBR-S83V subwoofer ... hooked them up by taping with the L/R rear speaker wire with High Grade Twisted Pair of 100% Copper RCA Cable behind the factory headunit of my VW Tiguan. been working fine for a week but now my headunit is overheating after 1 to 2 hr .. i have noticed the taped speaker level cable behind the headunit is heating up.. any idea? When i touch the amp, the amp was warm but not hot... please help thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

Let me get this straight.....You taped the RCA's and the speaker wire together to connect them??????? Where did you get that idea from?

 

[mike11872]

Thanks for your reply... this should be the way to hook up for speaker level input, right? if not any suggestion on this ..

 

[West]

Could you take a picture of this? You are lucky this didn't start a fire.

Buy this Newegg.com - Xantech SLLC1 Speaker Level to Line level Converter

Dont use your system until its fixed...

 

[West]

On another note. If you hadn't used good RCA's they probably would have burned up. RCA's aren't designed to handle that much current, that's why you need that line level converter...

 

[mike11872]

Guys, thanks for the reply... kind of lost.. my pioneer G dm 7500 can handle speaker level input.. should i still need to buy the convertor which mentioned by WEST?

if i don't use rca tape to my speaker wire, how can i get signal to my amp from vw rns315 headunit? No rca output is given condition with the RNS 315.

 

[West]

Guys, thanks for the reply... kind of lost.. my pioneer G dm 7500 can handle speaker level input.. should i still need to buy the convertor which mentioned by WEST?if i don't use rca tape to my speaker wire, how can i get signal to my amp from vw rns315 headunit? No rca output is given condition with the RNS 315.

Yes you need a converter or you will blow up HU and amp. That converter takes the speaker + and - signal and gives you an RCA level output which will work perfectly fine with that amp if it has not been damaged.

I am not trying to be mean, but you are going to fry your system the way you have it currently configured. You take a +and- speaker wire from the right and left channels and you plug them into the adapter and run RCA's from the adapter to the amp. You should be able to use gates to tap into the speaker lines without cutting them. If you go into Advanced auto or Autozone they should be able to show you them.

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

amps that take a speaker level input do not take the signal via the rca's the have a seperate plug what everyone here has said is right if it ever worked like that for you before you where lucky because that is flat out wrong as far as hooking up an amp!

 

[West]

Pioneer GM-D7500M Mono car amplifier — 400 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com

That is your amp isn't it?

 

[mike11872]

Should i use regular speaker cable to tape with my headunit instead of rca cable? what kind of cable you guys use to tape with the headunit speaker out wire? thanks

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

Should i use regular speaker cable to tape with my headunit instead of rca cable? what kind of cable you guys use to tape with the headunit speaker out wire? thanks

speaker wire from the HU to each speaker and shrink tubing is much better then tape, then a set of rca's from the back of the HU to the amp. at no point should you be cutting the ends off the rca's!

 

[West]

The only reason you should be using tape is to insulate a small bit of exposed wire from touching anything. Whatever connections you make... you should be using butt connectors which you press together with a pair of pliers. $5.00 at any autoparts store.

Dude... you need that adapter if you want to run an amp off a stock deck. Don't get creative.

 

[West]

speaker wire from the HU to each speaker and shrink tubing is much better then tape, then a set of rca's from the back of the HU to the amp. at no point should you be cutting the ends off the rca's!

You need the adapter to get an RCA out on that deck.

 

[Jaguar 10+ year member]

I'm confused, why are you using tape at all? It is not uncommon for HU's to get hot, especially after ''extended play''. Ie: 1 or 2 hours.

Another factor is we are still in the middle of summer, even if you pull your HU out when it's this hot it's likely your HU will still be hot.

Mine was. HU's have heat sink cases for a reason. Anyways, be sure of one thing after you are done cramming everything back in no

matter what you do, make sure none of the wires are too close or against the head unit, the plastic could literally melt off your RCA'S...

 

[vaiboy 10+ year member]

Could you take a picture of this? You are lucky this didn't start a fire.Buy this Newegg.com - Xantech SLLC1 Speaker Level to Line level Converter

Dont use your system until its fixed...

You should buy 2 of those to handle all 4 channels.

He doesn't need a line level converter the amp is set up like the JL slash amps that can accept speaker level through the RCAs, the high level signal also triggers the amp turn on. His problem is probably the length of the RCAs vs. their gauge, they are probably 20-22 gauge. There's probably only 2-3 amps at less than 8V running through those cables but that is just a bit too much to run the length of an SUV. If he used some 14-16 gauge speaker wire to tap into the signal behind the head unit then connected the RCAs to the 14-16ga at the amp there wouldn't be any problem with the current. Of course this is assuming he has everything connected correctly behind the head unit.