Hot metal around ground??

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

uhh.... laggy site today.. duplicate.

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

duplicate.

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

Hmmm maybe grounding to the battery will be worth it if this does not work..

So I just found a bit of a problem... my RCA wires are fried. Like melted together fried.. and I'm guessing there was a break in the coating that was shorting to ground.. Would this cause the heat?

Luckily I have a spare brand new RCA laying around.. so weird I bought 2 by accident one time and hated myself for spending an extra $17.. but now it comes in use! I guess everything happens for a reason lol

ahhh also remember how I said the heat was coming from where the ground connects to the car.. well I was wrong! The heat was coming from where the RCA's were melted. I think I have solved the problem //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

gonna go bump it and find out.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

measure the resistance of the ground with a dmm. make sure to set dmm at 200 ohm scale. disconnect battery terminal and ground wire to amp before measuring. you want the reading to be less than 1/2 ohm. if not, then you need to try another grounding point. its possible the 3 points you've tried already are all part of same piece of metal.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

not sure but was the rca cables near the ground area where it got hot? it may have melted from the heat you are talking about.

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

No it was a diff part.. and I know what caused it to melt.. my muffler broke so hot air hits the floorboard.. and its right where the RCA was.. I have relocated it. Could the terminals have been shorting out to the chassis? I didnt have a good setup before and the terminals were awfully close to some exposed metal.. I have fixed the issue by moving the amp and putting a towel under it.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

well, sounds like the muffler is causing the heat under your trunk floor board to me...

is the heat and/or the grounding point close to where the muffler is blowing hot air to it?

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

well, sounds like the muffler is causing the heat under your trunk floor board to me...
is the heat and/or the grounding point close to where the muffler is blowing hot air to it?

No its nice and cool.. well a bit warm but not like cook an egg hot like the floorboard.. Now my only problem is that my amp is overheating.. idk why..

I have the XPLOD low tuner set to +7, subwoofer +10, and 0.3v signal, which corresponds with my .3v head unit

And sorry to everyone who I have not directly responded to, I truly appreciate you efforts and your time!

Is it possible for the terminals to short out to ground? Im just curious..

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You have .3v pre outs? I think your gain might need to be set right. After you burn that amp up and learn how to adjust it right get a better amp

 

[f1mclarenagr 10+ year member]

Does your ground wire get hot? Like the 8 gauge part?

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

wow, you got lots of problems with that system, lol! you might want to check the ground resistance as stated earlier. also, i'm sure your hu's output is not .3v. plus, that subwoofer set to +10 and whatever that low tuner thing your talking about at +7, probably doesn't sound right, though they may or may not be related to your heat problem. if ground resistance is okay, its possible that the muffler heating up your trunk, plus you cranking up the amp may cause it to overheat. so check ground resistance, get the muffler leak fixed, and see things improve.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

well, you really need a meter, honestly. sure, the rcas could have been melted by the floor-board, but then again, a bad ground contact will force the amp to try to ground through the rca's. if you had a good ground, then the ground section of the rcas could be wide open exposed to bare grounded metal, and you would get nothing but poosibly a little noise. also, make sure your head unit is getting good ground as well. generally, if you have a bad head ground, it will then find ground to the antennae coax shield and give you some noise, but it may be possible there is a poor contact there, too, especially if the amp searched the head for it's ground via rcas. that could cause a problem in the amp. most of this is un-common, but if you moved the grounds for the amp, and the heat moved, then there is the problem. i know you say it's good, shinny connection, but you should make sure the terminals are crimped down to the bare metal of the wire, and sanded both at the frame, and the terminal contact points. i have seen some heat-shrink residue insulate large cable eylets from making good contact, and you could not even see it untill you started running some sand-paper across it. really, some readings are going to be your best bet, or you could just look at it all day long and guess. you can get a cheap craftsman or other brand for >$35 and you can use it forever......

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

Hey everyone I would like to report the cause of my problems.... a blown subwoofer! :'(

I noticed it didnt sound right, was hitting super hard, then would only hit at half power... so i checked the cone.. there is resistance on it.. and when I moved it with my hand I had smoke come out of the boxes port... lol...... uhhhhhh, could having the +7, and +10 have done this?

and my preouts are .03v or .3v whatever is more reasonable I do not remember. If you dont believe me ill take a **** picture of the head unit and amp to prove it jeeze..

The reason I had +7 and +10 is because the darn sub was barely audible. I thought a kicker 12" with 400w RMS would be crazy loud, but without adjusting the levels it was a joke; my 8" stock subwoofer hit harder!

any ideas?

I thank you all for your help!!!

 

[ARKing005 10+ year member]

I have a 0GA ground, and no it does not get hot at all! None of my wires get hot actually.. just the amp.. but i think its cause the sub was blown lol

 

[>>SQL<< 10+ year member]

No it was a diff part.. and I know what caused it to melt.. my muffler broke so hot air hits the floorboard.. and its right where the RCA was.. I have relocated it. Could the terminals have been shorting out to the chassis? I didnt have a good setup before and the terminals were awfully close to some exposed metal.. I have fixed the issue by moving the amp and putting a towel under it.

A towel? I think you need could use something more flameable next to your overheating setup, try a 5 gallon can of gas