Huge Problem (HU Caught Fire) - Brand New out of the Box

[Silver 10+ year member]

Here is my current set-up

Alpine 9886

Alpine MRP -240 Component Amp

Hifonics BXi Sub amp

15' Kicker L7

Ok here is my story.

This morning I was driving to work with my old HU (Pioneer 8600UB) (I think).. and all of a sudden I got huge ground, alt noise from my front stage. Did not change with pitch of volume or fading, w/balance. It only changed with gas pedal increase.

Later today I swapped RCA's at the HU and the noise transfered to the rear speakers, OK HU is bad (or so I thought) so I tried the ground fix for the pioneer radios and that did not work at all, it made the ground wires I ran burning to the touch and the whine worse.

After that I went and picked up a New Alpine CDA - 9886, hooked it up, turned it on and the SAME noise was there and the HU started smoking and caught on fire.

I'm at a loss right now, my alpine amp still plays music normally and sounds fine, just the whine at low volume bugs me badly. Its LOUD from the front stage. Do I have a bad RCA grounding out or is my component amp cooked?

Where do I start?

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[edzy 10+ year member]

check the ground on the front amp. Sounds like you lost it and the amp is grounding thru the rcas to the hu's ground.

 

[Cravingbass123]

sell ur car

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

^^^ I'm with this dood

 

[I Like Waffle]

So your alpine caught fire and still works?.... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

Alpine FTW!

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

check the ground on the front amp. Sounds like you lost it and the amp is grounding thru the rcas to the hu's ground.

See, I don't think that is it. I think if the ground was bad, then all 4 speakers would be whining, only the front stage does it. I will give it a try though and see how that goes.

Today I'm going to check to see if the RCA's are shorted to ground. If the ground checks out good, and the RCA's check out good I'm going to throw a new 4-ch component amp in it.

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

Found my Sub RCA's melted together. Went out and baught new RCA's, plugged in and amp went insane and shuts off constantly then on, off, on ect. Unplugged RCA's and sub hums w/o RCA signal. The new RCA's were really HOT when I unplugged them. Ck'd ground and it was ok. I think i'm in the market of a new amp. my hifonics is 3yrs old.

or is it possible to fix the RCA's in the amp?

 

[edzy 10+ year member]

The new RCA's were really HOT when I.....

That is because the amp is using the rcas as ground. Your amp ground is ****ed. Put a meter on it, or atleast take it off, and redo it, dont just look at it.

I repeat, your amp ground is ****ed.

Not rca's

Not HU

But amp ground is not working. redo it.

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

Ok back with results. The subwoofer is working now, I dont have motor/alt noise. It gives noise even when the car is off. I re-grounded the amp, no good. When my HU volume is at zero and I turn it to 1 I the woofer thuds, then I get noise untill my music drowns it out and its sounds fine. I can turn the gain down and the noise is the same. I messed with the LPF and the noise stayed the same. I grounded out all my RCA's and the noise is still there. I re-grounded the HU to chassis and its still there. The RCA's don't get hot. Intermittently when I initally turn the car on the sub thuds very loud and the RCA's get hot on the amp side. Also this sounds bad, but I can hit the amp with my fist and the subwoofer thuds sequential to when I hit it. I took the amp out and checked the guts on it. The fuse inputs are a little black(not bad) and the internal power wires on the amp (8ga) have a little black when they hit the circuitboard. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary. I also checked the ground wire for a open or short to ground. I had less than a ohm for checking impedence. And checking for short to ground I had OL (in your case 0). The ground wire checks out good (less than a ft long). I'm stumped. I think the amp is bad. I eliminated everything possible, plus my alpine amp is on the same circuitry and its working fine.

On top of that like I said before, I hooked up a alpine 9887 up and it started smoking out of the sub pre out on the back of the HU.

I'm picking up a orion 1200d for 275. f*ck it.

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

sell ur car

I own a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee FTW!

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

Pix?

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

If you fix my issue, neekid pics. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

 

[Dak446 10+ year member]

before u buy a new amp, see if u can find someone to let u use theirs to test it. just swap em and try again

 

[WildSebring 10+ year member]

If you fix my issue, neekid pics. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

Someone ****ing help this man, my suggestion though would be its grounding out through the headunit...but seems as if that isn't it... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

I repeat..

Someone help this fool solve this..

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

Someone ****ing help this man, my suggestion though would be its grounding out through the headunit...but seems as if that isn't it... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
I repeat..

Someone help this fool solve this..

lol. I grounded the RCA's and re-located the ground and put new RCA's in it. What else is left to do. I checked grounds on the alt, every f*cking possible thing. its driving me batty.

i just hope i dont wake up on morning and the car is burned to the ground.