I have to fix a halfassed install, help find the problem

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

this may sound ghetto but it will work since you dmm doesnt seem to be working... run the rca signal from your vehilce to his... couple of rca butt connectors from radio shack will make it easier see if your cd player makes his play music, but make sure the key is on in his vehicle so the remote is on ... if that works your output of the hu is gone or screwed.... also you didnt mention if the subs were out of phase or if you checked it... easy way to see if subs are in phase

get a 9v battery attach it to the pos and negative of one sub see which way it moves do the same thing to the other sub see if it moves the same way... if it does your in phase...

i dont know if anyone ever defined "out of phase" but heres what it is in very simple terms

If 2 subs are out of phase with each other they will counteract each other ( move in diff directions ) and cause MAJOR cancelation ( my 1st mistake as a noob was this )

if a sub is out of phase ( coils ) the sub will not play at all and get hott and eventually blow from thermal failure ( TOO DERN HOTT)

hope that is helpful

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

If your getting output (even faint) signal is going through so that would indicate something is working and you should be getting voltage. Have you tried the sub setting on the HU or a different set of preouts?

Yes, the sub is turned on on his hu. I played with the settings and they are where they should be. His amp has also been hooked up to my hu w/ his RCA's. It worked fine. I wish I would have also hooked up his box in my truck and that could have indicated the problem for sure. I'll get to it when I get the chance. Thanks.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

this may sound ghetto but it will work since you dmm doesnt seem to be working... run the rca signal from your vehilce to his... couple of rca butt connectors from radio shack will make it easier see if your cd player makes his play music, but make sure the key is on in his vehicle so the remote is on ... if that works your output of the hu is gone or screwed.... also you didnt mention if the subs were out of phase or if you checked it... easy way to see if subs are in phase
get a 9v battery attach it to the pos and negative of one sub see which way it moves do the same thing to the other sub see if it moves the same way... if it does your in phase...

i dont know if anyone ever defined "out of phase" but heres what it is in very simple terms

If 2 subs are out of phase with each other they will counteract each other ( move in diff directions ) and cause MAJOR cancelation ( my 1st mistake as a noob was this )

if a sub is out of phase ( coils ) the sub will not play at all and get hott and eventually blow from thermal failure ( TOO DERN HOTT)

hope that is helpful

Yes, thanks for the info!

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

any success?

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

any success?

Haven't gotten to work on it yet. I'm pretty busy through the weekdays. I'll get to it this weekend most likely.

 

[HellyHans 10+ year member]

Ive read in the section to adjust gain, that if you want to measure voltage out of the RCA's the volume has to be pretty high

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Ive read in the section to adjust gain, that if you want to measure voltage out of the RCA's the volume has to be pretty high

Probably so, considering the preouts are 2v and that is rated MAX.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Update

I rehooked it all up. I hooked one sub up like everybody said and got the same results (did this twice, once for each sub). So, it wasn't wired out of phase last time I hooked it up. I also checked the impedance of the subs, 3ohm for one sub and 1ohm for the other. When I checked the impedance at the amp (speaker terminals) I got a very large number.

Tomorrow I'll install it in my truck. This will prove/disapprove my RCA theory.

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Wait - you have two dual 4 ohm speakers, these should be parallel to get 2 ohm (~1.8DCR) each and then again together to get 1 ohm total. Why is one 3 ohm and the other 1 ohm? was this at the speaker or at the box? Lost a coil or a wire connecting them.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Wait - you have two dual 4 ohm speakers, these should be parallel to get 2 ohm (~1.8DCR) each and then again together to get 1 ohm total. Why is one 3 ohm and the other 1 ohm? was this at the speaker or at the box? Lost a coil or a wire connecting them.

Correct, 2 dual 4's wired to a 1 ohm load at the amp. I measured the impedance of each sub at their own terminal cup. I measured them separately many times and continued to get 1 ohm for one sub and 3 ohm for the other. Subs are wired correctly.

I was told that when they were first installed, the box filled up with smoke

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Ok two identical subs yet they have different impedance reading - how are they wired correctly??? You should get 2 ohm (1.8-2.1DCR reading) on you DMM at the speaker terminal cup on the sub box if they are both wired in parallel to their own terminal. Then when bridged at the amp you should get 1 ohm load. If you have 1 ohm and 3 ohm at the box, something is NOT right. Either wired wrong in the box or bad coil(s)

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Correct, 2 dual 4's wired to a 1 ohm load at the amp. I measured the impedance of each sub at their own terminal cup. I measured them separately many times and continued to get 1 ohm for one sub and 3 ohm for the other. Subs are wired correctly.
I was told that when they were first installed, the box filled up with smoke//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

I would suggest that this would be indicative of the problem. Sounds like burnt coil to me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

I would suggest that this would be indicative of the problem. Sounds like burnt coil to me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

That's what I was thinking. But, if the coils went bad wouldn't the # on the dmm for impedance be really large?

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

you know that a dual 4 ohm speaker in parallel should read at 1.8-2.2 DCR. A single 4 ohm coil will read 3.6-3.8DCR - what does this tell you about the woofer that is reading 3.xx Ohm - vs the one reading 1.xx ohm???

You have either a wire that is not connected on the speaker (possible a lead fell off the sub)

OR

One coil is open. If you have an open coil - you will have no reading at all. It is hard to have resistance if there is nothing connected........

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

I'm not really helping, But you got to tell me man. How in all holy he!! did they get the door to close, with 2/0 wire runing through ? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif