Kicker ZX700.5 amp shutting off?

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

I have a Kicker ZX700.5 in my 2005 Chevy Silverado. The problem I am experiencing is it will turn off at moderate volume. At about 3/4 volume (gain setting at about 60%) when I get a heavy bass note, the amp shuts off after 3-5 seconds it restarts and plays fine, if I lower the volume to around half it will play continually. This only happens after the vehicle has been running for about 10 minutes and especially after sitting at a stop light or pulling away from a light. My voltage gauge reads a steady 13.5-14.5 at the dash.

This is the only amplifier I have in my truck. I was running two cheap Phoeinx Gold amps before with similar output without the wiring upgrades and never had an issue. I have 4 gauge wire run from the battery to the amplifier, the chassis ground is less that 18", I added a 4 gauge ground wire from the battery to the chassis, I upgraded the alternator wire to 4 gauge, the factory battery is 600cca, and the stock alternator is 145Amp. The amplifier is wired to a set of components on the front and rear channels at 4 ohms and to a pair of 10" pioneer subwoofers at 2ohms. I have checked all of the connections, including the RCAs (dedicated for each channel) and have not found a problem. I have not been able to see if the protect light is coming on or the red light is coming on as the amplifier is not viewable when driving. I checked the temperature after coming home last night (after several shutdowns) and found that the amplifier was at 89.1 degrees f. Is there something wrong with the amp, the installation, or my truck?

Please help. This is not a problem when driving around with the family but it certainly is annoying and a bit embarassing when I am with friends listening to hip hop/rap. This normally only happens on a bass note.

My thought is voltage but I thought amps could run down to 12v?

Thanks for any information.

Chad

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[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like either a rather large voltage drop (get a friend to play music with heavy bass line and you sit back with the amp with a DMM on the Power and Ground terminals and read the voltage while music is playing) Or it could be that you accidentaly wired the subs to low, but considering that you say you have them wired to 2 ohms, that would mean that you either have 2 SVC 4 ohm subs or 2 DVC 2 ohm subs. and the lowest the SVCs could be wired is 2, so that rules that out if you have Single Voice coil subs. And if you have 2 DVC 2 ohm subs you could wire it down to a .5 ohm load but my guess is that the amp wouldnt probably wouldnt play hardly at all at .5 on a stock electrical system. So Your best bet would be to check the voltage and then double check your wiring on the subs.

 

[EzekialPhoenix 10+ year member]

try turning the gain down even lower, I bet that will fix the problem

 

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

The subs are single voice coil so even if I did mess up they could only be 2 ohms or 8 ohms, both of which are covered easily. And my gain at about 60% I would think is correct for a 2v output. I can back it down more but if there is no distortion why would I? It seams like the amp should not be shutting down unless there is a voltage issue. Would I be correct in measuring the voltage at the amp to see if it is actually getting a solid 12V? And if it is not, what is the solution? Add a battery?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

push in your subs by hand and see if there is any vc rubbing.....

 

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

Do you think it is possible that the subs are extending far enough to contact the back of the seat? I dont have any face plate protecting my subs from the seat but there is clearance enough, I think.

Would that cause the momentary shutdown?

 

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

Well I verified that the VC are free moving, I also moved the seats and allowed the subs more room. I also noted that when the amp shuts off the light turns red. Which, according to the manual indicates a temp protect or short circuit protect. My only assumtion to be made is the Pioneer Shallow subs are causing a short in the system at high volume. Is this possible? I mean its semi-new technology (for Pioneer).

Oh, and thanks to all so far who have made suggestions. In order to stop this from happening, I have backed all of my gains down to about 20%.. absolutely no distortion but I am missing some impact.

 

[JLstereoexploit]

is there a sensitivity on it? that could be turned down if you have one.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

might be the amp too you just progress through steps to determin what is at fault

 

[ravendarat 10+ year member]

My guess is one of three things. You could have a faulty sub which could cause a short on the sub channel and cause the amp to shut down. You could have a bad ground and that could cause the issue, that however is unlikely as you would likly experience ground noise if the ground was that poor. It could also be a problem with the amp as someone else mentioned. I would check my ground first, then I would disconect ONE sub first and try playing just one for a while and see if the amp shuts down, if not than switch to the other sub for a while and see if it shuts down. If both dont cause a shut down than its a fairly safe bet that the subs are fine and you have an amp problem.

 

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

Thanks for all the replies and tips. I am going to continue to troubleshoot to see what the issue is.

On a related note, I am down in Seattle (from AK) and stopped by a Car Toys. I first spoke to a sales guy and he said it was the amp. Then I talked to a "respected" installer. Told him my setup and what I have done so far. He said, "That is a common issue with Kicker amps. I have seen this happen on several installs that I have done."

My question, REALLY? I know they are not the best in the world.. but known to just stop playing at moderate volumes?

 

[AK SloPok 10+ year member]

This weekend I decided to try to really trace down the problem. Normally the amp was shutting off with high volume and sub notes. However, when driving around with my daughter I checked to see if the windows were all up and hit the two rear switcheds, BANG! The amp goes into protect. I tested this twice more both times it shut the amp off BUT ONLY WHEN DRIVING.

I got my DMM out and checked all my speaker wires and found nothing. I pulled each of my doors apart and again found nothing that would cause a short or problem. After all my checking I was still able to shut the system down by hitting two window switches at a time. I could not see any indication (other than slight voltage drop) that this has any influence on the stereo.

My last attempt was to reground the body of my truck. I ran two 4 gauge cables. One from the block to the body, another from the negative battery to the body. I verified very low resistance at this point and the amp. I have NOT been able to shut the amp off while driving today.

Question...

Could it have been that the ground was not sufficient and when the charging system was taxed it shut the amp off?

Second question. The only "factory" wiring in my system is where the rear speaker wire goes through the door. Although I have tested this several times, is it possible the negative wire for the speaker is common to the switches, or causing this problem or a short to the amp?

 

[davesexplorer 10+ year member]

Speaker wire short?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Speaker wire short?

that is what it sounds like to me too

 

[Polecat 5,000+ posts]

sounds like a wiring issue, but amazing how installers immediately blame the product, not the install...