rgh I just spent a couple hours writing out my issue as best I could and my post wasn't accepted before I clicked back, shoulda copied the post to be safe.
Ok so here's my sit, I have an infinity kappa 104.7w 10"(350rms peak I believe) powered by an infinity reference 1300a(300w rms), so I'm under peak. None the less my system has been working for years in 2 different setups. One factory custom enclosure that was within specs and the more recent which I built myself that I believe was still within specs of the subwoofer. Specs for sealed are an ideal @ .75^3 ft, and if i can remember correctly from when i bought it, .5-a lil over 1^3ft, my custom is very close to .75^3 by a good eye judgement. If you would like to see it, you can check it out Here
On a side note, I have a load of aftermarket lighting, all the interior lights are swapped out for hand furnished LED modules/fixtures I made myself. I have under lighting, grill lighting(its blue, illegal i know, but looks awesome at night with the Blue Grand Cherokee it's all installed in). As well as a few extra interior lights i added myself. The under lighting has been in for at least a year now and all the new lighting I added the same day I fried a VC wire(negative to be exact, both sides to be more in depth, but I'll get to that later) was pulled from the same circuit running the UL's that i setup with a terminal strip for the +12Vdc as well as the grounds to keep from getting ground loops interfering with the stereo. I'm aware of ground loops.
My install is very clean and I can assure you I have no shorts anywhere, being as **** as I am with electrical, clean power directly from the battery fused 4gauge COPPER welding cable(basically the same as what you stereo junkies use frequently, just the common electrical name of it) so I'm overkill for my system but it doesn't ever hurt to be in such a place. RCA's from the deck are good, quality as well, remote is good(no shorts, ground to amp is good, I do have a 2 farad cap I forgot to add in if that makes a difference, it's grounded within 18" or less, powered without shorts and less than 5 inches away from my amp, so I know that the amp is getting good solid and clean power and ground connections from all designations.
Here's my background, 25 currently, started electrical with my father at age 12, and I'm always up on the tech, so I know my stuff, I program smart houses for a living recently. I have one of HTC's/Verizon's newest cellphones hacked/rooted running the most current Linux version available. First computer at age 5, father worked for a computer company and taught me how to build them before I was 10, I now build "super" computers or whatever you want to call them on the side as well for friends family and whoever else propositions me, completely setup with programs for what the computer was built for, ie. video editing, gaming, solid works, graphic design, you get the idea, you want it, I can build it. Audio for at least 10+ years as well, father is a audiophile as well, not to mention a dead head, started me with guitars, amplifiers, and bass cabinets(yea I play a bass guitar so I'm very familiar with bass properties starting at such a young age as i did with the fortune of having a father like mine). I'm not trying to state that I know way more than you guys do, because more than likely i just don't, otherwise I wouldn't be here asking for help, just stating that I know my electrical/audio and I don't consider myself ignorant when it comes to this stuff generally, but we all miss things here and there or just need to learn one minor thing to fix what we've done incorrect. Basically I'm not looking to get flamed, since I don't know the forum that well, I figured an introduction would be good.
So to get back to the point, first negative vc wire to the cone melted, don't know if it was coincidence or not that it did after I installed some new lighting the same day, even though the lighting power point and ground didn't really change. Mind you as well that all my lighting on my Jeep is L.E.D. and probably less than 35 watts total and rarely ever all on at once, or even on for that matter. However the interior lights I fashioned myself stay on around %10 the majority of the time turning off randomly a couple times a month, I'm fairly sure it's a short to ground causing that, or just not enough load on the lighting circuit to turn off understanding some vehicle wiring diagnostics, but it's been so for at least a year or so and subwoofer has been bumping away just fine. I do have blue LEDs in the grill(not legal, I know but it looks sweet as heck none the less, I have some reds I thought about throwin' in just to mess with people but I'd rather not put myself in that much of an illegal situation).
So i replaced the first fried wire with some random speaker wire as a temp fix, while I left a message with a fellow audiophile looking for vc wire,and the opposite side of the negative vc wire melted and discoed as well within 10 minutes of bumping again! Remember DVC The wire i used to replace is was professional home audio wire since i do installs on the stuff and had it laying around. Figured it would work as a temp fix, but not in the long run being way more stiff than the original. It just seemed too short to try to reuse so i cut a long length to give it some flexibility. In the long run I think it took out a formal "weak link" or safety feature of the vc by using a more "heavy duty" or physically stronger wire than the original. None the less, here I am, opposite side melted, and I'm hesitant to wire that side with my home audio speaker wire considering that's the weak link that protects the VC in the long run.
Another possible reason why the opposite side went in my mind, could have been, but not likely from my understanding of Ohms law, was that since the sub is a DVC with selectable ohm from 2-8 and my amp runs @ 2ohm, which it was setup for when the first vc wire fried, is that my custom enclosure, if I'm not paying attention when i install the sub in, has a tendency to switch the selector switch from 2 to 8 ohms. Like i said though, from my understanding of Ohms law that as long as your UNDER the ohms rating that's being supplied, I.E. amp pushing 2ohms and sub expecting 8ohms, it shouldn't hurt it. But "over" ohm'ing a sub is very dangerous and can potentially destroy it, I.E. supplying a 2ohm sub with 8 Ohms. However I do recall running it at 8ohms on my 2 Ohm mono amp for a day or 2 accidentally due to the tight fight on my enclosure switching the Ohm selector from 2 Ohm's to 8 Ohms and noticed that it just sounded, weak to say, not anywhere close to it's potential, so that would rule this situation out if you ask me. Though one could hope/wish that was the problem.
Forgive me if I come off arrogant, it's been a very long day of fixing a subwoofer, that I absolutely can't live without(IN OTHER WORDS I NEED MY FREAKING BASS, my 6" Kappas and 6" Bostons just don't produce enough to get by with unfortunately. The Bostons do fairly well but I'm still running the factory 4 channel infinity amp that my jeep came with and I have it re-wired due to a couple channels being dead. hokey I know but I haven't found a decently priced 4 channel amp that fits underneath the seats), installed some more lighting, and got back on the road for a short test drive to find out I fried another vc wire, then home to find out I may be a father here shortly. I just find it from my other forum experiences that the most information you can give someone always get you ahead rather than leaving out the info that you deem unnecessary. I appreciate you help and I know this post is a bit old but it seemed like a decent place to start before I create my own.
So is my vc going, is it blown, do you think I have a random short that happened all of the sudden, or is it along term problem that is finally showing and happened more than once(fyi the second vc wire that fried was also the negative, hence the opposite side, but it didn't show any signs of wear or overheating/stress when i replaced the first fried wire)? If you guys know where I can get VC wire if this is a fixable problem I have, please fill me in, I could use some, I don't trust my house audio wire, even though it's "pro" it's just too stiff for the application at hand.
Again thank you for any help
Ok so here's my sit, I have an infinity kappa 104.7w 10"(350rms peak I believe) powered by an infinity reference 1300a(300w rms), so I'm under peak. None the less my system has been working for years in 2 different setups. One factory custom enclosure that was within specs and the more recent which I built myself that I believe was still within specs of the subwoofer. Specs for sealed are an ideal @ .75^3 ft, and if i can remember correctly from when i bought it, .5-a lil over 1^3ft, my custom is very close to .75^3 by a good eye judgement. If you would like to see it, you can check it out Here
On a side note, I have a load of aftermarket lighting, all the interior lights are swapped out for hand furnished LED modules/fixtures I made myself. I have under lighting, grill lighting(its blue, illegal i know, but looks awesome at night with the Blue Grand Cherokee it's all installed in). As well as a few extra interior lights i added myself. The under lighting has been in for at least a year now and all the new lighting I added the same day I fried a VC wire(negative to be exact, both sides to be more in depth, but I'll get to that later) was pulled from the same circuit running the UL's that i setup with a terminal strip for the +12Vdc as well as the grounds to keep from getting ground loops interfering with the stereo. I'm aware of ground loops.
My install is very clean and I can assure you I have no shorts anywhere, being as **** as I am with electrical, clean power directly from the battery fused 4gauge COPPER welding cable(basically the same as what you stereo junkies use frequently, just the common electrical name of it) so I'm overkill for my system but it doesn't ever hurt to be in such a place. RCA's from the deck are good, quality as well, remote is good(no shorts, ground to amp is good, I do have a 2 farad cap I forgot to add in if that makes a difference, it's grounded within 18" or less, powered without shorts and less than 5 inches away from my amp, so I know that the amp is getting good solid and clean power and ground connections from all designations.
Here's my background, 25 currently, started electrical with my father at age 12, and I'm always up on the tech, so I know my stuff, I program smart houses for a living recently. I have one of HTC's/Verizon's newest cellphones hacked/rooted running the most current Linux version available. First computer at age 5, father worked for a computer company and taught me how to build them before I was 10, I now build "super" computers or whatever you want to call them on the side as well for friends family and whoever else propositions me, completely setup with programs for what the computer was built for, ie. video editing, gaming, solid works, graphic design, you get the idea, you want it, I can build it. Audio for at least 10+ years as well, father is a audiophile as well, not to mention a dead head, started me with guitars, amplifiers, and bass cabinets(yea I play a bass guitar so I'm very familiar with bass properties starting at such a young age as i did with the fortune of having a father like mine). I'm not trying to state that I know way more than you guys do, because more than likely i just don't, otherwise I wouldn't be here asking for help, just stating that I know my electrical/audio and I don't consider myself ignorant when it comes to this stuff generally, but we all miss things here and there or just need to learn one minor thing to fix what we've done incorrect. Basically I'm not looking to get flamed, since I don't know the forum that well, I figured an introduction would be good.
So to get back to the point, first negative vc wire to the cone melted, don't know if it was coincidence or not that it did after I installed some new lighting the same day, even though the lighting power point and ground didn't really change. Mind you as well that all my lighting on my Jeep is L.E.D. and probably less than 35 watts total and rarely ever all on at once, or even on for that matter. However the interior lights I fashioned myself stay on around %10 the majority of the time turning off randomly a couple times a month, I'm fairly sure it's a short to ground causing that, or just not enough load on the lighting circuit to turn off understanding some vehicle wiring diagnostics, but it's been so for at least a year or so and subwoofer has been bumping away just fine. I do have blue LEDs in the grill(not legal, I know but it looks sweet as heck none the less, I have some reds I thought about throwin' in just to mess with people but I'd rather not put myself in that much of an illegal situation).
So i replaced the first fried wire with some random speaker wire as a temp fix, while I left a message with a fellow audiophile looking for vc wire,and the opposite side of the negative vc wire melted and discoed as well within 10 minutes of bumping again! Remember DVC The wire i used to replace is was professional home audio wire since i do installs on the stuff and had it laying around. Figured it would work as a temp fix, but not in the long run being way more stiff than the original. It just seemed too short to try to reuse so i cut a long length to give it some flexibility. In the long run I think it took out a formal "weak link" or safety feature of the vc by using a more "heavy duty" or physically stronger wire than the original. None the less, here I am, opposite side melted, and I'm hesitant to wire that side with my home audio speaker wire considering that's the weak link that protects the VC in the long run.
Another possible reason why the opposite side went in my mind, could have been, but not likely from my understanding of Ohms law, was that since the sub is a DVC with selectable ohm from 2-8 and my amp runs @ 2ohm, which it was setup for when the first vc wire fried, is that my custom enclosure, if I'm not paying attention when i install the sub in, has a tendency to switch the selector switch from 2 to 8 ohms. Like i said though, from my understanding of Ohms law that as long as your UNDER the ohms rating that's being supplied, I.E. amp pushing 2ohms and sub expecting 8ohms, it shouldn't hurt it. But "over" ohm'ing a sub is very dangerous and can potentially destroy it, I.E. supplying a 2ohm sub with 8 Ohms. However I do recall running it at 8ohms on my 2 Ohm mono amp for a day or 2 accidentally due to the tight fight on my enclosure switching the Ohm selector from 2 Ohm's to 8 Ohms and noticed that it just sounded, weak to say, not anywhere close to it's potential, so that would rule this situation out if you ask me. Though one could hope/wish that was the problem.
Forgive me if I come off arrogant, it's been a very long day of fixing a subwoofer, that I absolutely can't live without(IN OTHER WORDS I NEED MY FREAKING BASS, my 6" Kappas and 6" Bostons just don't produce enough to get by with unfortunately. The Bostons do fairly well but I'm still running the factory 4 channel infinity amp that my jeep came with and I have it re-wired due to a couple channels being dead. hokey I know but I haven't found a decently priced 4 channel amp that fits underneath the seats), installed some more lighting, and got back on the road for a short test drive to find out I fried another vc wire, then home to find out I may be a father here shortly. I just find it from my other forum experiences that the most information you can give someone always get you ahead rather than leaving out the info that you deem unnecessary. I appreciate you help and I know this post is a bit old but it seemed like a decent place to start before I create my own.
So is my vc going, is it blown, do you think I have a random short that happened all of the sudden, or is it along term problem that is finally showing and happened more than once(fyi the second vc wire that fried was also the negative, hence the opposite side, but it didn't show any signs of wear or overheating/stress when i replaced the first fried wire)? If you guys know where I can get VC wire if this is a fixable problem I have, please fill me in, I could use some, I don't trust my house audio wire, even though it's "pro" it's just too stiff for the application at hand.
Again thank you for any help
