Memphis Depth Charge amp in protection

[montx 10+ year member]

Here's the story -

Driving along and all of the sudden no more boom boom. Here's my current setup. This setup has been powered up before and no problems ( the subs, this amp is from my fiance):

Knukonceptz amp wiring kit ( 4guage edition )

Memphis Depth Charge DC-200

Two 10" audio pipe subwoofers ( 250WRMS, dual 4 ohm ) wired in 4 ohm each, but are bridged at the amplifier

It's a weird problem. I'll leave the GND, BAT, and REM connected, no lights - nothing. I've checked the connections, and let me reassure you -- they're good. Ground is stable, bat is 12.45~46 at both REM and BAT, and the GND has always been stable on my last amp. I'll hook up one of my RCA's and then the protection light appears. It doesnt matter which RCA ( right/left ) is hooked up. So Then I'll go and hook the left/right on my sub up, still red light -- BUT, here's the weird part. If I allow the screwdriver to touch both the screw on the terminal and the amp itself, it'll turn green and the amp will provide bump to the speakers.

Any Ideas on this?

Click to read more...

 

[montx 10+ year member]

Update -

Also -- I dont know if this helps but whenever I touch the one of the RCA plugs into the RCA input on the amp, my component speakers pop. I really don't understand this problem! I'm going to hook the amp up to my fiance's setup and see if its the amp or my current setup... I'm leaning towards amplifier but we'll see what happens.

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

bad ground?

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

The inernal ground juncture is damaged and or is disconnected, which is why your amplifier is using the frame ground as a secondary grounding point. Open it up, check the continuity between the terminal connection and the motherboard's main ground itself.

 

[montx 10+ year member]

Ugh, I figured something went wrong inside. It's almost 8 years old, so you'd expect something to go bad. How much will this fix cost? Is it some simple soldering or are we talking about an operation that will cost more than the amp is worth.

The ground is excellent on the frame - I've confirmed it.

Could you explain that procedure that you referred to in the last post about the internal ground

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Prob some simple soldering, just open the amp up and look at where the main ground connects to the motherboard. Inspect it for damage / cracks to the trace where its been soldered. Thats prob where the issue lies. Other than that, I couldnt tell ya much without lookn at it. Repair costs id imagine are less than 100 on this from a place like Audiotekx.com

 

[montx 10+ year member]

So I took the cover off and inspected the innards of the amplifier, but over visual inspection there didn't appear to be anything loose/ out of place/ burnt. Where exactly should I be looking? I don't want to send this amp in because just like my car, I'd rather fix it myself //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[montx 10+ year member]

Another update - I threw the amp in a different car and still a protection light. Also, I think something with the input may be bad. Of course this amp only has one set so I can't test another set of inputs. Any thoughts? I dont know much about amplifiers, so that's why I'm turning to you guys!

 

[mavster 10+ year member]

Prob some simple soldering, just open the amp up and look at where the main ground connects to the motherboard. Inspect it for damage / cracks to the trace where its been soldered. Thats prob where the issue lies. Other than that, I couldnt tell ya much without lookn at it. Repair costs id imagine are less than 100 on this from a place like Audiotekx.com

DUH!!!

read above you...hes telling you its an internal problem...either repair it yourself or send it out to be repaired..

 

[jesseledesma140]

All right bro it seems that your RCA's are bad I'm pretty sure it's your RCA's get a new set of RCA terminals it doesn't matter if you get them from Walmart but I'm pretty sure that it's your RCA or is the wiring inside the speaker box bro just take the speaker out and check your wiring right there bro I had that same problem with many years ago and I just you know I knew that this app you know I've had that same amp as well and the same problem happened to me done everyt
hing from head to toe and still nothing I was having the same problem but then I noticed that every time I move the wires it will make a popping noise so I went ahead and went to Walmart but the cheap RCA jacks plugged it up to the head unit to the app work like a charm try that bro it might be your problem right there bro I guaranteed it that's your problem

 

[Firewalker]

14 year old thread

@Popwarhomie we need that picture!

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]