Protect mode on kicker amp

[CobraRanger]

I've had a kicker zx750.1 amp for over a year now, and over the past 8 months, its randomly kicked on and off (gone in safety mode), and I have no idea what it could be. It will stay on all the time if I keep it at or below volume 20 on the radio. Sometimes I can turn it up to 25 and it wont go into safety and sometimes it will. The gain and bass boost is actually turned down lower than they have been before all this started happening and it still does it. I've checked the ground and everything. The alternator is putting out 14 volts (I checked it) and is working fine as far as I know. I took the amp apart hoping to find something but i dont know. I just got a new sub too cause the old one blew.

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[fwb_1234 10+ year member]

Well you might get a better response if you posted very detailed pics of the board. Also, did you do any mods or get in a wreck or anything like that right as this began?

 

[billjones42 10+ year member]

what is the new sub and how do you have it wired? Sounds like you've got it wired wrong and the amp is seeing a load below 2 ohms. That would cause it to go into protect at high volumes.

 

[CobraRanger]

No, I haven't been a wreck or done anything to the amp. My truck has air ride suspension, and I have dragged it several times, but I think it started a little before I was dragging my truck. Also, the sub is a Pioneer Champion series pro 10". Its wired 2 ohms, and I know that for a fact. I used to have a kicker solo baric L5 10" sub, and had it wired 4ohms b/c it could only handle like 350 rms (i cant remember the rms), and I had that for several months before the amp started going into protection mode. I didn't touch any of the settings on the amp until it started acting up.

 

[hondacr125 10+ year member]

I had the same issue with the kx2500 and most people told me that it was low voltage. I haven't checked that yet, another suggestion people said was to check my grounds. Do you have big enough wire? Some people also told me to check the ohm load on the amp with a dmm....

 

[CobraRanger]

I thought that it could be a low voltage problem, but i dont know. I got my dmm out when it started acting up, and checked it at the amp terminals, and right as it went into protection, the voltage droped to 4-5 volts, and stayed there until right as it kicked back on, it jumped back up to 13.5-14 volts, but it didnt kick off on every bass note though...it did it every 5 secs or so, but I didn't count. Later on, I checked it at the battery, and it never really droped below like 12 volts. The power and ground wire is 4 ga. Whenever it would stay in protection mode, I used a light tester (the thing you ground to metal and touch the tester to wires to see if it has power by lighting up the light) and touched it to the REM terminal on the amp, and it would actually bring it out of protection mode.

 

[fwb_1234 10+ year member]

I thought that it could be a low voltage problem, but i dont know. I got my dmm out when it started acting up, and checked it at the amp terminals, and right as it went into protection, the voltage droped to 4-5 volts, and stayed there until right as it kicked back on, it jumped back up to 13.5-14 volts, but it didnt kick off on every bass note though...it did it every 5 secs or so, but I didn't count. Later on, I checked it at the battery, and it never really droped below like 12 volts. The power and ground wire is 4 ga. Whenever it would stay in protection mode, I used a light tester (the thing you ground to metal and touch the tester to wires to see if it has power by lighting up the light) and touched it to the REM terminal on the amp, and it would actually bring it out of protection mode.

That's definitely not ok. That voltage should be within .1V of your battery voltage ALL THE TIME. Usually it's higher or exactly the same as the battery's.

I'm assuming that you stuck the dmm needles right into the + and - terminals on the amp and you used the dmm correctly. If not, the details asked for in the next paragraph won't be much help.

Describe, in exceptional detail: your wiring set up (gauge, brand, how you ran it through your car, your grounding location, how you have it connected to the ground, how your remote wire is hooked up and run, and any other details you can think of), what type of car, where is the amp located (exactly), where is the battery.

 

[CobraRanger]

The brand of wiring is scosche, its 5 ga. both power and ground wire. The power wire is ran through the firewall with a gromet in the hole of the firewall and underneath the carpet all the way to the amp, which is right behind the drivers seat. The amp is grounded about a foot and a half away from the amp to a seat frame bolt, and I just loosened the bolt and put the end of the wire under it and tightened the bolt making sure all the wire was under it. The remote wire is hooked up to the wire supplied by the radio just for the amp, and ran underneath the carpet back to the amp. There is also a couple other wires spliced into the switched wire for the radio, one is for the relay for my air compressor, and the other is for my air ride switches. Its a 2000 Ford ranger, and the battery is located above the drivers side tire in the engine compartment. I think the battery is a few years old. Im not sure if its the original one or not, but its a motorcraft, and i've heard of those lasting 7-10 years. Whenever my compressor for my air tank comes on (draws about 20 amps) it makes the headlights (before I got h.i.d. headlights) and interior and dash lights dim for a half second. I checked the alternator output and its right around 14 volts.

 

[fwb_1234 10+ year member]

Does it happen even with the car standing still?

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

there was a common problem with the ZX series having a bad connection. There were two separate connections that would sometimes warm up and connect to each other, throwing the amp in protect.

Its a simple fix, just a matter of cutting the connection on the board and soldering in a wire. I havent done it myself, but i had a ZX350.2 that did this, and my roommates 300.1 did the same thing as well.

Contact kicker directly about it. They gave my roomy a brand new 300.1 after owning the amp for a year.

 

[CobraRanger]

Does it happen even with the car standing still?

yea

there was a common problem with the ZX series having a bad connection. There were two separate connections that would sometimes warm up and connect to each other, throwing the amp in protect.
Its a simple fix, just a matter of cutting the connection on the board and soldering in a wire. I havent done it myself, but i had a ZX350.2 that did this, and my roommates 300.1 did the same thing as well.

Contact kicker directly about it. They gave my roomy a brand new 300.1 after owning the amp for a year.

It would do it even if you imediately turned the volume up after turning it on after it had been off for awhile?

 

[CobraRanger]

Anyone? I would really like to fix the problem.

 

[CobraRanger]

bump

 

[bkjt05 10+ year member]

bump for ya, cause i think i might have the same problem! except my amp turns off and comes back on whenever it decides to! kicker zx as well!

 

[CobraRanger]

Mine use to do that for several months. Now, it just kicks off when its too loud and comes back on when you turn it down.