RCA's makin amp go into protect?

[zthumper 10+ year member]

Well I had the zx350.2 workin great for about 2 hours powering some speakers i had. There was horrible alt whinning so i decided to hook up my ipod directly to the amp, i did and ther was absolulety no whinning,so its gotta be the hu or the rca's.....but something weird happened as i turned the volume on the ipod past half.....the amp went into protect....i disconnected the ipod and hooked the rcas back up and as soon as i did the amp went into protect.....diconnected them and the amp stayed on fine...what could be wrong with the amp? I am plannin on getting some rca's....do you think that will fix the problem? ANy ideas.....i have had a ton of trouble with this amp (sent it in 3 times to get it fixed and i don't want to send it in again) Help please

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[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

iPod voltage output greater than max input voltage on amp? Could be.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

iPod voltage output greater than max input voltage on amp? Could be.

Yeah but the amp still went into protect after i hooked the hu back up to it.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

bump for some help

 

[crow 10+ year member]

Check your grounds. A bad ground can certainly pick up engine noise and cause other problems as well.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

Check your grounds. A bad ground can certainly pick up engine noise and cause other problems as well.

Already ruled that out....no engine noise whatsoever when the amp is hooked directly to the ipod...hower it does go into protect when the volume is past half......still dont know y it is goin into protect as soon as i hook up the rca's from the hu.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

Something else i don't get is that it worked fine for a while then I hooked up the ipod...and after that it goes into protect when the rca's from the hu are hooked up. Its not the ohm load i know that, i wouldn't think its the hu (my other amp works fine with no engine noise at all), could it be the rcas? It's grounded in the exact same place as my other amp so i don't think its the ground......should i just but some new rcas and see if this helps? The reason i am askin a lot is because i have already sent it in 3 times and i don't want it to happen again.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

You overdrove the input stage of the amp with the iPod and now it is toast?

You must have two or more components powered from the car electrics to get alt whine. Your problem before was probably a bad HU ground. The iPod is isolated from the car's ground plane and can't induce a ground loop.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

You overdrove the input stage of the amp with the iPod and now it is toast?
You must have two or more components powered from the car electrics to get alt whine. Your problem before was probably a bad HU ground. The iPod is isolated from the car's ground plane and can't induce a ground loop.

So you think that the amp input is done for? So you think that all it was, was a bad hu ground and not the rca's? Dammmit if the amp is fired again im gonna be super pisssed.

 

[thch 10+ year member]

+1 vote for ground issues.

basically, the ipod, disconnected from the car, is a "floating source". it should work very well and be noiseless and have no grounding issues because it is not connected to ground at any points except for at the amp.

i don't think amps have input overload protection faults. possibly they have some protective measures, but i wouldn't think the amp would go into protect mode. then again, who knows?

i'd call kicker and ask about this issue. if you can determine the input type (singled ended, differential, balenced, isolated/balenced, as well as input impedance) it may help to determine what has gone wrong.

 

[jjones5000 10+ year member]

Vote +1 for inputs fried, also double check rca's. If maybe when you were adjusting them or moving them around, they rubbed up against a sharp edge and now have a internal short, I'm pretty sure that'll set off protect.

BTW: I think my ipod (5g 30Gb Black) has like .1v out at the preamp, i looked all this up when i had to get a dongle for my pioneer HU to play ipod through it. So maybe you turned gain too far up and ipod too far up and messed sometin up. Just my thoughts.

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

Yahhh thats what happened the inputs are fired.......4th time sending it back......this fawkin sucks.