Smoking Hot!!

[XEnophontos 10+ year member]

Hey guys so I have a 12" Incriminator Audio flatlyne powered by an alpine that has been seeing some low voltage, don't have big 3 done yet. Anyways today while driving after about 3minutes I started smelling something then saw some smoke coming out my skipass. Stopped pulled over took sub out of the box and it seems fine to me only noticeable difference is the horrible smell and the spiders look like they have a slight slight gray tinge to them. Figures it would happen the day the Big 3 wires came in.

Anyways story times over how can I tell if I blew the sub or not? It was playing and sounding exactly the same the whole time.

Also I did set the gains correctly, with no bass boost or anything. And I have not hooked it back up to play.

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[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

you were playing them then they smelled?

 

[XEnophontos 10+ year member]

Yes

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

smelly coilz

 

[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

could have just gotten really hot, due to clipping. If it still plays fine then it's not blown.

 

[XEnophontos 10+ year member]

Very shmelly stank my whole car

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

Double check all wiring, then you can use a DMM to test if the coils still read properly. Sounds like there was some damage done, but may still be usable.

 

[XEnophontos 10+ year member]

By wiring you mean grounding points and such correct? And how would I go about using a dmm to check the voice coils? And how would I be able to tell the extent of the damage?

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

I bet your coils don't read to what they're supposed to be. I had a 1st-gen Kicker L7 and it didn't like 1500 watts RMS. Sub still works but the dual "4 ohm" coil now reads 7.8 ohms and 13 ohms.

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

By wiring you mean grounding points and such correct? And how would I go about using a dmm to check the voice coils? And how would I be able to tell the extent of the damage?

I mean everything that could have changed from working properly to smoking. At the very least you'll need to correct settings. Smoking out a sub is far from normal.

As far as checking the subwoofer, a DMM will allow you to see if the impedance is still what it should be. Accessing the damage maybe tricky. If the coils don't have a steady reading or read something they shouldn't, that's a sign.

As far as setting gains, boost, etc: A rule of thumb is stay away from boost, and use a DMM or oscilloscope to set the gains to prevent clipping.

Clipping is a main contributor to killing a speaker. It causes heat to build up rapidly and you get blown and burned up coils. When I see something like this, I usually check for culprits that would have caused clipping first, as it's very common. Improper wiring is also possible.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

if you let out that much smoke ur sub's dayz are numbered,rip.

my question ur powering a 500rms sub,right?

dont know the amp ur using but how dose it drop ur voltage that low?

even if ur amp is 1000rms ur voltage should be good while the car is running.

if you start ur car and took out ur alt with a good battery you should be ok to run ur car and power ur system for 3mins.

you dont have ur amp set up rite OR you are just sending way too much power to ur sub....

 

[XEnophontos 10+ year member]

if you let out that much smoke ur sub's dayz are numbered,rip.
my question ur powering a 500rms sub,right?

dont know the amp ur using but how dose it drop ur voltage that low?

even if ur amp is 1000rms ur voltage should be good while the car is running.

if you start ur car and took out ur alt with a good battery you should be ok to run ur car and power ur system for 3mins.

you dont have ur amp set up rite OR you are just sending way too much power to ur sub....

750rms sub, 1000rms amp, 80amp alt, stock car battery up front, batcap300 in the back, stinger 0 gauge wiring to batcap then switches to 4guage, grounded under the seat been good for 2months or so. For awhile now the amp gets mad hot after like 20min in the afternoon summer heat (its fine in the morning) and will go to half power, usually i turn it off when that happens, but its my own fault for pushing it either way.

Suppousedly the flaylyne can take like 1200 daily of clean power and the alpine m1000 is pretty clean, but the low voltage must have caused clipping

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

80amp alt is fine, might have to back off when the air cond is on.

dont know a batcap300 for size wise.

i know i was running a clamped 3100rms in my last car off stock battery,90 amp alt and a c&d liberty(hella battery).

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I seen the title "smoking hot" and then seen SPLaudio and got excited, was a tad upset with this thread after opening it.

with that said, it sound like something is not right in your setup. Your voltage should not be dropping that bad from what you have setup. How do you know it is dropping that low?(How are you testing it?)

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

80 amp alt. 80 amps x 14.4 volts = 1150 watts. Factoring in for amplifier efficiency, the alt cant even cover the potential pull from just the subwoofer amplifier, let alone the rest of the stereo, headlights, ignition system, AC, etc.

The reason the system worked... semi-acceptably... for a couple months, and then failed, is because system voltage kept getting worse and worse. Im 100% confident you have been over taxing your battery, since the alt wasn't capable of handling the current draw. Not only has your sub been damaged, but probably your amplifier too, and the batt, and the alt. The smoke you saw from your woofer is probably just the tip of the iceberg of the problems you have created. The main thing now is, to learn your lesson from this mistake, move forward and not make the same mistake again.

Im known around here for preaching about 'over building' your charging system. Hopefully some people reading this thread will understand why now, and not just the OP will learn a lesson from the mistakes described in this thread.