Sound cutting out when turned up on 2ohm load. Wiring problem?

[RRR37 10+ year member]

I am trying to push my 2 12" Pioneer champion TS-W308D2 (400rms) at 2ohms from my Hifonics BXi 1606D. My HU is a Dual XHD 7714 (I know, I went cheap but the options are awesome for the price). I am also running 4- 5x7" Soundstream PCT.573's (3ohm) on a Memphis 16-SE 2.50.

My wiring:

I have my HU wired standard to the wiring harness and the remote wire going to the amps. I have run the rca's (sub out to hifonics)(front out to Memphis) up the middle of the vehicle as to avoid running with the power wire. I am running a 6ga. power cable from the batt.+ down the drivers side to the 1 farad cap (cheap Fry's model) then to terminal block which feeds the amps all 6ga. wire. the amps are both grounded with a 4ft. piece of 4ga. which is bolted to a sanded area under the carpet in the back. The capacitor is also grounded to the - in a different spot in the same area of the car. To avoid trying to fit wires through the tight openings on the doors for the 5x7's, I left the stock wiring in place and ran 16ga. from the wiring harness at the HU to the Memphis in the back with 2 speakers wired to each channel. I think that's about it on wiring.

The problem:

When I wire the pioneers at 2ohms the music is cutting as the bass hits at high volume. The volume goes from 0-46 and when I hit about 28+ it starts cutting in and out with the bass. The power cap also jumps up and down in voltage from 12-14 and the lights dim with the bass. I have 2 old kicker impulse 10's (8ohm) that I have tried, wired at 4ohms and they don't cut out but hit nowhere near as hard as I want. I have tried different areas for grounding to make sure the connection there is good. I have gotten another 4ga. and run it from the batt. to make sure that the 6ga. wire is not the problem (I know I need more and am saving to go all 1/0). I have ran without the hifonics to make sure that the memphis and soundstream combo is not the problem. Could it be that when I go to 2ohm I am trying to push too much power for my alternator? Could my battery be getting too weak? I have not yet done the big 3 because I am waiting to get a bunch of 1/0 to run everything with (that stuff is expensive).

Obviously I am not very experienced in car audio yet. I have put in a few rag tag systems but nothing major. This is the first time I have come across this problem. I am new to the forum so if there is anything I missed on how I posted, please let me know so I can post correctly. Any advice on my problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[DjSpecialK17 10+ year member]

what kind of batt are you using? did you blow the fuse on the + wire at all? is the amp or/and the power wires hot? its most likely the 6g wire, 1600 watt amp powered buy 6g is risky, you really should get true 4g not cheap **** for it soon because if you keep letting the amp cut out like that it will blow soon or the wire will fry up and next thing you know you have a car fire :/

 

[RRR37 10+ year member]

Thanks for the reply. The battery is a stock motorcraft. The 6ga is a Scoche 16ft with an 80A fuse at the battery. The Hifonics has 2-70A fuses. My car is a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer XR 4.6L.

As far as I can tell nothing is getting hot and no fuses have blown. I will try to upgrade the 6ga this weekend but like I said,I did run a 4ga along with the 6ga on the + to see if that was the main issue and it didn't change it so there is some other problem I think.

 

[All_Logix 10+ year member]

Sounds like the amp isn't getting the current it needs and its jumping into protect mode. That 80 A fuse on the wire sounds about right but that amp wants to draw ALOT more than that. Trying going with true 4 AWG like they suggested above...might I recommend kicker hyperflex, rather expensive but great wire none the less

 

[RRR37 10+ year member]

Thanks, I will upgrade the wire throughout and do the big 3. I looked at my current battery to alt. wire and it looks like a cheap 4awg. if that. Not sure where to shop for the wire yet around here but will look this weekend. May have to order online. I am going to do all 1/0 so I can eventually add the Hifonics Brutus 1700. Will I need to upgrade anything else before adding a second amp? Is it necessary to have a HO alternator and second battery with 2 of these amps?

Thanks for the help. I will post after I do the big 3 and upgrade the main amp power and ground.

 

[DeathByWaffle 10+ year member]

I was melting my 80A fuse. It never broke/blew but it simply melted.

 

[RRR37 10+ year member]

I got my big 3 done this weekend and upgraded front to back with 1/0. I tried to find a good price on it but the best I could do was $111 for 20ft. And some 1/0 lugs at my local hardware store. I was a little worried about buying online and getting screwed on some fake *** 1/0, probably cca and more insulation than wire. Changed my HU to a Kenwood kdc-x769 and my subs to 2- diamond D3 15's. Thought it was good, no changes. Battery or alt. problem? Any way to test the although and battery?

EDIT : I was wrong. Just didn't turn it up enough. Still cutting out at high volume and amp going into protect after a few minutes of running it. I have tried my other amp as well (Vibe 286) and still getting the problem. Any ideas?

 

[RRR37 10+ year member]

Alright. I stopped off at the local car audio shop to get their opinion and they confirmed one of my assumptions. My 130amp alt is not cutting it for the amperage that my Hifonics is trying to draw as well as what my mountaineer needs. I was wondering how much current the amp was drawing since it has 2 - 70amp fuses. My lights dim like crazy when any real bass hits. Time to save up and start shopping to a new HO alternator.