Subs burning???

[Wesseat]

I installed my build today and im not sure what i have going on. 4 subs wired to two monoblocks. When i turned on the key for the first time the subs made a thump and a few seconds later i could hear the subs sizzling and i shut the. Key off.. Subs thumped again and i could smell burnt coils and see smoke coming out of the port.. I had the gains all the way down and had not connected the rcas yet... So I pulled the subs and unwired them. Everything appeared wired correctly inside and outside the box.. I had my son turn on the key while i watched the voltage coming out of both amps and i couldn't detect any voltage upon turning the key on and off?? I dont know what the hell happened.. Subs still test 1.7 ohms each. Any ideas?

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[huberoy123 10+ year member]

If I was troubleshooting, I would test each amplifier, 2 sub setup individually. First, check your fuse near the battery to make sure it's not blown, then check the fuses at the amp, if equipped. Trace all your wiring from the battery to the amp. Can we assume that the subs and amp are compatible?? Let us know what you find. Good luck.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Push down easily on each sub and see if you feel any resistance / and or feel any scratching. Pics would be nice. What subs do you have and what amplifier/amplifiers?

 

[Wesseat]

Push down easily on each sub and see if you feel any resistance / and or feel any scratching. Pics would be nice. What subs do you have and what amplifier/amplifiers?

No scratching resistance against pushing down seeing normal. They are x-w-10d4 Alpine Subs and kicker CX 1800.1 amplifiers. Each amp was wired at 1 ohm on a pair of subwoofers. One thing I didn't mention earlier was that I accidentally reversed polarities on one of the amplifiers enough to make a spark. But it seems to come on and does not go into protect mode or anything. Green light is there. I got to work today but I was planning on doing what I should have done to begin with and set my amplifier gains with a dd1 plus and see if everything looks normal there with the Subs disconnected. I'm guessing scratching and excess resistance is bad right?

 

[Wesseat]

If I was troubleshooting, I would test each amplifier, 2 sub setup individually. First, check your fuse near the battery to make sure it's not blown, then check the fuses at the amp, if equipped. Trace all your wiring from the battery to the amp. Can we assume that the subs and amp are compatible?? Let us know what you find. Good luck.

Yes compatIble.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

You are only using one voice coil per subwoofer.

 

[Grimmjoww]

You are only using one voice coil per subwoofer.

I thought the same as well, looks like only one coil is hooked up. I have never owned any Alpine upper level subs so I didn't comment on this one.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I accidentally reversed polarities on one of the amplifiers

That could very well have damaged something inside your amp. Are you attempting to strap those two amps? Are you 100% certain you understand how to do this and have everything connected correctly?

Either way you need to take a big step back and test everything individually and methodically. You really don't want to go burning up those subs, they're not cheap and if you damaged one amp you do not want to hook that up to an expensive sub or another amp which may still be functioning.

You are only using one voice coil per subwoofer.

Don't these have some sort of jumper or switch or something or am I thinking some other brand?

 

[Deiimos]

Yeah those subs have some odd jumper card you change for parallel or series wiring. That's what that thin gray thing is above the screws. Looks like he has each sub set to parallel, which should be 2-ohm per sub, so his approximate 1.7-ohm sounds like they are wired correctly, at least the subs themselves anyway.

Smoke / sizzling coming from the subwoofers, whatever happened, likely overheated the voice coil. That doesn't mean they are dead, but likely the coating on the coils, and or the glue sustained damage.

A bad amplifier will do this, if it is sending DC to the subs. Why it happened in your case no idea. Accidentally connecting the power to the amp is also not good.

But yeah, I agree, at this point, everything needs disconnected and tested individually with some caution. Use a DMM to check for DC on the speaker terminals of each amp with no input but powered on, no subs connected. A bad amp sending DC to the speakers is a quick way to fry voice coils.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Hmm No Bueno man. I certainly wouldnt be putting that amp to use without bench testing it first. Im sure those coils are marked a bit on those subs. No telling the longevity of them. Id test those unhooked as well individually. Save up for some new ones and run these until they fail. run a single Sub amp in the Future to keep from any issues

 

[Wesseat]

I thought the same as well, looks like only one coil is hooked up. I have never owned any Alpine upper level subs so I didn't comment on this one.

Yeah they have a switch above the connections for parallel and series. According to the manual the way I have it set up is for a 2 ohm load per subwoofer and then two subs on each channel for a 1 ohm load on each amplifier.

 

[Wesseat]

Yeah those subs have some odd jumper card you change for parallel or series wiring. That's what that thin gray thing is above the screws. Looks like he has each sub set to parallel, which should be 2-ohm per sub, so his approximate 1.7-ohm sounds like they are wired correctly, at least the subs themselves anyway.

Smoke / sizzling coming from the subwoofers, whatever happened, likely overheated the voice coil. That doesn't mean they are dead, but likely the coating on the coils, and or the glue sustained damage.

A bad amplifier will do this, if it is sending DC to the subs. Why it happened in your case no idea. Accidentally connecting the power to the amp is also not good.

But yeah, I agree, at this point, everything needs disconnected and tested individually with some caution. Use a DMM to check for DC on the speaker terminals of each amp with no input but powered on, no subs connected. A bad amp sending DC to the speakers is a quick way to fry voice coils.

I tested for AC but not DC. Interesting this would make sense.

 

[Wesseat]

I tested for AC but not DC. Interesting this would make sense.

I tested for AC but got nothing. Ill try dc when i get home... Man im sick. More

 

[Wesseat]

I tested for AC but got nothing.

That could very well have damaged something inside your amp. Are you attempting to strap those two amps? Are you 100% certain you understand how to do this and have everything connected correctly?

Either way you need to take a big step back and test everything individually and methodically. You really don't want to go burning up those subs, they're not cheap and if you damaged one amp you do not want to hook that up to an expensive sub or another amp which may still be functioning.



Don't these have some sort of jumper or switch or something or am I thinking some other brand?

The amplifiers aren't really strapped as I understand strapping an amplifier.. Please correct me if im wrong cause im ignorant of what strapping amps really is? ...it's more like the signal is split from the rcas to two individual amplifiers and each amplifier runs two subs and you match the gains between the amplifiers so all four subs see the same output voltage.

 

[Wesseat]

Yeah those subs have some odd jumper card you change for parallel or series wiring. That's what that thin gray thing is above the screws. Looks like he has each sub set to parallel, which should be 2-ohm per sub, so his approximate 1.7-ohm sounds like they are wired correctly, at least the subs themselves anyway.

Smoke / sizzling coming from the subwoofers, whatever happened, likely overheated the voice coil. That doesn't mean they are dead, but likely the coating on the coils, and or the glue sustained damage.

A bad amplifier will do this, if it is sending DC to the subs. Why it happened in your case no idea. Accidentally connecting the power to the amp is also not good.

But yeah, I agree, at this point, everything needs disconnected and tested individually with some caution. Use a DMM to check for DC on the speaker terminals of each amp with no input but powered on, no subs connected. A bad amp sending DC to the speakers is a quick way to fry voice coil.

Ok everything disconnected and amps powered up and one amp shows 43V DC at the speaker outputs. So do i need a new amp?