Testing voltage at the amp

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

I have been doing some tests with my DMM to measure the voltage because my system is giving me problems. Yes, i know, i need to upgrade my electrical.

But i had it at full tilt and played Young Jeezy - Put on, which is the lowest song i have and at the amp i was reading as low as 10.72v. Which is very low. Obviously the amplifier doesn't like it because it keeps going into protect. But then i checked the voltage at the battery, with the same song and settings, and i was over 11.37v the whole time. My amp is running at 1 ohm.

So the question is, is the reason my amp reads a lower voltage than the battery because it is running at 1 ohm? Would replacing it with an amp that runs at 2 ohms help keep the voltage above 11v?

I would think that it would, but thought i would get some opinions first.

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[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

what wire do you have between the battery and amp and how is the ground for amp and ground for battery run?

what type of fuse are you using on the main power wire?

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

what size wire u using. I think your wire isn't thick enough. did you do the big 3? what kinda batt(s) you got

 

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

what wire do you have between the battery and amp and how is the ground for amp and ground for battery run?
what type of fuse are you using on the main power wire?

between the battery and amp is 1 gauge, or 1 ott. Can't remember exactly.

The ground for the amp is 1 gauge, but i believe the power wire and ground are both not fully tucked into the terminal all the way. Like a third of the copper didn't fit.

what size wire u using. I think your wire isn't thick enough. did you do the big 3? what kinda batt(s) you got

the big 3 is already done. My battery is stock, but the thing i don't understand is why my voltage reads higher on the battery, but lower on the sub amp.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

think about the circuit. the only reason you would have different voltage is resistance. whether it be the power line itself or the connection of the ground at the amp to the ground at the battery. My guess is your grounding skills ****:fyi:

 

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

think about the circuit. the only reason you would have different voltage is resistance. whether it be the power line itself or the connection of the ground at the amp to the ground at the battery. My guess is your grounding skills ****:fyi:

yep i think that is it.

 

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

think about the circuit. the only reason you would have different voltage is resistance. whether it be the power line itself or the connection of the ground at the amp to the ground at the battery. My guess is your grounding skills ****:fyi:

could this still be the problem if my DMM is reading the same thing on the battery and at the amp with the car off? It doesn't change when the car is off.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

could this still be the problem if my DMM is reading the same thing on the battery and at the amp with the car off? It doesn't change when the car is off.

you mean when there is no draw from the amp?

 

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

you mean when there is no draw from the amp?

yeah.

 

[savagebee 10+ year member]

get some scrap wire, run it from the negative battery terminal to the back where the amp is, then comapre grounding it to the battery ground and the amps ground, if youve got a measurable difference between the two, theres your answer

how is the amp grounded?

 

[mazzasec 5,000+ posts]

This happened to me once! My amp would go into protect all the time. The battery in the rear was at like 11.2 volts. Turns out that I had forgotten to put the fuse back under the hood when I was done installing!!! LOL So my amp was running off 1 kinetik 2400 with no charge.

 

[G.W.Kush]

need to sand that ***** down

 

[Alpine4life89 10+ year member]

so basically, a loose ground can result in voltage loss and cause the amp to go into protect mode when the system is turned on. It's that easy?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

so basically, a loose ground can result in voltage loss and cause the amp to go into protect mode when the system is turned on. It's that easy?

yep

 

[lil_italy773 10+ year member]

i thought this thread was gonna ask how u get volts amps, watts to get yer amps output wattage.

its yer ground man. when i had my blazer i just had a chassis ground the volts did what yer talkin about. then i ran a direct ground from up front to back and it was fine started charging like it should. after that i did find a better spot in the back just kept both grounds.