Two amps in protect.

[Beau M 10+ year member]

So, i thought my amp finally quit after a few years. Cheap Lanzar 4 channel, bound to happen right? I pulled the trim panel and found the protect light on. Luckily I have a know good amp on standby, a Memphis Belle. So I tossed it in using the same wiring. It also goes into protect, with just power/ground/rem. WTF. Battery voltage is 12.8 key off (too high?) and voltage is 14.5 engine running. So, using completely different wiring I hooked the original amp straight to the battery.... Protection mode.

What could be causing this with two different amps? Stereo has been fine and untouched for years in this car.

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[los33 10+ year member]

Have you checked all wires to see if there is any burn spots or cracks in the wires?

Also get your battery tested to make sure its not going bad.

 

[Umbra]

So, i thought my amp finally quit after a few years. Cheap Lanzar 4 channel, bound to happen right? I pulled the trim panel and found the protect light on. Luckily I have a know good amp on standby, a Memphis Belle. So I tossed it in using the same wiring. It also goes into protect, with just power/ground/rem. WTF. Battery voltage is 12.8 key off (too high?) and voltage is 14.5 engine running. So, using completely different wiring I hooked the original amp straight to the battery.... Protection mode.
What could be causing this with two different amps? Stereo has been fine and untouched for years in this car.

If the same thing is happening with three wires and multiple amps you can probably rule out the amps. Make sure the voltage for both the remote and the power is ~12 at the amp. Make sure none of the wires are pinched or shorted and make sure your power wiring, especially ground, is secure. The ground should be bolted tight to unpainted chassis.

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

Yeah, pulling the battery seems to be the next logical step. Car starts and runs just fine. I'll Check the ground, but I ran short wire (batt is in trunk) from ground to batt and it didn't help.

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

So, the only logical reason for this to be happening is the Russians fired off an EMP in my garage. I hooked both amps up to the battery I'm my wife's Mini.... Protect.

 

[los33 10+ year member]

So, the only logical reason for this to be happening is the Russians fired off an EMP in my garage. I hooked both amps up to the battery I'm my wife's Mini.... Protect.

Did you use the same wires?

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Ground

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

No, different wires. I made some new ones and moved the amps from car to car. Tried three cars. Both amps in protect each time.

 

[What was that? 10+ year member]

Before you hook another thing to your original car find the problem. It seems probable that your original setup damaged the amps in the same way. Post a pic of the internals and maybe some can identify the problem through visuals which could tell you what caused the issue in your car.

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

^^^^^whatever killed the lanzar probably killed the memphis as well. Go over the install thoroughly before connecting anything else. They will most likely end up dying just like the rest.

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

But what could possibly kill the amps? I took the battery in and had it tested. Its perfect. I have an old Alpine 3554 amp that I know one channel is blown, hooked it up to the battery and it powers up just fine.

How do amps "blow" without their fuses going first? Why would both amps be stuck in protect with intact fuses?

 

[yogegoy]

Did you check or replace the speaker wires?

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

Amps go into protect with just pos, neg and rem hooked up in multiple vehicles.

 

[Umbra]

Make sure they gain knobs are turned down while you test this.

Maybe the were hooked up wrong at one point. Do they smell burned?

Take a bunch of pictures of the terminals for us. Couldn't hurt.

 

[Beau M 10+ year member]

I took a bunch of innard pics, everything looks fine, no smells. I've been playing with car audio for 20 years, never encountered this. Red = Lanzar, Green = Memphis.

Lanzar was bought brand new and only installed in my one car, works flawlessly for a couple years then quit.

I've owned the Memphis for 8+ years, it worked fine but has been in storage for a couple years.