Unique problem involving a capacitor being used as a dist. block

[its10v1 10+ year member]

So, decided to add a 200 watt amp for my 6x9's (which are rated 120w max each) which decides that it would blow any fuse i put in it (or attempt to.) I attempted to replace the 15a fuse, it blew, tried using a 10, it blew, tried a 20, blew. I didn't unhook my inline fuse when removing the 20, and tried a 30, as soon as I touched the amp, i heard what sounded like something burning. Thought it was the amp, but I look at the fuse and one of the connections looks like it was melted.

Now that you have that to wonder about, I should inform you of why this is throwing me off so abnormally. I'm using my 2 farad boss capacitor as a dist. block, in a sense. I started with just one amp, two subs and a capacitor, well when I decided to include the 200w amp I wanted to wait for enough money to get a dist block. That didn't last, ambition and curiosity got me.

My question(s) is/are simple: Why wouldn't my sub amp blow it's fuse, or the inline fuse?

What can I do to diagnose the amp?

Pics Possible, I get out of school 330pm eastern.

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[Bullet03 10+ year member]

Are you replacing these fuses while the amp is on?

 

[its10v1 10+ year member]

I tried the one time, but that burning sound was enough of a scare for me that I don't even want to **** with anything else.

The amp didn't even come on to my knowledge, as far as I know it's just been blowing fuses. Plus I think when I bought it from a friend of a friend, it already had a blown fuse in it.

 

[dbjunior 10+ year member]

either the amp is junk and thats whats causing the fuses to blow or you hooked up the power and ground backwards

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

First, never hook shit up with the power connected. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Second, it sounds like you have a short somewhere, check ALL wiring.

Third, as you will soon learn here, we don't look kindly on caps. They are shit, do absolutely nothing and cause more headaches than they are worth. And I suspect that this cap you speak of may indeed be the culprit. I would strongly suggest removing it and seeing if that clears up your problem.

Oh, and some details on the amp would be helpful. At 200W, it is not that big which leads me to believe it may be a POS. I'm just sayin'.

 

[its10v1 10+ year member]

Come to think of it dbjunior, my ground and power for that amp are the same color wire... Will look into the Backwards power/ground.

I appreciate your honesty, but if the capacitor were to blame, then shouldn't the other amp be blowing fuses?

I'll edit/post later the model number of the 200w 2ch Kenwood amp, if I remember right it's a KAC-286?

Weird thing is I just bought the wire that I'm using from a local auto sound/security shop, hope I didn't pinch a wire or something stupid that I'm overlooking.

I'm sorry that I didn't say this before but, any and all help is appreciated. Yet at this point I'm on a tight budget and don't have $ to go and blow on a new alternator/battery/big3. I'm sure in time I won't want the capacitor, for now it seems to be preventing my headlights from dimming as much.

 

[snoglydox]

OK,...I am late to respond, but seeing this, I just had to. A 2 farad capacitor is a really large amount of current storage capacity, and in your case is likely acting like a short, assuming the other side is connected to the car body; I would recommend finding a different way to distribute the power.