Voltage drops when amp turns on

[Pr1m3 10+ year member]

Alright, so I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with my amp. I've checked over my wires with a Multimeter, and I know the battery in the trunk rests at 11v. I also know with the car running (amp off) I get around 14v to the trunk. However, as soon as I turn the amp on (I've got it wired to a switch) voltage in the back instantly drops to 8-9v and the amp turns on, hits once, and then voltage is too low and it shuts off. As soon as I shut the amp off its back to ~12v, then climbs back up to ~14v.

Is my amp messed up and its just drawing a huge amount of power for no reason, or am I missing something? Mind you this started after I had my setup installed and working good for over a month.

TIA!

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[inkfx 10+ year member]

Which amp are you running?

 

[Pr1m3 10+ year member]

MA Audio SY7011DX: Wired to 1ohm

Car Stereo Pro Catalog: MA AUDIO SY7011DX

MA Audio SY7011DX Car Amplifier - Car Amplifiers - Shopping.com

 

[Pr1m3 10+ year member]

Bump, nobody knows whats going on?

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

maybe amp is bad?

 

[ahole-ic]

Your ground is probably bad. Battery seems bad but it could be one or the other.

 

[tjjohnson91 10+ year member]

Do you have the remote wire on a switch or the power wire? She should. Have the remote wire hooked to the switch

 

[Crownvicon28s 10+ year member]

Alright, so I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with my amp. I've checked over my wires with a Multimeter, and I know the battery in the trunk rests at 11v. I also know with the car running (amp off) I get around 14v to the trunk. However, as soon as I turn the amp on (I've got it wired to a switch) voltage in the back instantly drops to 8-9v and the amp turns on, hits once, and then voltage is too low and it shuts off. As soon as I shut the amp off its back to ~12v, then climbs back up to ~14v.
Is my amp messed up and its just drawing a huge amount of power for no reason, or am I missing something? Mind you this started after I had my setup installed and working good for over a month.

TIA!

Go get that battery tested. Its suppose to rest higher than 11 volts.

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

Go get that battery tested. Its suppose to rest higher than 11 volts.

a battery resting at 11v is no good needs to be at a minimum 12v if not 12.6

 

[Pr1m3 10+ year member]

It's more like 11.8v, its still low but thats not the problem. I tested the postive wire before the battery and it still does it. If the batteries bad why would it drop to like 9v when the amp is turned on?

And yes, remote wire is hooked to a switch.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

are you measuring voltage at the battery or at the amp? DMM leads across battery terminals or across amp terminals? measure both.

disconnect the speaker wires from the amp. does it go into protect?

pic of your ground and amp connections?

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

It's more like 11.8v, its still low but thats not the problem. I tested the postive wire before the battery and it still does it. If the batteries bad why would it drop to like 9v when the amp is turned on?
And yes, remote wire is hooked to a switch.

a bad battery will crumble when you put any kind of load on it

 

[J31Rob 5,000+ posts]

Bump, nobody knows whats going on?

You have an MA Audio amp.

 

[Pr1m3 10+ year member]

a bad battery will crumble when you put any kind of load on it

Well since everybodies been saying it, I'm probably going to remove it and see if everything works fine, then we'll go from there.

J31Rob: It's worked great for a few years now and really gets my AQ moving.

However, I appreciate your concern.