Voltage Drops

[maylar 10+ year member]

If you already have 4 gage wire installed, don't change it. Bigger is always better.

That amp is only 300 watts which should be no sweat for even a stock alternator. You should probably upgrade 1 of the big 3 wires - the one from battery negative to the body - because it seems the voltage at your amp is just a bit lower than at the battery.

What is the amperage of a stock alternator for that car? My old beater Olds only has a 65 amp alt and it handles 300 watts no prob.

 

[jmcs23 10+ year member]

If you already have 4 gage wire installed, don't change it. Bigger is always better.
That amp is only 300 watts which should be no sweat for even a stock alternator. You should probably upgrade 1 of the big 3 wires - the one from battery negative to the body - because it seems the voltage at your amp is just a bit lower than at the battery.

What is the amperage of a stock alternator for that car? My old beater Olds only has a 65 amp alt and it handles 300 watts no prob.

I think it's 110 amps on this alternator.

 

---------- Post added at 12:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 PM ----------

 

OK, here's what I did today.

I tested the voltage at the battery terminals with the car ON and OFF with NO MUSIC. Both of those tests showed normal voltage readings.

Then, I tested at the battery terminals with the car ON with loud music and the voltage levels still gave good results. For this test I was using the 4 AWG Raptor cable and the amp would go into protect mode once I got to a high volume level.

Next, I tested at the battery terminals with the car ON with loud music, but this time I was using the 8 AWG Rockford Fosgate power cable. The voltage levels still were at good levels. The amp would still cut out once I got to a high volume level, but I was able to turn the volume up louder than when I was using the 4 AWG Raptor cable before the amp would go into protect mode.

So to sum it up; the voltage readings at the battery terminals looked good whether the car was ON or OFF with loud music playing or not. So it looks like my battery and amp are OK.

Am I just experiencing clipping???

My gain on the amp is definitely not turned up.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

In short yes you are clipping.

No you shouldn't be.

only solution, guess and check improvements to electrical.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Those subs are 4 ohms each. If you are running 2 of them in parallel that's 2 ohms and that amp can't do 2 ohms bridged. You have to run each sub off its own channel.

 

[psych0ticnemes1 5,000+ posts]

Those subs are 4 ohms each. If you are running 2 of them in parallel that's 2 ohms and that amp can't do 2 ohms bridged. You have to run each sub off its own channel.

Double check the impedance the amp is seeing. It likely isn't cutting out due to low voltage, it is cutting out because the impedance is too low for the amp. It is protecting itself.

 

[PapaGeno21 10+ year member]

Do the Big 3.. Get a Nicer Under The Hood Battery and use 8 gauge wire to your amp

Why would you tell him to go from 4 gauge to 8 gauge? That has to be some of the worst advice I have seen on here.

If you already have 4, leave it. Bigger wire is always better.

 

[Lowlacs 10+ year member]

Why would you tell him to go from 4 gauge to 8 gauge? That has to be some of the worst advice I have seen on here.
If you already have 4, leave it. Bigger wire is always better.

Not always true, when u consider cheap raptor 4ga is more than likely only 6ga under the wrap and probably cca at that. Now I cant speak of the rockford wire he has or the raptor but in my opinion Id take rockford true ofc in 8ga over a cheap knockoff cca 4ga(probably 6ga or less) any day for a 300rms system all day. My .02c

 

[psych0ticnemes1 5,000+ posts]

Not always true, when u consider cheap raptor 4ga is more than likely only 6ga under the wrap and probably cca at that. Now I cant speak of the rockford wire he has or the raptor but in my opinion Id take rockford true ofc in 8ga over a cheap knockoff cca 4ga(probably 6ga or less) any day for a 300rms system all day. My .02c

We all can agree though that as a general rule of thumb, a larger gauge wire is better. It was really poor advice given by pimpinr.

 

[Lowlacs 10+ year member]

We all can agree though that as a general rule of thumb, a larger gauge wire is better. It was really poor advice given by pimpinr.

In general Yes larger wire is better for current transfer but Quality does make a difference. When we consider that the op has a self proclaimed cheap raptor 4ga we can only assume that its cca and probably safe to say its not true 4ga either, My Rockford 8ga wire is OFC wire and true 8ga in size or better so there are other variables here in this specific situation. Remember the op's amp is only 300rms and built to accept 8ga, not 4 ga. So all things considered in this case, I agree with the opinions of @pimpinr and some of the other suggestors to run a quality wire and the 8ga Rockford would be plenty sufficient.

 

[jmcs23 10+ year member]

Those subs are 4 ohms each. If you are running 2 of them in parallel that's 2 ohms and that amp can't do 2 ohms bridged. You have to run each sub off its own channel.

I do have the subs wired parallel at 2 ohms. They are bridged on the amp. How would I run the subs at 2 ohm and have them running on their own channel? Is it even possible?

Not always true, when u consider cheap raptor 4ga is more than likely only 6ga under the wrap and probably cca at that. Now I cant speak of the rockford wire he has or the raptor but in my opinion Id take rockford true ofc in 8ga over a cheap knockoff cca 4ga(probably 6ga or less) any day for a 300rms system all day. My .02c

I swapped out the Raptor 4AWG with the Fosgate 8AWG and the problem has gotten better, but it's still there. I do agree though that the "cheap" wire isn't usually what it says it is.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

I do have the subs wired parallel at 2 ohms. They are bridged on the amp. How would I run the subs at 2 ohm and have them running on their own channel? Is it even possible?

You can't. You can either run them 4 ohms each channel (75 w each) or 2 ohms on one channel (150 w). That amp will only handle 4 ohms bridged. That's why it's going into protect.

 

[psych0ticnemes1 5,000+ posts]

You can't. You can either run them 4 ohms each channel (75 w each) or 2 ohms on one channel (150 w). That amp will only handle 4 ohms bridged. That's why it's going into protect.

Trust me, we're right. Check your wiring.

 

[jmcs23 10+ year member]

OK, thanks. When I looked up the specs on that amp I didn't notice that it isn't stable at 2 ohm bridged. I already changed the wiring back to 4 ohm configuration.