Voltage issues on my small system

[dboogie2288]

Hello, I've been doing a lot of research on my issue which seems to have just come about in the last week.

I have a pioneer avh-p3500bt head unit with a kicker cx 300.1 amp and a 10" kicker sub. All 300 watts RMS @ 2 ohm, nothing major at all. I originally had a pioneer 820 watt amp pushing dual 12" polk subs with zero trouble. Same wiring, and my amp is going into protect and clipping.

I have 14+ volts at the battery, 14+ volts at the fuse, and 10-11 volts at the amp while running. It's an 8 foot run or so, its in my 2002 explorer.

I've checked the grounds and everything in that area is solid, it seems like there is 2-4 volts being lost in the 4ga wire...but that sounds unreasonable.....thoughts?

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like cheap cca wire But it could also be a bad ground

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

bad ground, and check your voltage at the fuse holder on both sides and turn the gain down if your clipping

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

If clipping is your issue, its merely because your input sensitivity (gain) is not set properly to coincide with your source units output voltage

 

[tc300 10+ year member]

There any ground noise tho???

 

[dboogie2288]

Sounds like cheap cca wire But it could also be a bad ground

What do you mean from cca wire? The 4 ga stuff? It's certainly possible....I bought a kit from frys...but again in consideration I had a MUCH larger setup with zero issues. It just ended as too much bass for me, and the smaller system is better on my ears....

 

---------- Post added at 09:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------

 

There any ground noise tho???

Not that I can tell....and my ground is super solid..its the second row seat mount and that sucker isnt moving....

 

[jasonAz 10+ year member]

Take it off the seat bracket, use a flat spot on the floor of the vehicle. scrape the paint off making it shiny then use a few screws to secure it down. That should fix it, a good ground is very important!

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

What are you using to measure the voltage? Actual DMM or cheapo voltage meter off ebay?

 

[dboogie2288]

What are you using to measure the voltage? Actual DMM or cheapo voltage meter off ebay?

I've got a nice multimeter...

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

I've got a nice multimeter...

Check your ground connections, check the fuse up front too. That can get corroded in wet conditions

 

[BrownVanMan 10+ year member]

Did you change anythimg with the wiring when yoy swapped set ups? My guess is ground. As said above the ring terminal needs to be on barw bright metal.

 

[dboogie2288]

Ok, so I poked at it more again today....I kept the same ground, but I cleaned off the mounting bolt and scraped the frame as suggested. Here is something I found interesting, and failed to test upon my first round.....the wiring coming from the engine, is putting out 14.6V while running....using the same ground I have been with no fluctuations. My initial tests were testing from the amp terminal screws. I've tested all around the spectrum with the gain and level controls with no change. When I swapped amps, I literally changed nothing. In fact, I made the wiring mounts more robust by mounting my amp to some plywood pieces and ziptie-ing the cabling to the board. This is very strange, but has happened to two identical amps..and unfortunately even if it is the amp, I am past the measly 14 day best buy return policy....

 

[dboogie2288]

Ok, so addendum....it does indeed show voltage drops with another amp. I hooked up my crunch 1100.2 and it seems the crunch is more forgiving than the kicker because it wasnt clipping or going into protect....but it bounced between 10-12 volts on the positive terminal AND the actual wire (while running). This is really really weird. That same wire I tested at 14.6 running, but not connected to an amp just a little bit prior.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

I say replace the fuse under the hood and double check. That crunch should easily draw double what the kicker does so the kicker shouldnt drop as bad unless the amp is bad