Why cant it just work the way its suppose to?

[hearB4see 10+ year member]

First off i just want to say that this is an awesome website wish i would've have found it sooner. the stuff you guys talk about is way out of my league but im learning. i got my first system two years ago, and i have been currently upgrading. right now i am running a jbl gto 100.4 (so-so amp but got at a good price), alpine pdx 1.600 (AMAZING amp) 2 boston acoustic g512-44 in seperate custom made boxes, 1.3 farad capacitor, 4 infinity kappa 60.9 cs in the rear deck, 2 more in the front door along with 2 tweeters, and an alpine cda-105 headunit.

When it works it sounds great, but i cant turn it up that loud because everything will shut off. The amps will turn off and then the headunit. I have no idea what the problem is, hoping someone can figure it out before i have to result to paying somebody. Thanks

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[ascitiesburn69 10+ year member]

Short somewhere possibly?

 

[hearB4see 10+ year member]

thought about that. i was working on it yesterday and i found out that when the car was off it was working fine.

 

[mxer69 10+ year member]

Sounds like electrical issue to me. What car do you drive (include year)? And if you know, how many amps is the altenator?

Definitely consider doing the "Big 3" and possibly add a battery to the back. There is a sticky on the Big 3 on Installation Help Subforum if you don't know what it is.

You don't have a lot of equipment but you could have a weak alternator/ battery

 

[hearB4see 10+ year member]

Audi A4 98. i'm not sure how many amps on the alternator. I was considering adding another battery but i didnt know if it was worth it to add another or just replace the stock one.

 

[FenixAudio 10+ year member]

thought about that. i was working on it yesterday and i found out that when the car was off it was working fine.

just to get clarification, the car was OFF and it worked fine?

you do not need another battery. its only drawing 60 ampers max and if the alt is on you should be fine. however i would not site there and bump it in the parking lot for a very long time.

the issue of everything shutting off can be many things, either you have the amps wried at to low of an ohm load and they are over heating nad shutting off until it cools down, the odd part if t he deck turning off with the amps. if i were you i would use a meter and see what loosing power on the deck. if the deck turns off the amps will also, not vise versa.

if you have a digital multi meter test the yellow wire while the deck is turned up, this wire is never sapposed to lose voltage..ever. test is while turning the volumn up and see if it loses voltage while the deck does. repeat this process with the red wire also. the red wire is the switched 12v wire. it only has voltage when the cars ign is on. if either if these wires lose voltage during the process thats your problem. do this test and let me know what you get and ill tell you how to fix it.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

How do you have those subs wired up? If I recall your subs are D4. If you have them wired up to 1 ohm that might explain the amp kicking off. that pdx isnt 1 ohm stable.

 

[crx11 10+ year member]

I had the same problem with a Alpine HU unit, forgot the model, anyway, when Ifirst install the system, the HU was shutting down when I raise the volume more than 17, them i remember that Alpine HU need a little more power when you are using the internal amp (at the time, I was using a 4 channel amp to run my component), but I try a direct + wire from the front battery and that fix the problem. Try that maybe you get lucky to.

 

[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

sounds like the headunit is causing everything else to turn off. i'd check the headunit only, check voltage with the car on and see what happens to the voltage when it turns off. amps dont cause the headunit to turn off but the headunit would cause the amps to. maybe some kind of inline relay with the headunit. with the car on the higher voltage could cause it to trip easier.

 

[hearB4see 10+ year member]

i currently have the subs wired in series, so they should be wired at 8ohm, i believe. i will try the test today and see what happends.