Amp protect mode

[johnmc2]

Hello everyone,

I currently own a 94 Sentra with I believe to be a 35-60A alternator
Car battery appears to be newer..
4 gauge wire from battery to amp, fused of course (XM-D9001GTR, they say 1300W max but my gain is set really low, and the amp was free so im not gonna complain)
two PG Octane R 4Ohm DVC wired for 2Ohm connected to amp

anyways

my lights dim pretty bad, which was expected. But after a min or so (depending on song) my amp will go into thermal protect mode, it has fairly adequate air circulation and again the gain is low. Bad amp? Bad alt? grounded firmly to unpainted chassis as well.

any ideas would be great!

[Cman333]

Is the amp hot to the touch? For an amp to go into thermal protection after 1 min is very odd.

The subs you currently have can only produce a 1ohm or 4ohm final load. My guess is that you're amp cannot handle a 1ohm load.

So either get two single voice coil 4 ohm subs, or two DVC 2 ohm subs, or change the amp to something 1ohm stable. Sony amps aren't exactly great amps. So I wouldn't be all that surprised it won't handle 1ohms for very long. Alot of other brand amps aren't rated for 1 ohms, but can still kind of handle it (although not really recommended).

If you wanna reduce the dimming I would suggest upgrading the ground wires in the engine bay, and getting a deep cycle battery.

[johnmc2]

its as if the voltage drops too low and then goes into thermal protect mode? amp can be warm and cold and still does the same thing

and im sorry Cman333 the amp is "MONO" but has two + and two - on the amp

I have it wired for 4 ohm at the amp, I know sony isn't great but it was free..bad amp maybe? ALSO, while fiddling with it..I smelled burning but then went away..

the same beat will play over a min, then shut off, then it may come on and play the rest of the song, doesnt seem to like bass kicks

[Cman333]

You may want to measure the voltage when the systems on. Amp's will shut off if they don't get enough power.

So you have the subs wired in series? Then paralleled to 4ohms?
Read here if you're unsure how to wire the subs:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=161

Burning smell could be the amp or the subs if played too hard.

There might be a short in the system. You may have a bad ground also. Your amp must be grounded to metal on the chasis of the car. Make sure where you grounded was sanded and touch raw metal. Often vehicles are coated with something to prevent rust.

Other than that I'm out of ideas. If you're nearby one of the sponsors maybe bring it by and we can have a look and help you out.

[johnmc2]

yeah I blew them both...bad smoke...bad bad bad

so I got a JL 500/1 and two 10" type R's

GEE WHIZ