hello, i have a problem right now with my system where my system would randomly stop working. if i shut my car off and turn it back on, it works fine, then would shut off a later. i do have the system turned up usually wen this happens. my sound system is a Alpine Type X powered by a Alpine MRD-M1001 amp. no capacitor (but getting one real soon) the system has been running great up until the past 2 days when this started happening. my amplifier has a digital screen where it tells you voltage, amperage, temp and so forth. when the amp shuts off, it says "CURR". in the owners manual, it says it means there is excessive current draw and that i should find where the problem is coming from and eliminate it. last time i had this message, i had a blown subwoofer.. i have checked almost everything from connections, the wiring, etc. when i shut the car off and turn it back on, i was looking at the Amperage guage and it was spiking up to like 56A.. not too sure if thats helpful info but... PLEASE HELP ME!

 

i was going to say that it might be overheating. But by your message, it seems that maybe your gain is set too high and/or if you have a dual voice coil sub, maybe you have it in parallel instead of series. if your gain is too high, or your HU volume is past distortion levels, there could be excess current draw.

 

my gain is at zero. it was at +6 before but i didnt like how it pounded soo much when my radio was on 8. my subwoofer is also set up according to the alpine owners manual and crutchfield.com. my amp is at 2ohm, with my dual 4ohm alpine type X.. im starting to think it might just be i need a capacitor..

 

I dunno. It sounds like you have a short somewhere. How do your connections at both the speaker and the amp look like? Are the ends terminated with some sort of connector or pin or is it just bare wire twisted and screwed down? It may be shorting out at the ends and you probably didn't notice it.

 

something is definetly shorting out somewhere, a capacitor is just a band aid for a crappy install/more serious wiring issue.

 

i've disconnected and reconnected every connection to everything from box to sub, amp to box, and all the connections like ground, power and so forth. but i just want to say thanks everybody for giving me ideas on what the problem could be..

 

c'mon audio guru's i really need some more reasons that i can check for to fix this problem.. i was wondering if it could be possible if the subwoofer is actually blown but not blown completely where it actually produces bass to a certain extent

 

What's your setup like? Are you running one sub or two? Single voice coil or dual voice coil? Wired in series or parallel? Is the amp a mono, 2ch, 4ch, 5ch?

I would go through the process of elimination. Wire up just one sub to the amp. Make sure you rewire correctly so that you don't overdrive the amp. Run the amp at low gain. Gradually go up until its back at normal level. See if the problem comes back. If not, then add more subs, if you had more. If the problem comes back, then it seems like when the amp overheats, it's shorting out or the ammeter is malfunctioning.

If you know how, with a multimeter, you can measure the current flowing into the amp when its in error mode.

 

i am running 1x 12" 4ohm dual voice coil sub into a mono amp at 2ohms. the wiring is ran according to how alpine recommends if i want it at 2 ohms. i dont know if you are familiar with a alpine type x subwoofer, but they have these fuse looking things they call "jumpers" that connect one voice coil to the other.. i will use my multimeter to get a reading when its in error mode.. thanks for the help btw

 

No problem. Yeah. Those jumpers is what determines whether you have the voice coils wired in series, which would give you 8 ohm resistance, or in parallel, which would give you 2 ohm resistance.

And you're running a mono amp which typically is designed to run at 2 ohm load, so you're not overdriving the amp.

From this setup, there's really no way you could miswire anything even if you wanted to. It seems like the amp might be malfunctioning, unfortunately. Maybe try running it with the gain at 2/3rds of what you normally run. If that helps and you want it louder then maybe its not the amp malfunctioning, but maybe you just need a bigger system.

Anyways, gl with the whole thing.

 

No need for a cap... don't waste your money because it's not going to solve the problem. Get a DMM and check voltage on the battery while playing music. Try a bass heavy track and what is the voltage?

Check your grounds. Make sure the paint is taken off and you have direct metal to metal contact.

 

the alpine amp i have has a built in digital display that tells you Volt, Amps, Temp. when i have the system hitting, it the voltage i have seen drop to 11.3v.. the thing is that i've had the system the way it is for a couple of months.. it just randomly started happening recently.. why would it be a problem now and not when i first wired everything together?

 

Hmm, not sure. I'd recheck your ground though. Make sure they are secure. I would still check the voltage at the amplifier with a DMM rather than going by whatever the amp says. 11.3v is a little low, and it's probably going into protect to keep the amp from getting damaged. It could be the song you're playing or maybe you're playing at a louder volume? Songs with lower frequencies will draw more current. I'd check all your connections to verify everything is secure.