Hello,


I just finished installing a sub, amp, and headunit tonight. I am expeirenceing(sp??) a red flashing light and THUMP THUMP THUMP coming from the sub. The weird thing is that everything works fine if the car is off but once I start it the amp starts flashing red. I tried unplugging the sub and it still flashes. Can anyone help me with this?

I have an Alpine H/u, not sure of model number.

Infinity Kappa 255a 4 channel amp.

10inch Diamond D3 sub.

Thank You

 

Found this online Protection Status LEDs: There is a LED array on the amp that lights green when the amp is on and working properly and lights orange when protection is activated. When the amp first powers up, the LEDs will light orange (until the amplifier finishes a system check), then will light green.

Protection Circuitry: Five levels of protection that monitor the amp and will shut it down if:

1. the electrical system drops below 10V
2. the electrical system voltage exceeds 15.5V
3. the amplifier's temperature exceeds 194 degrees (90 degrees Celsius)
4. there is a shorted speaker/speaker lead
5. current draw exceeds product specifications


I guess its something with the car giving or taking power??? I have an optima Yellow top battery, about a month old

 

i'd start by taking off all conections on the amp except power. (remove speaker cables, rcas....). then i would probably measure the power with a volt meter when the car is on and when it is off to make sure its not that.
check settings on your hu as well as the gains/boost on your amp to make sure your not overpowering/drawing to/from it.

also, are you sure you have the remote wire hooked up correctly. if it is wired with an acc power instead of a power when the car is on, i guess this would cause a problem.

hope it works out

 

I will do that today. Where do I put the volt meter too? The power wire?



My gain and all the other amp knobs are less than half. My HU has the sub on its highest level, I will try to turn it down.


I think the remote is hooked up right, It is wired into the blue wire coming off the head unit. The amp does turn on it just doesn't work right when the vehicle is running.

Me too, thanks for the help.

 

Anybody else have any solutions or input? Do I need a bigger alternator?

 

if you disconnect the speaker wires at the amp and it still goes into
protect mode, it can't be #4 or #5, which it's unlikely to be anyway if
it only happens when the car is running. Best bet is to get a multimeter
and check the voltage between the amp's power and ground terminals,
(by putting the multimeter's red (+) probe on the power (+) terminal,
and the black (-) probe on the ground terminal) both with the car running
and without. Voltage with the car off should be 12 - 12.5v, and with the
car running 13 - 15v. If it's higher than that, you probably have a bad
voltage regulator. If much lower, bad alternator, bad wiring, or slipping belt.
No you don't need a larger alternator.

 

Thank you very much. I will do that and report back.

 

O.k I checked the power. With the car off it sits just above 12, avg was 12.2v. With the vehicle running it sat at 14v. I disconnected all the wires except remote, power, and ground. Any other suggestions? Should I try another amp?

 

did the red protect light come on during this test, and if so, did it
only come on when the car was running? If it did, I'd guess a
problem with the amp. If not, here are some things to try:
before plugging your speaker wires back into your amp, use the
ohm setting on your meter, put one probe on the + speaker wire
and one on the - speaker wire for each speaker in turn. no speaker
should be much less than 2 ohms, and each matching speaker (left
and right) should be about the same. (this assumes you're running
your front speakers off the amp as well, if it's just for the sub, then
obviously that's the only one to test).

 

Yes it came on only when the car is running. I checked the speaker last night with the volt meter thing and they checked out good. I am picking up another amp tonight. Hopefully it fixes this problem.