Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio help!!! why is my amp cutting out/going to protect?

Hey guys..I got a real stumper here. I just unhooked my kenwood excelon tape deck and installed an eclipse 4502 tape deck. For some reason, my front amp will go into protect mode on a random basis, the strangest thing, it will always do it when I apply the break. My rear sub amp has no problems. I know the amp is not overheating, and I know its not the RCA cables. The only thing that is left is dc coming from the headunit or improper wiring. What really gets me is the part where it shuts off when i put the brake on.....can anyone tell me where to start??thanks in advance

check your ground. when you apply the brake it goes to 12V. The other thing is try checking your voltage drop. Your amps might be drawing to much power and either a number of things might cause it to cutout.

i think it is the ground or a short somewhere near the power wire.

the first thing I thought was the ground....I have the back of the headunit grounded to a peice of metal behind the dash. I also have the headunit ground connected to a black/green wire that is suppossed to be the ground. I noticed that there are 2 of these wires, and one goes to the factory amp. I cut off the ground at the factory amp when I took it out. i tried hooking it up to both of the black/green wires and it didn't help at all.
What else can I do?

Check your AMP'S ground!!!

Remote connected to deck? If so, maybe this wire is loose. If you are parked, hit the brake. If it goes into protect, then you need to do some electrical homework like you are saying. Review what has changed with the wires from your first set up to the second. Notice your deck and the instrument lights. Do they seem to dim more than normal especially when you hit the brakes?

Keep us informed
Rich

The amp is fine, I checked that. Also, the lights on the headunit don't dim or anything. The only thing that happens when i press the brake is that the red protect light on my amp comes on. My sub amp keeps on playing fine. I tried to see what changed in my wiring, but the only thing I can pinpoint is that the rear speakers are no longer connected to the deck. I temporarly cut them to get the headunit working, and then I plan to get another amp for them.(this headunit is pre amp only)

Ok, amp one stays on, amp two cuts out. If the radio stays on then I think you can rule out the radio install. Unless you have some sort of RCA problem (spike in the input)

Are the amps connected to the same power and ground (did you use distribution blocks) If not I would recommend having common connections (makes diag. much easier)

Now if there is no rca problem (swap rca outputs to the amps to verify) that leaves remote lead - which if your other amp is drawing to much current from the turn on lead and you simply spliced the two amps leads together, this could also be a problem (not likely, but possible)

Best thing to do, go buy a voltmeter (digital) from Wal-Mart or wherever. Best $20 you'll ever spend and it will answer all your questions better than we could all guess.

Hey thanks for all the help guys. Now I have a real problem. My sub amp blew the internal fuse, and my front amp still goes into protect with only power, ground, and remote leads hooked up. I know its not the ground, so it must be the power or remote. Guess I have to look into that now....

I just checked the power and remote with a volt meter, and they are all the same ...it must be an amp problem