At Fixya.com, our trusted experts are meticulously vetted and possess extensive experience in their respective fields. Backed by a community of knowledgeable professionals, our platform ensures that the solutions provided are thoroughly researched and validated.
I just installed a sub in my 98 blazer, but my amp goes into "protected" mode when I give it any significant volume. I've tried the amp in my friends car and it works fine. I have a pretty good ground (or so I thought?). I pulled back the carpet in the bed, sanded everything down, drilled into the body of my truck, and bolted and soldered the ground wire to it. All the other wiring seems to be fine.
My amp also is overheating, in a matter of 3-4 minutes. Completely at a loss of what to try next!
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box above.
- Better answers use proper spelling and grammar.
- Provide details, support with references or personal experience.
Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.
Tip: The max point reward for answering a question is 15.
The amplifier goes to the protect mode as there is heavy drain in the outputs- the MOSFETS. This can be due to fault in the input signal, a poor DC regulation or a faulty speaker. Disconnect all speakers and test one by one to confirm. Also make sure that the input signal is good, try with another source . Test also with the different input selection on the amp so as to confirm if the pre- amp is faulty. Sometimes faulty capacitor in the sub power can give low regulated output and thus on load can shut down . finally check the input supply voltage, it should be correct or on load it can shut the amp.
When an amplifier shuts the Bass off that means its going into protection mode otherwise it will burn out the outputs. One way is to turn your gains down, Pioneer amps are not the best amps for bass out there, they are more for car speakers, I personally wont use a pioneer amp to run my subwoofers especially if they are hard driven subs like JL , Kicker Solo's and MTX subs. But for now just turn the gains down to 3/4 and that should help u, you can also install a fan to keep your amp cooler, if this never happened before in 5 yrs and now it does then that means your amp is just tired and the inside components are overheating easily, thats common with Pioneer and Sony amps.
The "safe mode" on your amp usually kicks in for two reasons - the ohm load on the sub is too low for the amp (presenting a "short" to the amp), or it's going into thermal protection because the amp is too hot. From your description, it sounds like there's a short in the wire, the sub's ohm load is too low, or the sub is partially blown.
If you have another sub or speaker, connect it to the amp's output and see if the amp still goes into protection mode. If the amp goes into protection with a known-good speaker, then there may be something wrong with the amp's power supplies. If the amp works properly with another speaker or sub, then I would check the sub that's causing it to short out.
You may also want to check whether or not the amp is over heating by just touching the amp when it goes into protection. If it's just warm, that should be ok - if it's hot, then it might be working too hard. In this case, you may need to check the input voltage (12-14VDC) and the size of the power and ground cables. If your ground isn't properly connected, it can cause weird problems like over heating, shorts, erratic behavior, etc...
The protection modes in these units ****. Most new units have them. What I do is turn down settings on deck and turn up amp as much as possible. Then the protection won't turn on because you won't have to turn it up as high.
i had an amp that did that for a while before frying. its possible that it could be overheating causing it to go into protection mode which can be fixed with a cooling fan or remounting it somewhere else so it can get some air. it needs to be mounted in a way that it will have at least 1/2" clearance under it so it can have plenty of airflow.
the other thing is you may be putting too much of a load on the amp causing it to go to protection mode. check and see how u have the sub wired and if the amp is stable. if u have the sub wired at 2ohm for more power output and the amp is only stable at 4ohm, then the amp will overload and cause the problem your experiencing. thats what happened to my amp. i had it wired for more than it was stable for and it fried
Hello ronnieyannon,
A single 4 ohm speaker wired to each channel, like you have them wired, presents a 4 ohm load. And it appears that you have them connected properly. The 401s is only stable to 4 ohms when bridged, so if you were to parallel the 2 4 ohm subs in bridged mode, the load would be 2 ohms and the amp would most likely overheat and go into protection.
I'd wire them the way you have them wired.
Each channel of the amp outputs only 100 watts into 4 ohms. That is adequate for regular full-range speakers, component speakers, mid-range drivers, and even some small subs. But it is a little low on power for most subwoofer applications.
The only thing to try would be to remove the sub wires form the amp and see if it still goes into protect. If it still goes into protect with the subs unhooked then the amp will require repair.. If it doesent go into protect then check to see if you have a shorted subwoofer. also make very sure that you have a good clean bare metal tight ground connection to the body of your car. People forget that step all the time..
Did you do your setup with the correct ohm load? Most of these amps will fail if the subs are hooked up incorrectly(too low of a ohm load).
If the amp has a lowest possible ohm load rating of 4 ohms... but you have a pair of 4 ohm subs.. you hook them up togther at the amp.. both positives togther- two negatives togther.. because it "bumps harder" that way..
Then you now have a 2 ohm load on the amp... The lower the ohm load you put on a amplifier the more it will output. The problem when people do this is that the amp outputs more current then its internal parts are rated for and the output transistors (usually) fail..
most amps will not fail if installed correctly.
×