My sister gave me a subwoofer and amp from her divorce, and I’m trying to get them working in my car. The amp powers on but keeps going into protect mode. It stays on for about 2 minutes while I drive, then switches to protect mode, or it will work for 10 minutes when I’m not moving. I’ve checked all the connections, swapped the wires, and even reconnected the subwoofer, but it always ends up in protect mode. I even tried disconnecting the sub from the amp, but the amp still goes into protect mode. I’m really confused and not sure if I need a new sub or amp. Any help?
Protect mode kicks in for a few reasons. First, check the voltage from the battery. Is the power wire connected directly from the battery? And is the ground wire secure? If there’s even a small issue with the connections, it can drop voltage and make the amp go into protect mode. This can happen if the ground wire is loose or if there’s a weak connection somewhere. Overvoltage can cause protection too, but that’s less likely unless the alternator’s voltage regulator is broken. The second possible issue is overheating. If the amp gets too hot, it’ll go into protection until it cools down. If that happens repeatedly, it could be a problem with the amp’s thermistor, but that’s rare. Lastly, check for a short in the output. This could happen if the amp is being asked to push more than it can handle. For example, if the sub is too low of an impedance (like 1 ohm) for the amp, it can go into protect mode. Also, make sure the wires from the sub aren’t touching each other, even by mistake, which could cause issues. To help further, I’ll need to know the exact models of the sub and amp. You’ll also want a voltmeter to test things out.
The sub is a Boss 10 inch 1200w 4 ohm, and the amp is a Volfenhag Element ZX5161. I know they’re a bit old, but they worked fine before I installed them in my car. The only thing I changed was using bigger wire for the positive and ground.
Are you using real 8 gauge copper wire? Some ‘8 gauge’ wire isn’t really 8 gauge. I’d recommend checking the wire for its actual thickness. Also, how is the Boss subwoofer connected to the Volfenhag amp? Is it bridged? If you try unbridging the amp and using one channel, does the problem still happen?
I’m using 4 gauge for both the positive and ground wires, and the amp is bridged. I haven’t tried unbridging it yet, but I’ll check and let you know.
I tried running it unbridged and still had the same issue. The amp still goes into protect mode.
Did you try disconnecting the subwoofer completely? Does the amp still go into protect mode?
I did disconnect the sub, but the amp still went into protect mode. However, after putting the sub back in, it worked fine for a couple of hours. But then it went into protect mode again about 5 minutes later.
Can you show us a picture of the grounding setup?