Why does my car audio gear keep blowing up?

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

What are you running on it? (RMS power and ohm rating, bridged/non-bridged)

If it were me, I'd buy a 60A and an 80A fuse, start with the 60A and if it blows when you crank it, try the 80A. If that blows there you were right to use the 100A. Only costs a couple of bucks to try

Cheers for the help danja!
I will give that a go when i get the amp repaired!
I was running two 12" 400wrms powerplant subs of the amp bridged and they where both running well! I think they where 2ohm!

 

[SweetWagon]

Are you sure you need a 100amp fuse? Unless that amp is pulling huge power, that fuse might be overkill.

The whole point of the fuse is to protect the amp from faults elsewhere in the electrical system, but if the fuse is too big then it's not going to help you.

The fuse is there to protect the wire ie. shorting. And best to get a fuse rated slightly higher than what the amps draw, 100amp is fine.

Cant see how the fuse protects the amps from faults elsewhere in the electrical system? If the amp is faulty it would blow its inbuilt fuse/s

I'd leave the fuse, it wouldn't be the cause of your problems..

 

[HSVMK]

Hey There Matey,
I thought i'd let you know as this reminds me of a good mate of mine who had a similar problem to you, i know what you going through, & i hope this helps !,
Please can you ensure that you have had your alternator checked under load & that you are not sending AC spikes through your electricals whilst your driving with your system running, A/C & lights etc or less maybe, The alternator can appear fine when driving, your car starts fine & all that until at a certain level of load & bingo the spikes so quick it will fly past your fuse without it blowing & the first thng you will know is your sound sytem Goes. This can be caused by dry joints in the soldering of the regulator within the alternator or it's failing under load. If you haven't had it tested, Please! have your alternator & lines back to your system setup tested thoroughly by an auto electrician for a clean uninterupted DC volts supply under all conditions. We had the problem eliminated & his system now just panel beats his car with music like nothing else.
Kind Regards
Mike K.

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Hey There Matey,
I thought i'd let you know as this reminds me of a good mate of mine who had a similar problem to you, i know what you going through, & i hope this helps !,
Please can you ensure that you have had your alternator checked under load & that you are not sending AC spikes through your electricals whilst your driving with your system running, A/C & lights etc or less maybe, The alternator can appear fine when driving, your car starts fine & all that until at a certain level of load & bingo the spikes so quick it will fly past your fuse without it blowing & the first thng you will know is your sound sytem Goes. This can be caused by dry joints in the soldering of the regulator within the alternator or it's failing under load. If you haven't had it tested, Please! have your alternator & lines back to your system setup tested thoroughly by an auto electrician for a clean uninterupted DC volts supply under all conditions. We had the problem eliminated & his system now just panel beats his car with music like nothing else.
Kind Regards
Mike K.

Cheers for that Mike and welcome to the site mate:thumbsup:
I will look into what you have sugested! I wonder thought if a capacitor would be a way around the problem you mentioned? i have got a multi meter on my alternator and it seems to be running fine although to test what you have mentioned sounds like a little more is needed than a multi! anyway thanks everyone for all the comments! Very much appreciated:thumbsup:

 

[bezz]

Are you sure you need a 100amp fuse? Unless that amp is pulling huge power, that fuse might be overkill.

The whole point of the fuse is to protect the amp from faults elsewhere in the electrical system, but if the fuse is too big then it's not going to help you.

err no it isnt. The point of the main fuse is to protect the car in case the power cable accidently short circuits before it gets to the amp. The fuses on the amp itself protect the amp. If he's using 0 gauge, a 100A fuse is relatively small generally.

 

[danja]

err no it isnt. The point of the main fuse is to protect the car in case the power cable accidently short circuits before it gets to the amp. The fuses on the amp itself protect the amp. If he's using 0 gauge, a 100A fuse is relatively small generally.

Well, I'd say a cable short is a fault in the electrical system! But I see what you are saying, and yes you are correct.

That said, 0ga might also be overkill, and the wire gauge doesn't determine the fuse needed.

 

[cxcxcxvcvcvc]

Cheers for all the reply's fellas!!
I will rip my cable out and go over it very closely to look for areas that it could be shorting out! Although the 4 channel is conected via the 0 cable so i would have thought it would also have dropped out by now? anyway it cant hurt to check it all out anyway! Cheers fellas!!

 

[StoneX]

That said, 0ga might also be overkill, and the wire gauge doesn't determine the fuse needed.

It does in a way... You wouldn't want to put a 200A fuse if you're using 8ga wiring as then the wiring will be your fuse and your car will be on fire

Unfortunately, a large percentage of the population doesn't have the common sense to realise simple things like that :bang: (not referring to you)

 

[Luke0011]

Ok so you have a few problems here. They are unrelated in that your fusion amp has faulted twice. Did the amp just stop outputting twice?? Any thing you can remember it did b4 it stopped working. And your Clarion unit just "**** itself" as in did it just stop working. Not power up or just didnt output sound. A clearer explanation is required to understand better whats happening. YOur sterring wheel interface problem is unfortunate becasue i have had a few that have not worked from brand new and its dissapointing that autobarn gave your money back but still insisted it was your fault. Your 0 gauge wiring can handle up to 300 amps on a 5 metre length and you should be using a 150 amp fuse. If your power wire shorts to earth then it cannot damage any amp or unit as it will short to earth and not into the amp. So you can rule that out.

Now from what your saying it sounds as though you were originally running the fusion amps of the factory unit. Can you clarify that at all. i could be wrong but thats what it sounds like.

 

[danja]

It does in a way... You wouldn't want to put a 200A fuse if you're using 8ga wiring as then the wiring will be your fuse and your car will be on fire

Lol, yes but it'd be more accurate to say that the current draw determines the fuse AND wire, they don't directly determine each other.