PnoyJeff

im having some trouble with my new system
-Power Acoustik A3000DB amp
-Audiobahn AWIS10P

while im playing it..every once in awhile ill have a sudden really hard hitting random bass hit. even when the volume is low n the bass is low, it hits like i got my bass turned up high..then itll go back to normal.then later itll hit like that again..

also..its starting to get distorted n static-ish...it was playing n then i heard a few crackles so i turned it down...it was still doing it n i turned it off...also when i do stuff like adjust the bass on the HU..it will crackle a little when i adjust it...

does anyone know what the problem is, what the solution is, or any remedies to fix this..please help...im scared something is gonna break and im gonna spend a lot of money for a new amp or sub....n i dont want to.

thanks

fcm

What kind of HU, make and model? If adjusting things on the HU, [bass] gives you "noise" as you are doing it, the problem is probably in the HU, the control is dirty or defective, if the volume intermittently increases on the sub, then the problem can be in the amp, [gain control/circuit] or if the HU has a sub out with sub volume control, it could also be in the HU, if HU does have sub out, test by plugging the sub amps RCAs into one of the other preamp outputs, [RCA] on the HU, [front or rear] 94

PnoyJeff

i believe you are right...i think its in the HU now..
when the bass is on 00 on the HU..its fine, except for sometimes there is a once in awhile bass spike, but it only does that sometimes, usually with my windows open, its been playing for a while.....when i move the bass from 00, it gets crackling..n its alot of crackling, n it does lots of crazy random hits. i put it back to 00 n its fine...u guys were right on my other thread...my HU is a piece of ****. my brother might buy it from me n im gonna get a new one...he doesnt run a subwoofer anyay..n the HU worked fine with my stock speakers...just is gay with my subwoofer....

any other tips for me??

thanks

ScareyH22A

Sounds like maybe your x-over is set to HP instead of LP. But then again, I don't think that amp even has a HP x-over.

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ScareyH22A &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like maybe your x-over is set to HP instead of LP. But then again, I don't think that amp even has a HP x-over. </TD></TR></TABLE>
if it was...how would i adjust that...n what does hp and lp stand for

ScareyH22A

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PnoyJeff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if it was...how would i adjust that...n what does hp and lp stand for</TD></TR></TABLE>

On your amp, there might be a x-over (crossover) section with maybe a switch that has positions OFF/HP/LP. HP=High Pass and LP+=Low Pass. If you leave it OFF, you're sending full signal (all the frequencies that your radio is sending thru the RCA's) to the amp. If you switch it to HP, you're only sending higher frequencies (for mid's and high's). And if you switch it to LP, you're only sending lower frequencies (for sub's). There may also be a variable dial that you turn (prob w/a small flat head screwdriver) to adjust your x-over frequencies. If you're bass is hitting too tight, you'd probably turn it counterclock wise to cut out some of the higher bass frequencies.

EviLLLLSiNz

u had my same problem its your headunit sending funky signals probably... if not id say check your rca cables

PnoyJeff

thanks everyone..im gonna check my x-over, my rca's, and tune the amp some...and possibly in a month or more i will be getting a pioneeer deck.

thanks

PnoyJeff

ok..someone help me trouble shoot a little.

i am thinking now that tthis problem doesnt lie in the head unit , amp, or wiring.
I am starting tobelieve its some kind of problem with the capacitor....i dont think my capacitor is working good, when iturn it up, the lights dim pretty bad, n when i turn on the lights it will hit a big bass spike...press the window controls, or basically do something electrical. Can some one help me?

by the way..i didnt do this because i just now learned about this...i didnt charge the capacitor and hook it up to a light bulb or whatever u do....could this be why its being gay?

gmoneyef

Well for starters, you aren't treating your equip very nicely . You should have charged your capacitor correctly. Here, try this. http://www.caraudiohelp.com/ca...n.htm

If you charge it while in the car, make sure to drive the car for a good long drive with as little electrical consumption as possible (i.e., not at night-headlights, stereo off, no a/c, bare minimum) and monitor the voltage as stated. Once over 12 remove the resistor.

If after this the problem persists or if doesn't help, you probably fried the cap... after that you should check sound settings. Maybe more your amp, but also your HU. Your amp as shown here, http://www.poweracoustik.com/classD.html, is a class D, which is specifically designed for lower frequencies (as shown 15-150hz. Check your gain levels, phase, how are the subs wired (series, parallel, 1/2/4/etc. ohms?)? All of this plays a role in the symptoms you describe. Blah, blah, blah again for your HU. Don't blast your eq at +6+, etc... keep your gains at a reasonable. You described crackling earlier which I would suspect rca's first, then speaker connections.

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gmoneyef &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for starters, you aren't treating your equip very nicely . You should have charged your capacitor correctly. Here, try this. http://www.caraudiohelp.com/ca...n.htm

If you charge it while in the car, make sure to drive the car for a good long drive with as little electrical consumption as possible (i.e., not at night-headlights, stereo off, no a/c, bare minimum) and monitor the voltage as stated. Once over 12 remove the resistor.

If after this the problem persists or if doesn't help, you probably fried the cap... after that you should check sound settings. Maybe more your amp, but also your HU. Your amp as shown here, http://www.poweracoustik.com/classD.html, is a class D, which is specifically designed for lower frequencies (as shown 15-150hz. Check your gain levels, phase, how are the subs wired (series, parallel, 1/2/4/etc. ohms?)? All of this plays a role in the symptoms you describe. Blah, blah, blah again for your HU. Don't blast your eq at +6+, etc... keep your gains at a reasonable. You described crackling earlier which I would suspect rca's first, then speaker connections.</TD></TR></TABLE>
thanks...the reason i didnt charge the cap was because i didnt know u had to, it didnt say anything on the package n i read everything...then a week or so ago i was talking with people n they said u have to charge it first...so now i know

so i can charge it when its hooked up? just drive around with nothing on?

i heard u hook a light bulb n the car battery to charge it....but i dont know

fcm

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gmoneyef &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you charge it while in the car, make sure to drive the car for a good long drive with as little electrical consumption as possible (i.e., not at night-headlights, stereo off, no a/c, bare minimum) and monitor the voltage as stated. Once over 12 remove the resistor.</TD></TR></TABLE> OK, that's about the most misleading advice I have seen on H/T, [that has got to be one hell of a big resistor]

A cap will charge in one or two min. max, [unless of course you are using the Binford 5000 resistor].

Even though hooking up a cap directly to power, [without resistance] may not damage the cap, it can.

The way we do it is use a 12V light bulb, [it is nothing more then a light emitting resistor] we have a few of the barrel type, [dome light bulb, looks like a fuse] set up so we can install them in whatever kind of fuse holder is being used on the amps power cable, by the batt., wire and hook every thing up, install the light bulb in the fuse holder, [it is wired in series, pos. (+) terminal on bulb to the batt. side of fuse holder, neg. (-) terminal of bulb to amp side of fuse holder, or the other way around, it makes no diff.], connect the batt. neg. terminal, [batt. should be disconnected anytime you are doing anything electrical in your car] as soon as you connect the batt. the light bulb will will "turn on" as the cap charges the bulb will get dimmer till it goes out, once out the cap is charged, and as I said, it will only take a min., remove light bulb and install fuse.

A simple test to see if cap is working, [only a basic test] turn everything in the car off, open a door so the dome light is on, keeping an eye on the dome light, disconnect the batt. neg. (-) terminal, if dome light slowly dims out, cap is working, if dome light goes out right away or within a sec. or two cap is bad or miswired, or you are having grounding issues with the car. 94

PnoyJeff

do i need to turn on the car..or to acc or on in the ignition...could be a dumb question..but im just wondering.

please verify what im saying so i can do it right..
everything is wired up..sub, amp, cap, is all in then i .........
1) disconnect neg. battery terminal
2) take out fuse n put a lightbulb in the fuse holder
3) connect the neg of the battery
4) the lighbulb will turn on and dim...when it turns off the cap is charged
5) disconnect neg battery terminal
6) take out lightbulb and put fuse back in
7) connect neg batt terminal
8) finished...if cap fried then problem isnt fix...buy a new one

do i got it right?

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> OK, that's about the most misleading advice I have seen on H/T, [that has got to be one hell of a big resistor]
</TD></TR></TABLE>
by the way thanks for telling me that isnt right...i swear i was about to go drive my car around the neighborhood for 20 minutes

fcm

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PnoyJeff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
by the way thanks for telling me that isnt right...i swear i was about to go drive my car around the neighborhood for 20 minutes</TD></TR></TABLE> LOL, yes you have the instructions correct for charging the cap, although if it's already wired and hooked up it is already charged, as I said, a cap will charge as soon as you connect up power, [batt.] if the cap is wired properly, and in working order.

If it is already hooked up, you can test the cap, by turning everything off, open a door so dome light is on, disconnect the batt. neg. (-) lead, watch the dome light, it should slowly dim out, [how slowly, depends on the wattage of the bulb, and/or how many lights come on when you open a door] but if the dome light goes out right away, or in a sec. or two, the cap is bad or miswired, or possibly grounding problems in the car.

Once you have confirmed that the cap is OK and it's wired properly, [wired properly means the power cable is connected to the caps pos. (+) terminal and a power lead is "daisy chained" to the amps pos. (+) terminal, (from the caps pos. (+) terminal to the amps pos. (+) terminal) the cap should be as close to amp as possible, the ground for the amp and cap should be grounded to the same spot, [ground leads should be kept as short as possible, but not to the point that you can't get a good grounding spot on the floor pan of the car].

If all the above is good, then recharge the cap, using the light bulb, BTW once the bulb is out, you do not have to disconnect the batt. to install the fuse. 94

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> LOL, yes you have the instructions correct for charging the cap, although if it's already wired and hooked up it is already charged, as I said, a cap will charge as soon as you connect up power, [batt.] if the cap is wired properly, and in working order.

If it is already hooked up, you can test the cap, by turning everything off, open a door so dome light is on, disconnect the batt. neg. (-) lead, watch the dome light, it should slowly dim out, [how slowly, depends on the wattage of the bulb, and/or how many lights come on when you open a door] but if the dome light goes out right away, or in a sec. or two, the cap is bad or miswired, or possibly grounding problems in the car.

Once you have confirmed that the cap is OK and it's wired properly, [wired properly means the power cable is connected to the caps pos. (+) terminal and a power lead is "daisy chained" to the amps pos. (+) terminal, (from the caps pos. (+) terminal to the amps pos. (+) terminal) the cap should be as close to amp as possible, the ground for the amp and cap should be grounded to the same spot, [ground leads should be kept as short as possible, but not to the point that you can't get a good grounding spot on the floor pan of the car].

If all the above is good, then recharge the cap, using the light bulb, BTW once the bulb is out, you do not have to disconnect the batt. to install the fuse. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>
thanks..
everything is wired up correctly according to what u said..n its all ran through a distribution block. ima test it with the domelight thing trick...and see if its working..n ima try n "recharge it with the lighbulb too...
if all is fucked with the cap...ima see if i can get a new one...but of course ill check all possible errors in everything first, amp, sub, wiring
thanks

PnoyJeff

update:
the dome light took about 10-15 seconds to completely go out...

so next step..im gonna try n put the lightbulb into the fuse holder

btw...when i put the negative batt terminal back on...is it supposed to give a small spark....it kinda startled me

fcm

If there is no resistance in the power line to the cap, [resistor, light bulb] yes it will, it can be one hell of a spark, you will always get a spark if there is any kind of load, and a discharged cap is a hell of a load till it's charged, it's really no different then if you turn everything in the car on hold the key on start and then hook up the batt.

BTW you say it's all run through a distribution block, how many amps do you have, and what kind of "distribution block"? 94

PnoyJeff

the distribution blck came with my cap..i was using an 80a fuse but it blew n i couldnt find 80 or bigger yet n the local audio store was out so right now im using a 60a

fcm

How many amplifiers? 94

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How many amplifiers? 94</TD></TR></TABLE>
just 1

fcm

Then there is no need for a distribution block or any fuses other then the one by the batt. on the power wire and the one/s in the amp 94

PnoyJeff

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Then there is no need for a distribution block or any fuses other then the one by the batt. on the power wire and the one/s in the amp 94</TD></TR></TABLE>
oh...well i thought id just use it since it came with my cap...n in the diagram i used to help me put all the power and ground had everything running to a block so i thought id do the same...
does it cause ay problem?

btw..i have yet to "recharge my cap....hoping to do it this weekend, i been swamped with homework these few days.

wrx-killer-Sti-eater

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> OK, that's about the most misleading advice I have seen on H/T, [that has got to be one hell of a big resistor]

A cap will charge in one or two min. max, [unless of course you are using the Binford 5000 resistor].

Even though hooking up a cap directly to power, [without resistance] may not damage the cap, it can.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You got to be f-kidding me, rofl. You been watching to much tool time. Can you imagine What it would look like if "Tim the tool man taylor" was to charge your cap. rofl-fcm you krack me up dog