amp cutting out
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 890
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From: small town, north dakota
amp cutting out
alright...i have 2 10" kicker comps in my lil Grand am, pushed by a kicker 200.2 amp. whenever i crank it, the subs cut out, i believe the amp goes into a "overload protection" or sumthin like that. the amp is bridged in an odd way i thought. the dealer did this so i trusted em...they took the 2 positive wires and connected em together, and put the 2 negatives and wired em together, then the put the positive in one channel, and the negative in the other channel. is there something i can do so it wont cut out?? a different way to wire this perhaps? i dont drive the car much, but whenever i do it drives me nuts when a good song comes on, so i crank it, and the subs cut out. 
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Temecula
I actually have a 250.2 pushing two 12's wired exactly the same way you just described. Unfortuantely it blew my amp, so get the wiring fixed as soon as possible, here's what I did; if you have two terminals in the back of your box take on wire, connect it to the postive of the bridged side and run it to the positive of one of the terminals, next take the negative of that terminal and connect it to the positive of the other terminal, then take the negative of the 2nd terminal and connect it to the negative of the bridged section of the amp. I did this and the amp no longer cuts out, although the subs aren't as loud, you just crank it more, they won't cut out!! Hope this helps!
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Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Atmore
the proper way to bridge speakers is the left positive from the amp to the left positive on the speaker. left negative on the speaker to the right positive on the right speaker. the right negative on the speaker to the right negative on the amp. you will leave the left neg and the right positive open on the amp...nothing connected. basically you are putting the amp and speakers in "series".
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 890
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From: small town, north dakota
how u described is how i have my system in my pickup hooked up...in 'series'...never had a problem with it, amp doesnt get hot or anything. i was kinda curious if it was wired wrong because i tryed the same thing on my pickups system, and the amp got extremelty hot, couldnt even touch it, so i figured something was up. when i get the chance ill get the wiring done up the RIGHT way. thanx guys.
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Joined: May 2004
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From: Chesapeake, VA
What guage power wire are you running? Could be too small for the current demands of the amp as you increase the volume.
What are the subs rated at? 4 ohms? What is the amp rated down to? Your speaker load MUST be equal to or GREATER than what the amp is rated to. Its possible that the speakers are presenting a load that the amp can't handle.
Example. The amp is rated stable to 4 ohms, but the speakers are presenting a 2 ohm load. At low volumes it won't cause a problem, but as you increase the volume, the amp will overload and cut out.
What are the subs rated at? 4 ohms? What is the amp rated down to? Your speaker load MUST be equal to or GREATER than what the amp is rated to. Its possible that the speakers are presenting a load that the amp can't handle.
Example. The amp is rated stable to 4 ohms, but the speakers are presenting a 2 ohm load. At low volumes it won't cause a problem, but as you increase the volume, the amp will overload and cut out.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: small town, north dakota
i am running a 4 guage power/ground wire with it. according to the kicker site, the subs (newer onces, mine are 2 or 3 yrs old now) will take a 4 or 8 Ohm load...and the amp (also older style) says it is 100x2 at 2 Ohms or 200x1 in 4 Ohm bridged mode.
Senior User
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 234
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From: Chesapeake, VA
Based on the power specs you listed, I would forget about running the amp bridged. Just run it in 2 channel mode. I'm willing to bet that the amp will stop cutting out, and you will notice a marked improvement in the sound quality. If your speakers are wired in series as described above by jblack, you have actually doubled the load presented to the amp, which results in less power. Therefore, to get the volume you're trying to acheive, you are pushing that amp right to the hairy edge and it can't handle it.
Forget bridging, just wire it 2 channel and I'm pretty sure you will be extremely happy with the results.
Forget bridging, just wire it 2 channel and I'm pretty sure you will be extremely happy with the results.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: small town, north dakota
i had it hooked up running off each channel and there was hardly ANY bass to it. so i took it to the dealer who sold the stuff to me, and they wired it how i described. i like bass, and plenty of it, and the only way i believe to achieve that out of that cheapy kicker is to bridge it...
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Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 890
Likes: 0
From: small town, north dakota
UPDATE....today i rewired the subs. did it in "series" as described...sounds great, probly even louder than b4. has an awesome punch to it. amp never got hot or anything. i think it should work good. and if it decides to blow...it blows...