Power But No Sound

[tonedeaf]

I do my own installs but I didn't have the material to mount the battery,

nor did they.

Sure they did...doesnt everyone use metal 'straps' bent very shittily next to battery terminals? I mean COME ON...they did use electrical tape to protect it.

[TheyDontWantMusic]

these are mounted.

[kickass audio]

I would totally go after the shop. Hell i had a problem where i TOLD the shop i was going to be upgrading to a big ass system with 3000+ watts rms going to a solox subwoofer and i told them to give me the biggest wire i would need for it, money was no option for it either. The guy went into the back room and cut me 25 feet of 4 gauge cable. Well i installed it and he gave me a ANL fuse holder which did NOT have any reducers on it (at the time i never knew about them, i was getting into the car audio scene 2 years ago) and i told him "hey, the 4ga cable i bought from you was not holding into the fuse holder very well and i could pull it out without any force". He told me "just cut the jacket off one half of the cable and put it into the block with that, we do that all the time". I told him how retarded that sounded since you were not conducting power all around the wire, only on a part where the screw would sink into the wire and he insisted it was fine. So i did it and then a month later when i upgraded my amp from 300w rms to 1400w rms i smelled a burning smell whenever i drove and noticed i couldnt ever get a heavy bass hit to last without it turning the amp off and back on a lot. One day when i drove to college on the thruway it got so smelly that i pulled over and opened my hood to discover that the 4 gauge cable he sold me was burnt back 4 inches from the fuse block. It didnt short out on anything or come loose but was overloaded which i WARNED him about when i needed power wire. So me and my dad went to the shop and started a big war and fought with the co-owner of the company before the other owner came out and was nice enough to help me out. He gave me the same length of cable but in 1/0 and instead of cca, it was OFC cable, a new fuse block with fuse, and new crimp terminals for it all. He told me to take the old one out and return it back to him and i can keep the 1/0 for free. So i made out fairly well and was lucky it didnt go any farther before it did short out on the metal frame to my engine.

Sorry to rant but just go back to the shop, bitch to all hell and make them fix it. They installed it either way and as long as you didnt recommend to do something as idiotic as this then they are at fault 100%. Do you have any pics before the battery caught on fire? If you have to take it to court to get money back and what not they will want to have pics to see what it looked like before it caught on fire to show it was functional and how sloppy the work was and that you didnt do the install. I promised the guy at the shop i got the wire from that if i didnt get this corrected i would go to the Attorney Generals office (i know the guy personally as a good friend) and shut his place down since my car could have burst in flames.

And final say on this.. What i did with my batteries in the rear of my truck was to place them in a plastic battery holder. I bought mine online for like $20 but you can go to walmart and get them for the same price. They just look like a box but have openings for the battery to vent (it wont since its sealed up) and openings to feed a ton of power wires through. Then when i got my 4 d3100's i wired them all up as tight as i could and then noticed that the battery would slide just a bit if i stopped hard or hit the gas. So what i did was cut a thick piece of rubber from the old paddle wheels off my dads snow thrower and put them under the battery on the front and back and it doesnt slide one bit. Also, if you dont want to do those two things, XS Power sells hold down brackets for almost all their batteries. They are similar to what they dont want music posted above and can bolt into whatever you put them to.

Edit: You could if you wanted to use the same method that they used in the shop with those plumbing hold down straps BUT DO NOT wrap it across the top. If the battery slide again and touches it, it will catch fire again. You could use those straps but wrap them around the sides of the battery and then brace it to the side of your subwoofer box or something. And since i think about how a-holes will try to screw you, the shop will prob say something like "well vehicles have bars that go across the middle of the battery on the top and they are safe" Those are ONLY safe because there is a tray at the bottom that the battery sits in and prevents it from moving around anywhere close to touching that bar to short out.

Edited August 11, 2011 by kickass audio

[Monergist]

I called XS Power about a new case, and Byron told me no. He also said to give it a few days and see if any liquid leaks out of it and keep monitoring the voltage. I'm still 12.8 strong, but he said it might die soon if there are any punctures. The vents that he mentioned are melted on one side;

I'll probably get rid of it anyway, even if it does hold a charge. It's ugly now.

Went to the shop (it's a local shop and I'm pretty cool with the owner and technicians). The owner was cool about it. He'll give me whatever I need to recoup. Might even pay for my amp repair. I know he'll probably offer me a Kinetik battery if this one dies, but he's had that HC2400 sitting there since forever, plus it's not equivalent to the D31..

My Audison rep uses a repair shop called Tap Electronics. It's right up the street in Lakewood. I'm going there in the morning.

After I kept recounting the events that occurred yesterday, it struck me that the amp had actually cut off before the gardener got water on it. And today, I noticed that my remote wire is nonfunctional for some odd reason. Anyway, I can figure the remote wire part out, but I'm still confounded as to how the amp powers on and simultaneously both channels are dead.

[Monergist]

You have interesting interests. lol

What do you have for your substage if you don't mind me asking?

haha.. I decided to go thought provoking with my interests.

As for my substage, I've been vacillating the past few months. My friend let me use his Mcintosh 12 and an old school Audison VR amp and it compliments my system very well, but I built my electrical for something more heavy hitting. I put my other friend's 13w7 in and it was cool, but if I decide to go that route, I'd get an Audison Voce 12, not a JL. Maybe this burnt battery incident is a sign to forget about the SPL aspect I was building my electrical for..lol.

[Monergist]

Do you have any pics before the battery caught on fire? If you have to take it to court to get money back and what not they will want to have pics to see what it looked like before it caught on fire to show it was functional and how sloppy the work was and that you didnt do the install.

That's what it looked like the first time I came to have a second battery installed. Then they switched it to the XS Power. Funny though.. Now that I look at this picture, I'm noticing how the power wire strands are exposed near the lace (cotton and easily flammable) handle AND metal rod. Good thing that battery didn't catch fire; I would've had a hard time trying to rip those amps out!

[tonedeaf]

Not an 'even pay for amp repair'. They should be liable for it too as it was caused by the situation that they are at fault. If it would have burnt your car down or caused a wreck due to it being on fire while you're driving the shop could probably be sued for the damages as well. They should also for SURE be liable for the battery as well as the amp. The owner might have been cool with it, but if they are going to charge people to install electrical and other things, they should be ready to pay for damages because of a shitty install. You have before and after pictures, you have everything you need. Be polite and ask them to replace it all. If they refuse, take them to court for the amp, battery, and court cost.

Dont take the kinetic either...they shouldnt be able to fuck you on a nice piece of equipment and then make you downgrade because its convenient for them.

[Monergist]

You're right.

I'll go back up there after I leave Tap. Hopefully we can get it all situated without any contention.

[kickass audio]

One quick question, was the XS D3100 installed by the shop owner or you? If it was installed by the shop owner, even if he didnt provide the battery he still is liable for it being installed in an unsafe manner. If you installed it, it is totally your fault for doing the install like that and the shop owner doesnt have to help you with any costs of repair or damages that were incurred.

[BeatBox]

damn that sucks

Cmon so who the hell put the damn steel straps on again?! no offense but someone didnt learn from this.

I WOULDNT BE GOING BACK THERE AGAIN

GL with your build