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Amp drawing too much current?


bsneon98

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hey guys im having a weird problem that I personally have never seen before.
With my car running at idle, I used to have my 4 channel and my sub amp (just on, no load) with maybe .1 or .2 voltage drop.
All of a sudden the other day my sub amp would draw me down to the low 10's with no music playing.
After noticing my warranty is over on the amp I opened it up and saw that the caps may have some swelling on top.
Any ideas? I'm mostly likely gonna buy a new amp but id like to fix this as a backup.

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At idle, an amp should never draw more than a few amps (if that).

Sounds like the amp has an internal short and the power supply is drawing a lot of current because of it.

Does the amp get hot? It should be if you're pulling the voltage down to the 10's.

Is this with the subs connected or not? Make sure that you check them and verify that they are not involved in the issue.

Caps bulge due to over-voltage and/or overheating. If they are bulged then they are more then likely damaged and won't operate like they should.

Did any fuses blow?

If the amp is acting like that and not protecting itself then it should definitely be sent in for repair or not used.

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At idle, an amp should never draw more than a few amps (if that).

Sounds like the amp has an internal short and the power supply is drawing a lot of current because of it.

Does the amp get hot? It should be if you're pulling the voltage down to the 10's.

Is this with the subs connected or not? Make sure that you check them and verify that they are not involved in the issue.

Caps bulge due to over-voltage and/or overheating. If they are bulged then they are more then likely damaged and won't operate like they should.

Did any fuses blow?

If the amp is acting like that and not protecting itself then it should definitely be sent in for repair or not used.

The amp gets a little warmer than usual. I haven't left it on that long because of the nasty draw.

Subs, Rcas, and bass knob were unplugged and the problem continued.

All fuses are fine.

Amp also doesn't protect and will still generate sound.

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What if you unplug all your speaker wires from your amp?

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What if you unplug all your speaker wires from your amp?

The problem continues

What amp is it?

Any pics of the board/caps?

MB Quart ONYX 1.1500D

no pics but there was no visible sign of any damage other than some swelling in the caps.

Where exactly are you measuring voltage at?

Directly at the amp

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Now try this: With everything except the power/ground/remote wire disconnected from the amp, pick it up and wrap it in a towel or something. Just make sure the body of the amp is electrically isolated from the vehicle. See if it still does it

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Where exactly are you measuring voltage at?

Directly at the amp

Try measuring your voltage further down the line. At the battery

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I finally had the time to triple check everything and the notorious neon trunk leak came back, and rusted my ground, causing a voltage drop.
Sanded the shit out of everything and getting special grease for it this week, everything works perfect again! :)

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