Voltage Drops With Good Electrical And Low Wattage?

[95_1500]

Like the title says I have voltage drops from 14.5-14.8 down into the 10 range on low notes.

I have a 220 amp irragi alt.

2 batteries under the hood. Diehards which i replaced in November brand new almost. Rated at like 720 cca.

A powermaster d3100 in the back 12 inches from the amp. 1 run of 1/0 from front to the d3100.

All 1/0 with 300 amp fuses.

The alt, both stock batteries and the 3100 are grounded to the FRAME, scraped to bare metal and all connections are tight.

My 3000d is only at half gain right about 1600 watts.

Judging by my electrical and what the amp is set at, I should not have voltage drops that low. I think my box is just very inefficient.

Anyone agree with me or have any ideas?

EDIT: I also have a sundown 100.4 only running at about 300 watts total, around 70 watts to each 6.5.

Edited March 20, 2009 by 95_100

[ChampN252]

What ohm load you running at? Half gain doesn't mean half power. Also the output voltage of your radio could tell you if you have it set too high.

I just saw the eclipse, I think most eclipse radios are 5 volt. That's a start.

Edited March 20, 2009 by ChampN252

[David]

yeah unless ur running that amp at 2 ohm your seeing way more then 1600 watts rms, thats a beastly amplifier, even at 2ohm id believe it was more then 1600.

break out the dmm and start from the front and work ur way back check every connection power and ground make sure u have good voltage along every connection, all it takes is one bad connection and you'll have problems

[Derrick824]

The first thing I'd do is check your voltage under the hood at your front batteries and alternator. Does it drop as low as it does at the amp? If not then it's a wiring issue and likely bad grounds/bad connections somewhere. What's the resting voltage of your batteries front and rear? Next thing I'd do is check the actual dc current draw of the amplifier and dc current output from the alternator. With just the d3100 by itself (no alternator) you shouldn't see drop that low even if that amp was wired to a 0.5ohm load. There is definitely a connection issue somewhere.

[95_1500]

Eclipse puts out 5v. Its at 1 ohm.. I actually just got done going thru with the DMM and checking everything. I set my amp with a dmm to the proper output for 1600, you think because of the 5v input its seeing a lot more?

[95_1500]

The first thing I'd do is check your voltage under the hood at your front batteries and alternator. Does it drop as low as it does at the amp? If not then it's a wiring issue and likely bad grounds/bad connections somewhere. What's the resting voltage of your batteries front and rear? Next thing I'd do is check the actual dc current draw of the amplifier and dc current output from the alternator. With just the d3100 by itself (no alternator) you shouldn't see drop that low even if that amp was wired to a 0.5ohm load. There is definitely a connection issue somewhere.

That was my logic!

[David]

u cannot tune a amplifier that makes 3000 watts at 1 ohm to make 1600 watts @ 1ohm, it isnt possible.

[95_1500]

u cannot tune a amplifier that makes 3000 watts at 1 ohm to make 1600 watts @ 1ohm, it isnt possible.

Can you explain? Then why do you set the gain?(i understand to match the hu output and amp input) I just checked, its a pretty hot day truck has been in the sun all day, 12.57 at the d3100 and 12.54 at each of the front batts. Cannot find a loose connection. I am at the dorm, might go home to charge it in the garage tonight and do laundry, there i will be able to do much better troubleshooting.

Edited March 20, 2009 by 95_100

[95_1500]

Well on the way home i was bangin pretty hard and seems now it only drops into the 11's when its straight wangin (airforces) for about 30 seconds or more. Ill keep an eye on it. David could you explain how it works? I thought you set the gain so the head unit output and amp input match in correspondence to the wattage you want to see out of it? I popped in my test tone 50hz and am seeing 56.2v output from the amp at my 3/4 volume. 56.57v output with a 1 ohm load gives you 1600 watts. I am not disagreeing or anything im just curious, i like to learn new things about this game.

[thehoe92]

Well on the way home i was bangin pretty hard and seems now it only drops into the 11's when its straight wangin (airforces) for about 30 seconds or more. Ill keep an eye on it. David could you explain how it works? I thought you set the gain so the head unit output and amp input match in correspondence to the wattage you want to see out of it? I popped in my test tone 50hz and am seeing 56.2v output from the amp at my 3/4 volume. 56.57v output with a 1 ohm load gives you 1600 watts. I am not disagreeing or anything im just curious, i like to learn new things about this game.

if you have your subs wired to 1 ohm you are going to produce 3000 watts of power in a perfect condition.

when you set the gain you are, like you said, matching the head unit output voltage to the amplifier input voltage.

you are not telling the amplifier how many watts it should produce.

the only way to change the wattage is to change the ohms... the resistance.

2 ohms is more resistance than 1 therefore it will produce less wattage at optimum voltage (hence correct gain setting).

but like David already said that amp won't even produce 1600 watts at 2 ohms.

hope this helps.

Edited March 20, 2009 by thehoe92