hey all, if you read this thread of mine, http://acura-tl.com/forum/showthread...threadid=51087 then you know that i just replaced my small rf amp, w/the beasty kicker zx600.4 for my comps. well, i was sitting in the car, which was in my garage, and i was trying to set the gains and xover points for my comps. i was doing alright, got it just where it was groovin' and sounding insanely loud(always do this tuning w/the subs turned off) and then all of a sudden, static started to play through the speakers, i was in disbelief, WTF???? i started cussing and cked my connections while the static continued to play. i turned off the radio and disconnected my low level converter(i still use the factory hu) and used the amps high level inputs. i turned the radio back on and it played loudly again, but only for a while, then that pesky static came back. i took a break since i had been working on the car since 6pm, it was now 9pm and almost time to go to work. i came back and tried to figure out what was going on, so i hooked up the subs and they didnt play loudly either, but they did play, although i couldnt tell if static was present or not.

then the ****ing light came on in my head. i tried turning on the car, and it almost didnt turn on. the damn battery was very low. now tell me kids, what happens when amplifiers dont get enough voltage? the volume attenuates until the amp simply stops producing sound. (note, i initially cked the power led and it wasnt in protection mode, it showed the amp was still powered on, which threw me off).

btw, why did i mention the garage, cause that meant that i didnt want to poison myself, so i never turned the car on when tuning it, and this is why the battery eventually drained. damn, it was sooo simple.

so next time you get static from your speakers or no sound at all, make sure you got the fundamentals down first...is there juice???

 

might sound stupid but oh well, what's static got to do with battery running low or dead??

 

southbound would be the person to ask this question to, but i suppose as the voltage goes down, the amplifier cant amplify sound anymore, but is still trying to, which introduces noise into the audio signal...just a thought.

whatever the case, once i started the car, everything was A OK :wow:

 

Something to learn from.

I have not had that problem yet but I will always keep it in mind.

Cheers !!!

 

Look at the bright side, you figured it out, learned something, taught something, and all is well in the end.

Most people don't realize how quick a high powered amp can suck the juice out of their battery. Your post will serve as a reminder!

 

that is what really made me kick myself...i should have known better. i scratched my head and rewired the amp twice before figuring it out. i wasted almost an hr trying to figure it out. in the past 13 yrs i have drained a many batteries and even killed some batteries and alternators to boot....i should have known to at least turn the car on and see if that was the problem...

so all learned was to stick to the basics first, and not doing so really made me :yack:

 

Dude, don't sweat it. Installation of a quality audio system is much harder work than most people realize.

Most people don't even know what you mean by the word "tweak". They think you're just fvcking around with the system.

I'm glad to hear that all has worked out for you. I'm going to need your advice once I break into the hardcore part of my install.

I hope you'll be around when I start installing the big shyt.

Later

 

yeh, i'll be around a while...(messing w/SB has been fun, jej)

also, since im in the testing phase of my install, i have alot of info to post as i get further along and hopefully complete it all by the spring time.