System Turns Off??

Out on my boat yesterday (Glassy I might Ad) and if the volume on my radio was turned up loud the Head unit and amp for my tower speakers would turn off. Only running one battery (ever start deep cycle I think) for system 500x4 JL Audio amp four 100w Liquid audio 6.5's on tower, Four Sony 75w speakers off of the head unit. Also when I turn on the ballast pumps same problem. I think it is a battery or Alt. problem but Im not sure. What do ya'll think. Want to install Sub soon so any feedback would be great.

check the ground for your headunit.

Could be a number of things.

Low voltage= bad battery/bad alt?
Bad/loose ground?
load on amp/HU is too low ( speaker wiring)

Our old setup if it was too loud for too long I think one amp would shutdown to avoid overheating

It will happen now if we crank the sub too, we only run 1 battery too, but it doesn't seem to be an issue there... after a little cool-down it fires back up....but I'm by no means a stereo expert

Sounds more like a circuit breaker. When it overloads it flips and when it cools enough it resets. That would be why the pumps make it blow. They would be on the same circuit somewhere.

Just got back from working on it. Put new connections on power and ground wires... no change. There are a lot of wires hooked to the same breaker so that might be it. Motor was off when I was tinkering today so I think that rules out the ALT. Going to buy a new BAT don't know how old they are came with boat and needs to be done anyway. If that won't work then I will dive into the breakers maybe add a new one or two.

Sounds like your hitting low voltage. We often have that same problem - running the radios at the boat shows - if we don't keep the charger on the right battery. I'm assuming it does this when the system is just on - not extremely loud, correct?

i agree you batt is dropping to low and amps are going into protection mode.

No the system runs fine when playing low but when I crank it up head unit, amp shut off for about 4 sec. then they come back on.

Until I turn the volume back down then it plays fin again.

yes at low volumes it does not draw on the batts but when you wick it up the demands from the amps will drop the voltage on the batts. put a meter on the battery that the amps hook to, watch the voltage drop as you increase the volume it will shut off when it drops to low and then come back on when it comes back up. the batts drop down amps shut off batts come back up a little and them come back on. mine shuts off at 10.5 volts. now if this is happening with the engine running you mave have an alt. thats not charging and low batts. but if this is happening with the eng off its just a low/weak/bad battery thats powering the amps.been there done that got the t-shirt as they say.check the levels in the batteries and charge/load test them. how old are they?

(Message edited by kko13 on February 23, 2009)

(Message edited by kko13 on February 23, 2009)

Kevin,
No Idea bought the boat in Nov. has been on my list of things to do and now it just got bumped up to the top. Thanks for the help.

Hook up a volt meter and see what the volts are at the battery when amp and HU shuts off. My guess is what People have been saying about low voltage.

Here is the answer....Add another battery with a perko switch

I had the same problem at high volumes. I still have the same porblem with 2 batteries when crankin tunes all day. Once the batteries start to lose power the volume will make the whole system cut out and come right back on. Add another battery and this problem will go bye bye

You can also try a large capacitor... that might help as well. The cap will store charge for the bass hits, meaning the instantaneous current will come from the cap first and then draw from your battery second.

Uj

yeah i went from 3 minutes of jammin atleast 3hrs with old batteries. we had a little block party and i had the boat jammin for 3hrs with no shutting off until someone called the cops.i only run 3 sets of wetsound in boat 10" wetsounds sub and two mb quartz on the tower with 2 clarion marine amps so its not the biggest system by any stretch it will all depend on how much your trying to run off of the battery before it becomes an issue. i have also found if i leave my front seat up and the door to the passanger seat open to let air flow through the amps stay much cooler and cause alot less problems. a second battery is a must as far as im concerned because if you jam to much you will kill battery and leave you stranded wich is never a good thing.

Just wondering and I know this has been asked a million times on other threads but I wanted to know what kind of batteries people on this thread are running? I was looking @ stinger SP680 but am open to any that are under $150 each the cheaper the better. Plan to run HU, JL audio 500wx4 for tower speakers, and RF 350wx2 To one Kicker 12" L5, and still run basics (Pumps ect.) Thanks for wealth of knowledge it really helps the DIY crowd. If ya'll only had something for the frustration......... O yea beer.

i run interstate. one cranking 24m-xhd and one of their larger deep cycles srm29 for the radio/amps and what not.i also installed a pro charge dual battery charger. wich comes in handy. i would plan on one for sure.

Got the charger just need a worth O crap battery to charge

O.K. took boat out today after adding brand new Interstate SRM9 fully charged and still cuts off. I am stumped. As soon as I turn up the volume the HU will flicker with the beat then go off. Checked the fuse panel and re-did some of the connections I don't think its over loaded seeing as I have on port not in use. I have four speakers to the head unit maybe its overloaded. Now I'm just guessing and thinking of throwing in the towel and paying a pro to do it unless someone has another idea. Thanks.

Does it happen just when start to turn it up or when you turn it up loud then cuts off?If it's when you turn it up loud it's probably the HU cutting out to protect the in-boat speakers.My HU does the same thing when I turn it up loud with the speaker level out puts on.On my HU I can turn off the speaker level outputs and have a signal only from the RCA line outs.When I do this I can crank the tower speakers without the HU cutting out.

If your head unit is flickering in time with the music, there are two things that could cause it. One, it is not getting enough juice, and is going under-volt as everybody shares.

Second, check the wiring for your in-boat speakers that are powered by the head unit. Disconnect the power to the amps and isolate just the radio and the speakers powered by it. Make sure that the connections are solid and not shorting anywhere. Then go to each speaker at low volume and make sure that the mid cone and the tweeter for each speaker is working properly. If you have a damaged, shorted or blown speaker, or a shorted wire, the radio will turn off at high volume, and no matter what battery you use, it will turn off. Do you have a speaker wire rubbing on something somewhere? Something laying against the back of a speaker?

There are a number of reasons or possibilities for the problem to lie only with the head unit and the speakers it is powering. You need to explore these one at a time until you can isolate the problem if it lies here.

If you suspect the electrical system, your amps and your radio need to see solid power. Most mobile electronics turn off at around 10.5 volts, so you are losing voltage somewhere.

Get out a volt meter and with the system pumping, just under the point where it turns off. Then carefully measure the voltage on the radio's read wire, the voltage on the radio's yellow wire, and the voltage at the amplifier(s) preferably right off the amp's power terminals. Let us know.

For some reason, I suspect the problem is unrelated to voltage and power though, as you are taking steps that show no improvement. Check the radio to speaker connections, and check the speakers, then get back to us with the results! We can figure this out...

Phil
Kicker

O.K. bought another new battery Kinetik 1800 and I am running 12.43v at high volume no more shutting off. So now I have one cranking battery and one AUX battery which are both wired to charge off the ALT. But now I noticed a clicking noise in the speakers when no songs are playing. Not that big of a deal but was wondering if that is a bad thing?