D1no

My JL e1800d, 800 rms,amp cuts out at high volumes. The grounds have been upgraded with 4 guage. I am running 4 guage power to my JL 300/2, 300 rms, and to the sub amp. My 12 in. dual 4ohm Arc Audio Flatline is wired at 2 ohms. I have set the input sens. of the amp using a 50hz 0db test tone with bass boost off. I have followed JL's input sens. adjustment to the tee. The head unit is an Alpine 9830.

I measured the voltage to the amp with the car running, 14.2 to 12.6. I called JL and they said I may not be seeing the voltage drop below 12v with my digital meter. The voltage to the amp maybe dropping too quick. They suggested an alternator upgrade.

I have 0 guage wire on order. I will be doing the big 3. My lights do dimm on high volume bass hits. Is anyone running this much power with the stock alternator?What did you do to keep the sub amp from cutting out? Are these JL sensitive to such voltage drops?

D1no

I replaced my 4guage grounds with 0 guage. I also did the alternator positive to battery and replace my main power fuse. Problem solved. The old fuse was only a few months old. There was a chip and a crack in the fuses casing but it was not blown.

edbighead

i was running 1500 watts rms on a thunder elite for oh about 5 minutes and watched it go from 14.5v to 11.7 when the bass would thrash. tuned to 42hz. i then sought out the advice of nate perricord of excessive amperage and he rewound a stock ralliart alt to put out 180 at 1500 and 115 at idle. it solved the problems as well as running 0 ga to everything upgrade just about every wire i could now i am going to run a second battery.

edbighead

oh and jl is notorious for "sensing" voltage drops even if its a nano second ha!

D1no

I did the Big 3 with 0 guage wire and put in a new 150 amp ANL fuse. It still cuts out. I've heard these JL amps are sensitive to volage drops. I have done some research on the HO alternators. They run about 400 shipped. Or, could sell this amp and maybe go with an Arc Audio ks1000.1. Any other suggestions?

edbighead

you aren't running two amps off the same 4 ga wire right? just a question. i personally would ditch the jl use the money from selling it to some sucker who thinks jl is worth the money and get a sundowner 1500d or go and get your arc, never have run them personally but nothing bad to say. you probally also should invest in the alt anyways i wanna get a bigger one for the car as i may be changing the setup but nate perricord at excessiveamperage.com can do a 180 have you found bigger, iraggi makes good ones but you will have to get it custom.

D1no

I am running 4 guage in to the trunk down the right side, then splits to two 4guage outs. From the splitter to the JL 300/2 mounted to the back seat. From the splitter down under the back seat to the sub amp under the driverside seat.

Should I run power staight from the batt. to each amp?

D1no

Here are Irragi's 2.4L upgraded alt. info:

Dominator series:

200 amp / 90 amp idle 329.00
220 amp / 80 amp idle 349.00

incl.90 day warr.

99.00 liftimetime exchange war

Amputator series:

200 amp / 110 amp idle 419.00
220 amp / 100 amp idle 439.00

Incl.1 yr warr.

99.00 liftimetime exchange war

Shipping to my zip in Cal is 21.23

D1no

The amp only cuts out when the engine is running. Works fine with the engine off. Cutting out starts at volume setting above 19 or 20 on the Alpine 9830.

edbighead

your juicing too much from your alt. upgrade it, if it only does it when you are running the car thats because the car runs off of the alt and not the batt. and yes you also should be running those two amps seperately! those iraggis are the shiz, alot of the guys who i know compete are running them and i am impressed, thats a better price that excessive amperage also.

majestic*

iTrader: (2)

I had a nice write up to this response but accidentaly closed the window before posting... can't be bothered to retype it now... long story short...

If you like JL (I do), I would suggest switching from the E series amp to a slash series amp... a lot of features implemented in these amps especially the power supply.

I also like Arc audio... had a KAR900.1D myself... loved it... sold it... regret it ... kinda... still have my Arc 4 channel though... Robert Zeff from Zapco was behind these amps... great amps.

TMA is also good... a JL audio company... good amps not as great as the JL branded slash series though...

As far as power is concerned... I'm running 0 guage front to back, Kinetik 1400R power cell (do research on these... a lot of guys in SPL are using these power cells - great stuff), upgraded engine grounds, stock alternator... no problem... no cutting out, no light dimming, currently hitting 140.6db with 1 15" in a sealed box. Going to be running 4 10" Treo Tsi's, hoping to hit higher DB with more cone area.

I would recommend running at least a 2 gauge wire front to back and then split to 4 gauge, definately investing in an alternator upgrade is a good thing... it will help the entire electrical system.

See this link: http://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp

Hope this helps,

Nick

D1no

Thanks for your reply, bro. I going to redo the power wire to the JL e1800d before replacing this amp.

I'm going to try to run the shortest power wire route through the driver side wire gromet. The sub amp is mounted under the driver seat. I'll have to take off the front driver side plastic fender liner to route the power wire. Going through the driverside gromet will reduce the run to about 7 or 8 feet. If I used the passenger side gromet the run would be about 15 ft.

I have Stinger Battery Terminals on order. These should make a tighter and more solid battery connections.

I know the ultimate solution would be to upgrade to a HO alernator. At about 425.00 shipped, I"ll try the wiring first.

Before you installed the Kinetik power cell, were you having any problems? Did you replace the front battery with the Kinetic or add it as a second battery?

majestic*

iTrader: (2)

Sounds good... let us know how it works out.

I didn't have any power issues that led me to want to change the battery... except for the fact that my car is almost three years old now, running on the original battery, with a high current audio system and I work at a car audio shop as an installer and we sell Kinetik.

The more research I did on them the more I wanted one, and the benefit of working at a shop that is a dealer for the power cells is a plus too..

There are many features of the Kinetik that make it so popular: Deep Cycle, Acid-Free, Low Resistance (ESR), very durable, takes less time to charge and discharge, less stress on your alternator...

The proof is in the pudding as they say... with my old battery, car running, voltage would rest between 13.6 - 14.1 volts, with the Kinetik, car running, voltage would rest at 14.9 volts... right out of the box I'm getting more voltage to all accessories which is a good thing. In car audio, more input voltage equates to more output voltage.

All amplifiers have a rating (whether it's CEA-2006 or not) for nominal power output (RMS) at a certain voltage - most often 14.4 volts. So lets say your amp makes 500wrms @ 4ohms @ 14.4v... well... when you're driving, with your headlights on and your climate control and your system pounding... you're audio system will not see 14.4v... it'll be fluctuating in the 11-14 range... so the less voltage = less power... more voltage = more power.

My system sounds better and louder... every bit helps... I'm sure upgrading my power cable, engine grounds, battery terminals, fuseholder all helped too.... I did them all at the same time...

www.kinetikaudio.com

Hope this helps,

Nick

D1no

I have an update to my sub amp cutting out problem. I ran 4ga. ground and power directly from the battery to my JL 1800d. I resoldered the big three 0 ga. terminals. I used a micro torch.

The sub amp still cuts out. I have a Kinetik HC 1800 on oder. One day, it will all be good.

D1no

I replaced my main battery with a Kinetik 1800. It fit in the stock location but it was a tight fit. The termanals on this battery are reversed from the stock battery. I had to reroute some of my wires.

The amp still cuts out during some songs within the higher frequency sub bass range. In the lower frequency range, it's all good. I noticed overall louder volume. It did improve my dimming lights during high volume bass hits. Going from 80 lowpass to 65 seems to help.

I'm good for now.