Here's the deal...once and a while my unit shuts off and turns back on. only happens when it's very loud. (loudest with clean sound) I've had the same system for a couple years and it did the same thing once last summer, but now it's happening more frequently. Here's what I have... Alpine head unit. (cde something), one of their cheaper units. 200 watts. Door speakers- Alpine Two 10" subs 250 watt amp powering subs only Any thoughts? Is it a circuit breaker popping within the head unit?
Ground may be bad, could also be drawing more power than the chinsy power line into the deck can support. Could be that the deck is also over heating although I doubt it. Kinda hard to say.
Mine was doing that in the mazda and when I got it into the subaru we discovered it worked perfectly, and the mazda ground was going wonky ... so I agree with Dizmal do you get any loud crackling noises before it happens? Sometimes mine would do that too - that was real scary - I thought I had blown all the speakers once - but they're in pristine condition... I love alpine stereos - I bought a pioneer cause I couldn't afford an alpine, but I'd love to trade it for an Alpine and maybe some bose speakers ... that's a few years down the road yet though - the stereo that came with my car was this horrible panasonic thing that I don't even think I can unload on someone for 20 bucks :laugh:
I think personally think that it's the amp that is too small to power the subs at high volumes. try this, disc the battery wire to the amp so that you're only powering your deck. then turn it up and see if it shuts off then. If it shuts off then it's something with the deck. if not then it's the amp that is too little to produce power to the 10" subs at high volumes because when you turn it up it makes the subs thump harder and if the amp isn't big enough it'll cut off from blowing something. i could be wrong....
Does it turn back on right away? If so its probably shutting off because of low voltage due to . A weak ground can do this too. Ideally you should hook up an oscilliscope across the power and ground leads into the deck and see if the voltage takes a hit when its playing loud. Short of that, make sure your ground wire is well connected, try soldering connections, run a dedicated power wire from the battery like the one the amp has. I'll be futzing around in my garage in St. Paul tonight, if you come over I can look at it with you.
That wouldn't make the deck turn off unless its pulling the voltage of the whole car way down. Do your headlights get dim when the bass thumps?
Back to topic.... Thanks guys and thanks WOT boy for the offer, but I'm slammed until Saturday night. FYI: No noise, no crackling, nothing. It works and sounds great and then it shuts off and turns back on immediately and goes to the same volume it was before. Do my headlights dim when I'm thumpin? No, but the stereo light sure do. I'm also running under dash plasma lights off the same power wire the stereo uses...Oh, did I just uncover my problem? I admit, I'm no eletrician.
I had the same problem with my Alpine 9835 in my Miata, it actually turned out to be a fuse. the fuse split at a point and was able to re-contact itself when it cooled, since I replaced the fuse I havn't had the problem. the deck would just shut down then restart, and if I kept the volume high it would repeat, kinda like a turn signal, only a lot more disturbing! I'd check all of your power wires, the back of the deck will get real hot and with some pressure may melt the insulation off of a power wire. I would have to say that this is a positive side problem (fuse or pinched wire). Harlow
Yeah I had a cheapo fuse issue with mine too, could the volume just be a concidense? Otherwise I have a amp that does the same thing, cuts off, especially when it was cold, it worked alright when warm, so it's possible the amp is going. And don't run anything else off the deck's power, I'd assume that's probably you problem, atleast that's teh first thing I'd try, wiring the gay lights to something else.
I'd say it is the deck over heating, the amp then goes into protection mode. this is pretty common in set ups where an internal amp is used to keep up with a sub/amp set up. add in a small 4 channel amp and this will cure your problem.
not every one has access to an oscilloscope! Your ground wire should not be connected to the vehicles original ground wire. Wire that sucker to the closest metal part of the car. Since your powering your doors speakers directly from the headunit and you are pushing them hard to compete with the sub then I would strongly recommend running a reasonably thick power wire direct from the battery to the headunit. This is going to allow the shortest direct flow of power
That tells me that your wiring job is insufficient, either on the ground side ro the power side or both. Do what TRUBLU said above.
