nick_19

Ok I didn't bump test each coil or measure each could individually but I dis test the overall resistance and got .7 ohms exactly, as it should be (two 1.4 ohm coils in parallel).

The sub was moving, but it could be just one of the coils. How can I test for this Nick? Should I hook each coil up individually? He made a video on youtube I believe and a topic on this forum about it, just have to search for it. I know how to measure the resistance of the coils, but how would I tell if one got "the bands mixed up on the wrong side"?

1/0 all around 1.5 ft. ground

Thanks for the help I'll figure this out somehow for sure.

The sub was moving, but it could be just one of the coils. How can I test for this Nick? Should I hook each coil up individually?

Voltage dropping to 12.5v isnt good imo. With a 225a alt and 2500wrms amp on music (doubtful you even come close to that rms rating), you shouldnt really have considerable voltage drop. You went from a RF amp to Sundown. Sundown amps are no joke. You may want to consider upgrading or reworking your electrical wiring if needed. You might even need to look into XS Power battery up front and another XS Power battery near the amp. I have a feeling you are starving your Sundown amp. Maybe your enclosure foe the sub is less than optimal. Good luck Whats wrong with voltage at 12.5? Also, why wouldn't he have a considerable voltage drop? Assume at idle the 225a only puts out 150ish, the voltage is going to drop when the alternator is reaching its output limits. I don't see how he is "starving" the amp either. With the information the op supplied he changed amplifiers and upgraded to one with 2.5 times more potential output. Therefore the electrical requirement is 2.5 times more. But.........no additional electrical upgrades were done to support all the added power. 12.5v is basically the resting voltage of his battery. This means, to me, that his amp is pulling 100% power out of the alt and them dipping into battery reserves. Dead battery anyone? 13v or higher for me or my systems is turned down. There are many unknown variables here, but my opinion stands. Op, how hot does the amp get? Pretty hot I bet. I ran my previous amp with the stock 120 amp alternator for.... 2 years I believe without incident. Voltage RARELY dropped below 13.8-14V. The time between the period where I upgraded alternators and sold my amp was maybe 2 weeks. That means that I played my "old system (old amp and sub)" for about two weeks with the upgraded alt. Voltage was fine still, obviously. The battery was replaced about 4 months ago. It's resting voltage is 12.6V. Your logic doesn't make sense. Just because I upgrade amplifiers does NOT mean I need to upgrade my electrical if it is already at or above par. I do not ride around playing tones either, so The amount of time my amplifier will draw full current is VERY short. You know about the dynamic properties of music, etc. 225*12.5 (the LOWEST voltage it will drop to) =2812.5. And this doesn't account for impedence rise. And it doesn't include the current the battery has available!!!!! I believe my electrical system is not the problem. I do not mean to be offensive, I just get the feeling that this is NOT and electrical system related problem. My friend was running a SAZ3500D to two 18" Xcons on stock electrical (150 amp alt and one battery temporarily) and he could drop to 11 V!!!!! And it was still loud as fawk. Amp stays cool as a cucumber. However, the dustcap of the sub got quite warm, which lead me to believe I was driving the amplifier into clipping, which baffles me, because it does not feel like 2500 watts of punishing power. It barely feels like 1000 watts! Oh and ANOTHER issue I have is that when playing at full volume, my voltage will actually spike up to over 15V, sometimes giving me an error message on my Driver's Information Center. This is a very strange problem I cannot figure out. It happened with my old amp as well. Stupid PCM monitored voltage. I need to get my alternator internally reg'd I guess.

Well the subsonic is something I was waiting to get set until I solve this problem. For now, I have turned it all the way down (yes I did during my initial testing to all of those who suggested it). Also, my LPF is turned all the way up on the amp, but it is set at 60 Hz at a -18 dB/oct. digitally on my radio. I'm going out to do more testing this afternoon.

No no, I wouldn't tear something up without purpose. I've got one one that is needle style and one that is digital, both the cheapest versions from walmart. The needle style one blows the fuses no matter what I do, and the digital one just shows crazy numbers no matter what I do. That has nothing to do with my problem, however. I guess I could go buy another cheap one, as I cannot seem to find one to borrow.

Yeah I had a cheap one. They all stop working. I'm saving up for a nicer one. I'll go take some pics this afternoon. It's wires like this. Positive on amp to terminal. One positive wire from terminal to positive one coil one. One positive wire from terminal to positive one coil two. Same with negative. I'll see if I can find a DMM from someone today, however.

I don't have a dmm right now I'm sorry guys. And I know nobody around here with a suitable amp. But I just figured something out. I never upgraded my 200A fuse. Whatcha think???

Ok let my explain a little more thoroughly. The sub is quieter at ALL volumes. As I said, I have to turn the gain up way past half to get anything that is considered "loud" to me. And that is on 4 volt pre-outs!!!! That is not a port area problem... I know my port area is a little small, but that is something that would affect this scenario at very high volumes/near xmax, not at these volumes. You say wiring problem... What wiring exactly? Wiring to my subwoofer? I'll take any advice. Do I have to swap the + and - wires, or can I just reverse the polarity on the amp? (easier to do)

2006 grand prix. 4.496 cu ft. Tuned to 28.77 Hz. 54 sq in of port. Sub up port to the drivers side. This is the loudest setup for my vehicle given my constraints. Termlab tested.

I don't have another amp on hand... sorry Something I really think is strange is that if I turn the gain to, let's say, halfway (straight up and down) there is NOTICABLY less bass than there was with the Havoc. Now I bought this amp from dB-r, and they said that the repair done to it was for the gain knob. Maybe the gain knob is "out of tune"? And I agree that 12.5V is too low of a drop. That also confuses me. I've got Big 3 in 1/0 (KnuKonceptz) and 1/0 all the way around. The battery up front is like... 750 CCA. It's not a little puss.

Yeah I got a flashlight and checked the writing in sharpie on the cardboard part of the former that says "N2 D2" Yes it is wired correctly. Coils in parallel to a nominal 1 ohm load. (electrical engineering major in progress--it's wired correctly )

Yes sir. The only reason I'm so sure is that I have a plexiglas window. So I can see the connections I hate to say it but now I'm disappointed.