Enough power supply?

[Sencheezy 689]

I have a fully loaded 18 fi btl D1. I have this amp, Arc Audio 2150se. Its 300x2 @ 2ohm. I was wondering if it would be ok to run this amp on my sub daily? I have a 96 explorer, and stock electrical system. using 4 gauge power wire.

[jcarter1885 995]

# 2 Channels @ 40hms: 150 Watts 36A

# 2 Channels @ 20hms: 300 Watts 73A

# 2 Channels @ 10hms: 300 Watts 94A

# 1 Channels @ 80hms: 300 Watts 34A

# 1 Channels @ 40hms: 600 Watts 69A

# 1 Channels @ 20hms: 600 Watts 95A

That amp will be fine, either run each coil to its own speaker terminal for 300 watts a side or run it at a 2 ohm load to the amp bridging it using one set of terminals for 600 watts. Choice is yours.

[Sencheezy 689]

# 2 Channels @ 40hms: 150 Watts 36A

# 2 Channels @ 20hms: 300 Watts 73A

# 2 Channels @ 10hms: 300 Watts 94A

# 1 Channels @ 80hms: 300 Watts 34A

# 1 Channels @ 40hms: 600 Watts 69A

# 1 Channels @ 20hms: 600 Watts 95A

That amp will be fine, either run each coil to its own speaker terminal for 300 watts a side or run it at a 2 ohm load to the amp bridging it using one set of terminals for 600 watts. Choice is yours.

i wired it series to the amp, so that would bring it to a 2 ohm load, so it would be 600 watts. I was just wondering if it would be safe or not, since its only 600 watts, I don't want to burn it up, you know what I mean. I hooked it up for a sec without the box, and it moved the sub, a lot actually lol. But like I said, I don't want to strain the amp.

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Should be more than fine.

[jcarter1885 995]

Just set it with a DMM @ 34.64 volts to keep it at 600 watts, dont try to push the amp harder than it can be pushed and you should be fine until you get another amp if need be. I had 600-800 watts on 3 -12" Kicker CVX's (2250 rms total) and it did fine and sounded great.

[Sencheezy 689]

Just set it with a DMM @ 34.64 volts to keep it at 600 watts, dont try to push the amp harder than it can be pushed and you should be fine until you get another amp if need be. I had 600-800 watts on 3 -12" Kicker CVX's (2250 rms total) and it did fine and sounded great.

well hey guys, I have bad news. The amp played just fine, for a good 20 minutes. As I was pulling into my apartments, I turned down the volume, and it just stoped playing. It went into protect mode. And now, it keeps flickering in between protect mode and normal mode. Like, the light, will keep fliping, red, red, red, then green, and then back to red repeatedly. After I ran some erands today, and came back home, it came back on, for a split second, and went back into protect mode!!!! I hope I didn't ruin anything, especially a thousand dollar amp. If you guys have any idea, please let me know, should I just take it all back out until I get a bigger amp? or what? The voltage is dropping too badly, and recovers with no problem at all.

[emh9009 199]

your voltage is, or isn't dropping too badly? might want to check your gains, might have it turned up too high. make sure the RCAs are connected properly, and if not that then check the grounds.

[emh9009 199]

also, just because the sub can take more than the amp can put out doesnt mean it puts ANY strain on the amp.

[Sencheezy 689]

also, just because the sub can take more than the amp can put out doesnt mean it puts ANY strain on the amp.

No, the voltage isn't dropping too badly, and it recovers rather quickly. I might have the gains too high like you said, last night it was too dark for me to check, I will check today and see, and thanks for the info. I thought I could burn up the power supply in the amp for asking too much power from the amp if it can't provide as much.

[jcarter1885 995]

also, just because the sub can take more than the amp can put out doesnt mean it puts ANY strain on the amp.

No, the voltage isn't dropping too badly, and it recovers rather quickly. I might have the gains too high like you said, last night it was too dark for me to check, I will check today and see, and thanks for the info. I thought I could burn up the power supply in the amp for asking too much power from the amp if it can't provide as much.

Yeah you can but it has nothing to do with how many watts the sub can produce. It has to do with you pushing the amp farther than what it is capable by: wrong gain settings, using bass boost or not controlling the volume knob wisely. The sub doesnt tell the amp to give it more power than the amp can handle, the user tells the amp to send out more power than the amp can handle.

[Sencheezy 689]

also, just because the sub can take more than the amp can put out doesnt mean it puts ANY strain on the amp.

No, the voltage isn't dropping too badly, and it recovers rather quickly. I might have the gains too high like you said, last night it was too dark for me to check, I will check today and see, and thanks for the info. I thought I could burn up the power supply in the amp for asking too much power from the amp if it can't provide as much.

Yeah you can but it has nothing to do with how many watts the sub can produce. It has to do with you pushing the amp farther than what it is capable by: wrong gain settings, using bass boost or not controlling the volume knob wisely. The sub doesnt tell the amp to give it more power than the amp can handle, the user tells the amp to send out more power than the amp can handle.

yeah, that makes sense, but, I the bass boost is off on the head unit, and the bass is set to zero also, I will check the rcas and gains today though, and see what happens, I hope I didn't ruin that amp, because like I said, I smell no burning, and it still comes on, lighting up red and green.

[NDMstang65 403]

Just set it with a DMM @ 34.64 volts to keep it at 600 watts, dont try to push the amp harder than it can be pushed and you should be fine until you get another amp if need be. I had 600-800 watts on 3 -12" Kicker CVX's (2250 rms total) and it did fine and sounded great.

Really bad idea to give advice like that.

What happens if you have to drive the amplifier into a square wave to get that voltage out of it?...then it isn't 600 watts at that point...

Ohms law will get you in trouble if you use it like that, you completely disregard what kind of voltage you are getting out of your head unit which is what the entire point of matching the gain with. Not a "wattage" setting out of the amplifier into a DVOM that is not an oscilloscope...so you don't know if you are square waving it or not..if you clip it..it will burn.

[jcarter1885 995]

Just set it with a DMM @ 34.64 volts to keep it at 600 watts, dont try to push the amp harder than it can be pushed and you should be fine until you get another amp if need be. I had 600-800 watts on 3 -12" Kicker CVX's (2250 rms total) and it did fine and sounded great.

Really bad idea to give advice like that.

What happens if you have to drive the amplifier into a square wave to get that voltage out of it?...then it isn't 600 watts at that point...

Ohms law will get you in trouble if you use it like that, you completely disregard what kind of voltage you are getting out of your head unit which is what the entire point of matching the gain with. Not a "wattage" setting out of the amplifier into a DVOM that is not an oscilloscope...so you don't know if you are square waving it or not..if you clip it..it will burn.

So if that is wrong, then this should not be stickied on this forum and everybody following it is messing up there equipment? If so then can you enlighten me on how to set your gain on your amplifier if you have an amp with headroom. Thanks for the clarification:

How To: Set your Amplifier Gain - SSA Car Audio Forum

I believe using an O-scope or your ear(well trained ear) are still the best methods of setting your gain but you cant expect everyone to buy an O-scope just for that matter. Plus some people cant tell by ear if there gains are set wrong so that could be either a win/lose situation or lose/lose situation.