kenwood stereo "protect"

[Garrett Tait 5]

ive had my new radio in for a few days and its great. i was going to sushi with my gf and we entered the plaza and as i hit the dip the stereo stopped playing and said protect. i did some research and i saw that there is probably a short somewhere in the speaker wire. im currently on the factory wiring for my front door speakers til i hook up my 2 ch. i have infinity kappas so they have that big external box for the speaker wire so i assumed the skinny factory wiring came loose or something. i saw that some people just reset the radio and it never went into protect again. i tired it and it worked for another hour then it went into protect again. but when it was working i faded it all the way to the left and right and both speakers worked. does anybody know if the remote wire gets shorted somewhere that it will throw a protect code? i tapped into my remote wire for a small led and maybe something went wacky. i deleted my rear stage and the speaker wires are insulated and i doubt they are touching. any ideas?

 

 

[Garrett Tait 5]

because both speakers worked when i faded it, could it be because the kappas are 2 ohm?

 

"True Four Ohms— All Kappa speakers feature two ohm voice coils. Original
factory-installed speaker wiring in many cars is 18-22 gauge. This
wire, and heating in the voice coil when power is applied, increase the
impedance “seen” by the amplifier or head unit. The impedance of Kappa
Speakers has been adjusted to compensate for this increase and can be
safely driven by any head unit."

 

is this true or just sales bs?

[Quentin Jarrell 671]

Wow they really use impedance rise as a marketing ploy?

But they did work before you hit the bump. More than likely you have a short some where. If a speaker is bad they can even ground out by their mounting flanges.

If the headunit still doesn't work. Unhook the radio harness. Set ur DMM to continuity. Touch one lead to a speaker wire at the harness and the other to ground. If you have a short to ground the DMM will beep. If so leave the DMM on until you find the source of the problem.

[Garrett Tait 5]

Wow they really use impedance rise as a marketing ploy?

But they did work before you hit the bump. More than likely you have a short some where. If a speaker is bad they can even ground out by their mounting flanges.

If the headunit still doesn't work. Unhook the radio harness. Set ur DMM to continuity. Touch one lead to a speaker wire at the harness and the other to ground. If you have a short to ground the DMM will beep. If so leave the DMM on until you find the source of the problem.

 

so ill ground one probe and then stick the other probe into my harness and if it beeps ill know that wire is shorted/grounded somewhere. i have a cheap meter from harbor freight so it probably doesnt have continuity but then again ive always wanted a better dmm. any suggestions for a basic dmm that will have everything i need and isnt over the top?

 

im assuming that if no shorts are found in the speaker wire would it be safe to say there is an issue with the speakers low impedance or a defect in the stereo unit?

 

edit : my last kenwood ran the kappas fine so im guessing a short somewhere

Edited July 14, 2013 by gt58

[Quentin Jarrell 671]

You are correct on all assumptions.

Cheap meter will be fine you are only trying to find a grounded component an only looking for a beep not any actual figure.

Make sure the harness is unhooked from the radio and only probe the speaker wires. You don't want to blow any power fuses.

I personally use a Blue Point meter. They run about $200-$250 bucks. The biggest problem is Fi ding good leads with no resistance. With daily use that can be problematic as they like like fail. Even the good blue point and fluke leads.

[Garrett Tait 5]

ok so I took out my remote wire and old rca cables today. I ran some thicker 16 gauge wire that wasnt interrupted at all like my last one and ive been banging hard for the past 2 hours cruising and it hasnt gone into protect. im pretty sure the remote wire might have shorted somewhere or something. im glad its fixed but I had to ditch the short led strip.