Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I bought an ALPINE amp second hand a few weeks back, it's a V-12 4CH MRV F340 which I was told was in perfect working oder

Hadn't got around to testing the amp over the last few weeks as I don't have any amp wiring in my car but got the chance yesterday to test it in my cousins car. With the +12v, earth and remote wire hooked up, when the amp powered up it stayed on for about 5 seconds then went into protection mode

After about 5 seconds in protection mode it goes back on and again after about 5 seconds or so it goes back into protection and the cycle repeats it self over and over again

Tried hooking up the 4 CH RCA inputs as well as the wiring up 2 speakers to CH 1 and 2 but still the same thing. There is no issue with the amp wiring as it originally runs a different amp, 2 CH Audioline. Checked the wiring and tested it with the original Audoline amp and no issues

The V-12 doesn't seem to blow fuses at all, has a 30A in it and its fine. None of the wiring is shorting nor are any of the fuses giving way. I opened it up to have a look inside; it doesn’t smell or look blown at all. All resistors and capacitors look intact as well as connections from the main 3 inputs, +12v, earth and remote

There is no burnt sections on the main board it self to show its been fried and it all looks 100%

Anyone have any idea's what would be causing this? My friend's amp was doing exactly the same thing, ALPINE V-12 as well but when we took the RCA cables out and the speaker wiring it would power up fine

Amp wiring is all 4g running to a 1 farad capacitor, from the cap its running a 8g power cable to the amp as well as an 8g ground cable

Is there someone I can get the amp checked and fixed if there is a problem?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks in advance

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/245124-amp-going-into-protection-mode/
Share on other sites

One of my mates had this issue on one of his amps, it turned out to be a poor ground. I would check this first, the reason that the audioline amp works could be that as it's a cheaper amp and therefore doesn't run a protection circuit like the Alpine does.

Or, it could be insufficient power running to the amp. Again this wouldn't show up on the audioline.

If you've got a volt meter then you can check this fairly easily.

Note: I have limited experience with Audioline amps, so I'm assuming that it doesn't have the same level of protection circuitry that the higher end amps have.

Thanks again Mark, I will give that a shot

Few others on an audio forum have suggested hooking it up directly off the battery. A 4 - 8g cable off the postive terminal of the battery running to the +12v and remote connection on the amp, 4 - 8g cable running from the negative terminal of the battery to the amp

If it powers up that way and stays powered up then it's an issue with the wiring, if it goes back into protection then it's an issue with the amp. They also recommended changing the 30A fuse as it may be 'partially' blown

Will try the above and see how it goes

How much voltage should be running through the wiring? I hooked up my 2 farad capacitor to the same wiring and it was reading around +12v with the car off but when started it was reading around +14v

Any other idea's, feel free to post

EDIT:

Funny thing is there is two amps running off the wiring, the other amp is a ALPINE monoblock MRP-M1000 and it's running fine with no issues!

Could be the amp...

When ever testing amps, first point is to throw it directly on the battery to test, get an RCA to 3.5mm stereo headphone jack cable, plug in a walkman, CD player, or similar, plug the RCA's into the amp, hook the amp up to the battery using the Positive to Positive, Negative to Negative, and then a paperclip from positive to remote (to turn the amp on), and have a spare speaker with some cable running off that you can touch on the terminals for sound.

If it fails when set up like this, you have issues with the amp, but if it works perfectly, you need to check your cabling back.

Amps should run on 12 volts without issues, but ideally 14.4 Volts continuous feed is the aim.

B.

Thanks Brian, I will give this a go tonight

If it is the amp is it worth trying to get it repaired or best off just getting another amp?

I had this same problem the amp (Pioneer 800 watt mono block) kept going into protection mode, so i hooked the amp to different speakers worked fine. It was my sub its was f**ked it was a Pionner 800 watt sub so i thought a better Pioneer 1200 watt champion series sub works great :P. Just tick off the problems like have you got power running to the amp, running out, ground, check the terminals of both battery and amp are clean, then hook it up to something else, open up your sub/speakers to see if they are f**ked. It took me about a month to really find out what was wrong, cause it would sorta work then not but no way near as good as it use to. Hope i gave you some more ideas and hope its not the amp.

Thanks again Mark, I will give that a shot

Few others on an audio forum have suggested hooking it up directly off the battery. A 4 - 8g cable off the postive terminal of the battery running to the +12v and remote connection on the amp, 4 - 8g cable running from the negative terminal of the battery to the amp

If it powers up that way and stays powered up then it's an issue with the wiring, if it goes back into protection then it's an issue with the amp. They also recommended changing the 30A fuse as it may be 'partially' blown

Will try the above and see how it goes

How much voltage should be running through the wiring? I hooked up my 2 farad capacitor to the same wiring and it was reading around +12v with the car off but when started it was reading around +14v

Any other idea's, feel free to post

EDIT:

Funny thing is there is two amps running off the wiring, the other amp is a ALPINE monoblock MRP-M1000 and it's running fine with no issues!

Oh, well if the other Alpine is running fine off that cabling then it isn't looking good for your amp unfortunatly :)

That voltage looks spot on, with the car off you should be getting around 12V and when it's running you should have around 14.4V

You might as well try and replacing the fuse, however; i wouldn't have thought you'd even get the protection light if the fuse had blown, but never having blown a fuse in an amp I can't confirm this.

I had this same problem the amp (Pioneer 800 watt mono block) kept going into protection mode, so i hooked the amp to different speakers worked fine. It was my sub its was f**ked it was a Pionner 800 watt sub so i thought a better Pioneer 1200 watt champion series sub works great :D. Just tick off the problems like have you got power running to the amp, running out, ground, check the terminals of both battery and amp are clean, then hook it up to something else, open up your sub/speakers to see if they are f**ked. It took me about a month to really find out what was wrong, cause it would sorta work then not but no way near as good as it use to. Hope i gave you some more ideas and hope its not the amp.

Thanks for that man, see how I go tonight. Hopefully it's not the amp and it's just the wiring :)

Oh, well if the other Alpine is running fine off that cabling then it isn't looking good for your amp unfortunatly :)

That voltage looks spot on, with the car off you should be getting around 12V and when it's running you should have around 14.4V

You might as well try and replacing the fuse, however; i wouldn't have thought you'd even get the protection light if the fuse had blown, but never having blown a fuse in an amp I can't confirm this.

hmm yep that's what I'm thinking..

ah ok that's good then. It's pretty stable the voltage with the car off and on, there's a 1 farad cap in the car which reads almost exactly what my 2 farad cap reads

Will give it a shot, at least this way it will eliminate everything around the amp and only leave the amp it self in question. I'm hoping it is just the wiring man, I don't want to chase up with the guy I bought it off because I have a strong feeling it's not going to get anywhere and I will be out of pocket for this amp..

Thanks for the help again guys

OK guys I tested it straight off the battery and it's doing exactly the same thing. Switches on and the light goes blue.. stays on for a few seconds then switches to red, after a few seconds back to blue then it repeats it self again..

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Hi, is the HKS  Tower Bar still available ? negotiable ? 🤔
    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
×
×
  • Create New...