need car audio techs here

[Danielson]

i am trying to fix this guys stereo. the problem is that the the front speakers shut off after 15 seconds of play, when the key is in accessory position. but will play fine when the vehible is running. he has the fronts running through a memphis 70.2 amp. i have checked the power ground and remote with a multimeter and have enough current, the remote lead only has about 10.27 volts. i think that is normal. the amp has no protection lights that i could check. i am kind of stumped.

[STIBungy]

Does the amp have a power light you can check right when it cuts out? The only thing I can think of right now would be the check the battery voltage when the engine isnt running.

[floored4door]

I agree ^^^ the amp probably needs at least 12 volts to operate correctly and it is seeing less than that so it shuts down. Very well could be.

[Danielson]

i will take the amp out and install my amp to see if it cuts out also, that way i can test the stereo and the voltage at the same time.

[floored4door]

What guage wire are you using? What guage wire does the amp accept? Is the Power Wire run straight to the battery or else where?

[foxxof]

if what they mentioned is the case and he enjoys playing his music while he isnt running the car you may want to consider a small capacitor. that may stabalize the system... and couldnt hurt the battery life either. for under 100 bucks it would be a cheap solution.

[Bedlam]

Is it literally 15 seconds? Or something else? I know some GMs did some stereo crap that would turn it off in the ACC position after a certain timeframe. Could try and connect the remote to your power lead and make sure thats not the issue..seems weird that you would get 10V anywhere in a car..unless it was running thru a resistor bank somewhere..or shorted?

Fun problem! :)

-Bedlam

[Danielson]

he is using some 8 guage wiring for power and ground that the previous owner had installed. the truck is a 95 or so dodge pickup, he has a jvc head unit, sony 10 band eq, a fosgate punch for bass and a memphis for fronts. maybe the EQ could be the prob? yeag its litteraly 15 seconds. i thought it could be the remote turn on lead, b/c my head unit outputs 12v through it. i am going to try to run the lead directly to the ingnition and see if that works. oh yeah it shuts off faster if i turn the volume up, maybe not enough juice. he was going to come by today so i could get a better look at things but he hasnt showed.

[Toyz51]

Sounds like the battery has a dead cell. He has really low voltage kicking the amp off when the key is on, but when the car is running the voltage goes up to 14.4v which is enough voltage for the amp to stay on.