Need help with Subs on 2013 civic lx

A

arter

Active Member
41
11
NY Long Island
Vehicle Model
Civic LX
Body Style
Coupe
I just got 2 12" kenwood 1200watts subs with a 1600 watt amp installed on my 2013 civic lx. But now after like 10 minutes of playing music, all sounds would cut off and I would have to turn off my car and turn it on for sounds to come on. I went back to the store and they said it is because there's a feature where if my speakers were too hot, they cut off. So all they did was put a on\off switch for my amp and subs. The speakers and everything was fine before I got the subs installed. If anyone has any idea of what is wrong and what I can do to fix this please help me.
 
Sounds like the amp was getting too hot. They can go into heat protection mode if they get too hot and shut off. Pics of how the amp is mounted? What store did the amp install?
 
This is the picture of the amp mounted behind the backseats.
 

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I'm a tech here in Tennessee. I agree with Webz. The subs could be wired wrong, possibly a high ohm load and the amp doesn't operate on it. For example, 2 12" 4-ohm DVC subs wired in parallel to a mono amp is a 1-ohm load on the amp. Most new mono amps aren't 1-ohm stable. Which would cause it to a) blow the amp/subs or b) get too hot and shut off.
 
So would changing my amp fix the problem? and I appreciate the feedback a lot.
 
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I would say upgrade your cables and check your ground. With that kind of wattage being run you should use bigger gauge wiring for the power and ground. Is that 10 gauge?.
 
I would change the power and ground wiring to 8ga minimum. From the looks of that picture, it looks like 10ga. If its 8ga, def go to either 6ga or 4ga.
Let me know what you decide and I'll help as much as I can. Even PM.
 
Well I want to be big enough to be sure that it fixes the problem. I'm not sure how to tell if its a 10ga or 8ga, but I will stop by the store to make sure. If it is a 10ga should i go 6ga just to make sure? and if its an 8ga should I go 4ga?
 
arter said:
Well I want to be big enough to be sure that it fixes the problem. I'm not sure how to tell if its a 10ga or 8ga, but I will stop by the store to make sure. If it is a 10ga should i go 6ga just to make sure? and if its an 8ga should I go 4ga?
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Yes.
 
Just be sure that it is a quality cable. I've seen cheap cables that have all insulation and little copper and still claim to be their size , even though its not.
 
to shut off the car and turn it back on its deffinitly going under protection so check all the above that makes an amp do that

heat ...maybe gain too high ?
speaker wires... there could be a single hair touching on negative or positive from another terminal ?
ohm independence too low or a sub is wired wrong in the box if dual voice coiled ?
wires not thick enough is also the posibility but not likely...but worth checking anyway ?
 
putting the indepependence too low on an amp can put it to it peak power which is max power it can dish out for a certain amount of time before somthing gives way ....amp/sub so when anything says 1600 watts peak thats only for a bit before somthing blows and rms power is usually half of the 1600 that it can dish out at a safe wattage at all times ..
so the very second the ohms gets dropped its doubling the safe range of watts the amp dishes out which causes the amp to heat up faster than normal and reduces the life of the amp.

so if your amp is bridged the gain might be too high ..

also check the LOC if your running one ( LOW OUTPUT CONVERTER ) that can be a defect too ive replaced tons of those because some cant handle the littlest watts so never go cheap with those .
 
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I had a similar issue in the past. Check your ground connection and make sure its in a good spot touching bare metal , no painted surface.
 
If it will play a little before shutting off it sounds like thermal protection is kicking on from heat. Most common reason for that is the subs wired to the amp at the wrong impedance. Installing a switch isn't going to fix it. I would take it back and make the shop double check the wiring and fix it.
 
yea i had them redone earlier today. They also changed the wiring of my low/high, so far it works fine now. =] i'll post more pictures tmr but here's a picture of my civic.
 

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I'm new here and so far I'm liking it. Very informative, but a little more than I can handle at this point lol. Figured I can learn a thing or two about cars on here. Thanks for the responses.
 
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