Burning Smell

jeff9nissan · May 27th, 2005, 12:36 AM

Hey guys, I JUST got my amp and sub today. I hooked it up just in the backseat to make sure it works. Works and sounds great, Way excited to put it in my box. Only thing is that i noticed a burning smell, like burning rubber. Amp is brand new so i thought it might be normal? Any help?

bustedframe · May 27th, 2005, 06:32 AM

I would never have, "burning smell" and "amp", in the same sentance and think it's normal man. I would definatley get it checked out, especially if you bought the amp brand new.

UnKnOwN @uDiO · May 27th, 2005, 07:19 AM

what kind of amp and what size wire are you running? also how big a fuse do you have on your wire? sounds like your cooking a wire, not the amp, but i could be wrong. also sometimes a sub will stink a bit when its first hooked up, due to the breaking in of the coils, ive only seen this out of cheap subs tho... your full setup would help me to diagnose the prob better

jenns240 · May 27th, 2005, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnKnOwN @uDiO

what kind of amp and what size wire are you running? also how big a fuse do you have on your wire? sounds like your cooking a wire, not the amp, but i could be wrong. also sometimes a sub will stink a bit when its first hooked up, due to the breaking in of the coils, ive only seen this out of cheap subs tho... your full setup would help me to diagnose the prob better

^^ive had this problem, my wire was to small (i think like 8ga). i was driving for maybe 30 mins when all of a sudden i could smell this horrible burning rubber scent so i pulled over, looked over the amp and subs nothing, so then i checked the wire. man, that thing was melted along with the fuse.

Bumpin · May 27th, 2005, 12:36 PM

You might be burning the voice coils. If you hooked up your sub wrong or if your amp is to powerful for your sub it could be cooking your voice coils.

Punkrocka436 · May 27th, 2005, 09:55 PM

if its new, it could be the glue on the voice coil former just getting hot. Unless you have the gains cranked all the way up, i wouldnt worry too much

Twiz · May 27th, 2005, 10:57 PM

I agree with jenns240... the power supply wire is too small... 8 gauge may not be enough. You should get that checked or else you risk a fire. I never heard of a break-in smell for the amp or subs.

UnKnOwN @uDiO · May 28th, 2005, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punkrocka436

if its new, it could be the glue on the voice coil former just getting hot. Unless you have the gains cranked all the way up, i wouldnt worry too much

this is what i was speaking of as in break in smell, if your running 8awg then upgrade to 4awg and your prob should be solved, just make sure you run a fuse within the limits of the wire (aka 4awg is 80 amp max)

jeff9nissan · May 28th, 2005, 01:26 PM

Alright, I'm running 8ga from battery to amp. I'm guessing that's the problem. It doesn't really seem to do it anymore though. Only like the first day really.

BTW. I'm running Alpine MrP-M350, 350 rms 700 peak, and alpine type S 300 rms 900 peak. parrallel? wired following there diagram.

UnKnOwN @uDiO · May 28th, 2005, 09:47 PM

yeah get a 4awg kit and run it with a 70-80 amp fuse and you will be fine, not to mention that amp wont be so power hungry tring to feed its needs off of such a small wire... in the long run you will be much happier

jeff9nissan · May 29th, 2005, 02:57 AM

Well the smell is gone now. It was only there for the first day. So i'm guessing it was the voice coils like someone suggested. I will still probably upgrade to 4ga in the future. I found that an amp drains a battery really fast if the car isnt running... almost had to get a jump tonight.

sr20dem0n · May 29th, 2005, 03:33 AM

Don't bother upgrading to 4awg, I don't know why everyone is telling you this. You have a 350rms amp, it DOESN'T need 4awg, it would work fine off of 10awg if you wanted. Unless you plan on upgrading your amp to one that puts out 800+ rms or you plan on adding a second amp, upgrading to 4awg would be a waste of money.

Where is your gain set btw?

UnKnOwN @uDiO · May 29th, 2005, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sr20dem0n

Don't bother upgrading to 4awg, I don't know why everyone is telling you this. You have a 350rms amp, it DOESN'T need 4awg, it would work fine off of 10awg if you wanted. Unless you plan on upgrading your amp to one that puts out 800+ rms or you plan on adding a second amp, upgrading to 4awg would be a waste of money.

Where is your gain set btw?

so by your standards i should hook my JL 500/1 up with 8awg....

get real man 400-500 wrms its time for 4 awg and whats the problem with your amp not having to fight the wire to get its power it needs, have you ever run an alpine amp? they are quite the power hogg and even alpine recomends 4awg with MOST of there amps

sr20dem0n · May 29th, 2005, 12:12 PM

8awg is fine up to ~80 amps, which depending on the amp is in the 700-1000rms range, at that point 4awg is the better choice. And yes you could hook up a 500/1 with 8awg.

There's nothing wrong with using larger wire, except that you're telling a person who already has 8awg bought and run to go in and replace it with 4awg when he would gain NOTHING by doing so.

UnKnOwN @uDiO · May 29th, 2005, 11:58 PM

do you have a clue what your talking about, almost every bench test on the JL 500/1 showed an rms output of 850-900 RMS, and so i should run that with 8awg... how long have you been in car stereo? ive been an installer for 10+ yrs. SERIOUSLY MAN, do some research b/4 you give the wrong advice, as far as motors go, your a god compared to me, but i know my audio sh*t!