I recently rewired my Kicker CVR DVC bridged to 2 ohm. ive been having a problem with the amp cutting out, and ive been told its a grounding problem. I got to looking at the amp and every time the bass hits hard, the screws mounting the amp to the cab are sparking. It is also sparking from the ground wire. Does anyone know why the amp would be grounding itself?
P.S.- its a 600 watt hart amp running on 8ga power and ground wire, so the wire isnt to small to ground it. I have no clue whats wrong with it, any help appreciated.

 

yu shouldnt screw yer amp directly to the cab,,,,instead mount it ona pice of mdf or plywood,,,then screw the wood. sounds like it may be too late tho.. but if the amp has protection circuits it may be ok....never screw an amp to the chassis ...... and is suspect yer ground cable is inadequate... make shure its the same GA wire as the power and yu sand off the paint so it can get good connection.

 

what kind of amp cause i never heard of it

 

@sharpy46- its been running like that for a while. My ground wire is also 8ga, but i checked my ground and i guess it wasnt getting a good connection. Ill let it go like that for a while and then chek to see if that fixed the problem.

@elton- its a Hart Profesional 600watt 4 channel. Hart was very popular in the late 80's early 90's. Its a no name now, but it sounds really good, especially since i just bridged it.

 

if your ground is loose, it will cuase sparks. make sure you grounded to bare metal with a good solid screw, and star washer to prevent slipping. You may also want to look into a larger wire such as 4ga. and lastly, it may be clipping if the sub is at an ohm load lower than the amp is designed to handle. if you are running the sub at 2 ohms and the amp is only 4 ohms stable, that will also cause it to clip.

 

very close! but it wont cause it to clip in that sence, it will cause the amp to shut itself off. the protection circutry inside it will recieve a load to low and it will eather turn itself off or stop playing, if he was clipping bad enough to notice it as if the amp was stopping then his kicker would have burnt up long ago.

but i had a similar problem with the ground on my sub amp. lift the carpet, get a ring terminal, crimp then solder the ring terminal onto the 8 gauge wire and then sand down the hole that your using, bolt it dont screw it so it wont vibrate loose and use a lock nut. this will help it alot! and 8 gauge is fine for a amp that big. when u break 1k then u need 4. when u get over 1500 u need 1/0 gauge. but it also depends on how long the wire is.
hopefully it will help

 

"very close! but it wont cause it to clip in that sence, it will cause the amp to shut itself off."
Have you never seen an amp shut itself off due to a bad ground? that is a from of clipping, a poor ground can most certainly make an amp clip, this explains the sparks at the ground point, as it made and lost contact it clipped. also as i stated, if he had the amp at an ohm load it could not handle, it would also clip.

you also mentioned using a bolt rather than a screw? i have been installing over 15 years, and have always used a self tapping screw and a star washer, have never had one "vibrate loose" this goes from your every day rattle box to full out mutli thousand watt competition systems. a bolt is definately a good source for grounding, but not necessary to make the extra effort.

you also said that 8 gauge is fine, it indeed will get you by, but 4 gauge will make it an easier task. i explain it like this" if your house is on fire, you can surely use a garden hose(8 ga wire). it will do the job, it may take longer but it will eventually put out the fire, now a fire hose(4 gauge wire) on the other hand would work much better. it is larger in diameter so the water will flow faster with less restriction. power wire is the same, why not open it up and let the current flow? its only going to make your amp happier in the long run.

just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

took the advice and ran a better ground. i found a spot inside the cab, right above the frame, and used a self-tapping screw. Hasnt cut off since then and i havent noticed it grounding out anywhere else lately.

 

if you didnt do so, you may want to put a star washer on the side of the ring terminal between the terminal and the metal. it will help prevent any possible slipping of the screw.