Car Stereo Amp LIVES again!

[AutobahnSHO]

So the Dead Subaru lives.
Except for the bass.

I bought the amp in 2005. Cheap wiring kit at Radioshack was $50. Included RCA wires, remote wire, and looks like 8 or 4gage wire for the power with a fuse holder and a 30amp regular car fuse. (called mini blade.)


I have had exactly one blown fuse in all that time, and I was running it loud and long in heat.
Until Wednesday, when the alternator and battery crapped out at the same time. Somehow the amp was pulling so much juice that it fried the fuse holder into a big mess of plastic and metal, I pulled the fuse remains out (and can post a picture tomorrow) but the fuse holder is a no go. It is warped so bad a fuse won't fit into there anymore.

So I go looking for a new fuse holder. No luck except at bestbuy, where they want THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS for a fuse holder and TEN BUCKS for a fuse or two. We're talking fancy-looking crap and it's either 200amp or 400amp fuses. The guy totally doesn't believe that I had a 30amp fuse for the amp.
(It's a 1200watt max, I'll have to look up the RMS.) I ran 2 speakers for a long time, now it's just pushing one 12" speaker.

WHAT the FRACK!.!.!

I'm ready to go with a 50amp fusible link. It'll be more hassle to put in and take out, but I really wanted to be able to pop the fuse out instead of unbolting the power cable whenever I plan on disconnecting the amp... (Since the speaker/amp sit in my cargo area occasionally I have to remove it.)





(fuse holder in question is a few inches away from the battery.)

Any opinions?? Suggestions??

[AutobahnSHO]

UDPATE:

Fixed, to the tune of $15. "Digital City" (formerly known as Circuit City) had the stuff I needed for cheap. Surprisingly enough, Radioshack no longer sells car audio components.    ?!

Old fuseholder



Note that those two metal female slots should be in line with each other.

Here's the shiny new fuse holder:



Old Fuse




Shiny new alternator

[BimmerM3]

Just out of curiosity, what's the model number on your amp?

[AutobahnSHO]

Sony XM-2200GTX.

I paid $200 on ebay for the amp, 2 speakers, and box.

A few months ago the box and 1 speaker went to Goodwill.    I needed more room in teh sUb13.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

There is no way that 30 amp fuse should have been wired like that. You're lucky the Whole power cable didn't catch fire. But good job on the new hook up. 

[BimmerM3]

There is no way that 30 amp fuse should have been wired like that. You're lucky the Whole power cable didn't catch fire. But good job on the new hook up.  

Haha yeah. I just looked up his model of amp and it's rated to drain 48A of current. It says somewhere else in the instructions that it should have an 80A fuse.

[AutobahnSHO]

Only popped one fuse since I bought it in 2005.    
The kit was a radioshack $35job for a "300-500watt amp".

I've never looked at the manual, is my 8gage wiring enough?  

And the new fuse is 60amps- I figure it's better to go too small than too big. The point of a fuse is to burn out if there are issues to protect the equipment. (Plus I wanted sound NOW and that's all they had.)

I WAS lucky with My Burnout- it was an odd fluke because the alternator and battery were giving an incorrect voltage out, the amp was pulling what it could, which heated up the fuse holder. Still don't know why the fuse didn't pop first, but whatever.
The car was still running but it was all kinds of wacky from the electronics and the stereo..

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Only popped one fuse since I bought it in 2005.   
The kit was a radioshack $35job for a "300-500watt amp".

I've never looked at the manual, is my 8gage wiring enough?   

And the new fuse is 60amps- I figure it's better to go too small than too big. The point of a fuse is to burn out if there are issues to protect the equipment. (Plus I wanted sound NOW and that's all they had.)

I WAS lucky with My Burnout- it was an odd fluke because the alternator and battery were giving an incorrect voltage out, the amp was pulling what it could, which heated up the fuse holder. Still don't know why the fuse didn't pop first, but whatever.
The car was still running but it was all kinds of wacky from the electronics and the stereo..

Yeah 60 should be good. At least the connectors ON the amp didn't melt like that! I had that happen on an Alpine amp and a "El Cheapo" Pyramid amp.

[BimmerM3]

Only popped one fuse since I bought it in 2005.   
The kit was a radioshack $35job for a "300-500watt amp".

I've never looked at the manual, is my 8gage wiring enough?   

And the new fuse is 60amps- I figure it's better to go too small than too big. The point of a fuse is to burn out if there are issues to protect the equipment. (Plus I wanted sound NOW and that's all they had.)

I WAS lucky with My Burnout- it was an odd fluke because the alternator and battery were giving an incorrect voltage out, the amp was pulling what it could, which heated up the fuse holder. Still don't know why the fuse didn't pop first, but whatever.
The car was still running but it was all kinds of wacky from the electronics and the stereo..

"Make sure that the wires to be connected to the +12V and GND terminals o this unit are at least 4-Gauge (AWG-4) or have a sectional area of more than 22.0mm^2 (7/8 in.^2)."

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/XM2200GTX.pdf

All the stuff about the power supply is in the bottom left of the second page.

[AutobahnSHO]

"Make sure that the wires to be connected to the +12V and GND terminals o this unit are at least 4-Gauge (AWG-4) or have a sectional area of more than 22.0mm^2 (7/8 in.^2)."

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/XM2200GTX.pdf

All the stuff about the power supply is in the bottom left of the second page.

Thanks sir. I'm such a lazy bum.

[BimmerM3]

Thanks sir. I'm such a lazy bum.

No problem. From my car stereo experience, it really seemed like an amp that powerful was going to pull more than 30A of current at high loads, so I was curious to see what Sony recommended for it.

Dammit, now I'm missing my system again. If I remember correctly, the sub amp was fused at 60A and the 4-channel was fused at 50A. Since I just ran one power cable and used a power block, I had to get a 120A fuse/holder, which was surprisingly difficult to find at the time. For some reason, I don't think I checked Best Buy though.

[AutobahnSHO]

No problem. From my car stereo experience, it really seemed like an amp that powerful was going to pull more than 30A of current at high loads, so I was curious to see what Sony recommended for it.

I don't really turn it up that much. Correction: DIDN'T turn it up that much. I used to drive about 4miles to work, topspeed was 35mph, and in the middle was a guard checkpoint. Couldn't really blast it or I'd get in some Army trouble.   I had the amp turned down fairly low and the stereo too.

Now I'm driving about 10-15min. on the 70mph interstate, and I have almost turned the radio up as high as it will go. I might actually fiddle with turning the amp up a little but I dont' want BOOM while I'm in my neighborhood (that's so obnoxious to hear someone drive by when you are INSIDE your house.)

Your setup looked really clean. Were both amps for the sub, or for door speakers?

[BimmerM3]

Your setup looked really clean. Were both amps for the sub, or for door speakers?

The sub-box was purchased from Best Buy (while my brother worked there - I got a ridiculous discount on the sub/box/amp combo), but I hand built the amp rack. Because of how well it fit in the trunk, it really was one of my prouder accomplishments, and the fact that the rack was stolen almost meant more than the equipment.

But anyway, if I remember correctly, the amp on top was a 4-channel for the interior speakers, and the bottom was a mono for the sub. Either that or just switch top and bottom, because that's how I had it set up.

When it all got stolen, State Farm put the replacement cost right around $1500. That made up the two amps, the sub, box, and rack, and all the destroyed wiring that they cut out. I actually don't think my stolen iPod was included in that, so it would have even been higher.