Wtf!!!!?????

[Protege01MP3]

GOD DAMNIT!! IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!! for some reason (this is the second time its happened) i keep burning fuse housings...

I have my amp/subs wired up to the battery w/ a capacitor in between... its umm.. (didnt do it myself) i THINK 4 guage... dont remember gotta look again... but anyway... heres the lineup

batter --> some wire --> "in line" fuse ---> some more wire --> capacitor --> more wire --> amp --> speaker wire --> JL 12's...


ok.. for those that dont know.. the inline fuse is a regular "tubular" fuse (or whatever they are called) not one of those little square insert fuses..... so its a "tube" fuse, that is inside a plastic housing, with metal connectors on either end that touch the fuse... the wiring is inserted into these connectors to make contact with the fuse... now... for some reason, my fuse housing keeps melting... ive replaced one, then gone through about 25 fuses, and now the second housing melted on me!! WTF!!

I know its because I'm pulling too much power and its overheating the fuse housing.. but what can I do about this?? I've tried different power rated fuses and tried rewiring it so the connections are cleaner... but nothing seems to work... at first I had one of those fuses that... rather than a thin strip of metal in between it is a FAT ASS "I" shaped piece of metal that WILL NOT blow like a normal fuse is supposed to... you could transfer mass voltage through it and it wouldn't blow.. i figured that was the reason that the housing kept melting... the fuse wouldn't blow, so therefore it got too hot... so i tried putting in regular fuses... mixed and matched and blew a few untill I found a good power rating that seemed to work well... would blow if it got too much power, but still would work well enough to where it wouldnt blow every 5 min...

It took me a while to find the right size fuse for the power... I dont remember what I have in there right now... but I know I tried NUMEROUS power ratings.. some lasted a day, some an hour, and some didnt even make it through one song...

so... now after all that... and after thinking i had the problem worked out... I popped my hood the other day, and BAM! theres a MELTED TO ALL HELL fuse housing... and i didnt even notice, because the fuse still hasn't blown, and its still working.. just looks fuct...

I'm pushing ALOT of power.. ok maybe not THAT much.. but ALOT... the two 12's are powered independently by a 1200 watt amp.... so thats a decent amnt of power.... I mean.. i've set off alarms that were a little over a half city block away with em... dont even get me started in parking structures (laugh)


so anyway... anyone have any clue on how to beat this problem?? any suggestions would be good

 

[Protege01MP3]

oh yah.. just so were all clear on what im talking about.. here is a pic... i found it on this site in a thread somewhere.. its NOT my car... but its the same type and placement of the fuse....

see the air filter?? look about a half inch to the right of that.. the clearish/reddish plasticy lookin thingy thing is what im speakin bouts to y'allz knee-grows so.. any ideas would be great

thx guyz

 

[KYREDP5]

Are you sure it's not the heat from the engine doing this?

 

[Protege01MP3]

mmmmmmmmm... yah.. pretty sure... because the way it melts... its not like.. its just melting... it seems like its getting hot from the inside and kinda melting its way out... it doesnt look like the plastic is just melting away like an ice cream cone... the fuse inside looks like it is getting hot and forcing its way out of the plastic.. although.. it COULD be the engine heat... but i dont think the plastic is any less heat resistant than the plastic sheath around the wiring or the plastic that the fuse box is made of or even the wire looms... so im pretty sure its the fuse getting hot itself

 

[KYREDP5]

Could it just be the quality of the fuse holder your using? I had a cheap one I used for my fond on the 'ol Probe that would melt just because it was a little $.98 radio shack one. Also is it possible you have a small short anywhere. I once had one single thread of a wire cause a short in my system and it was a b**** to find. Might check that out. What size fuses have you blown/not blown? And what size melted it?

 

[Protege01MP3]

well.. the first one was kinda cheap... but the second fuse housing was like a 12.00 high quality one.. lol.. cant remember brand name... and i'll have to go check to refresh my memory on what size fuses ive tried... and no.. i havent gone through and checked all the wiring.. however, this spring I'm gonna rewire the whole system... a bad little shop did it for me before i knew my s*** about mobile audio/video well enough to do it myself... luckily, in the past year i've installed a few systems with friends at their shop.. so i know what im doing now...

im gonna rewire the ENTIRE thing.. rip everything out and put it all back in how I want it...

I'll check up today on the size fuse in there... and the brand name of the plastic housing...

thx for the suggestions

 

[chitownmp3]

Time to start thinking about a circiut breaker and lose the fuse!

 

[Rider69]

let's get a little more info from you about the setup:

1. What model number is the amp?
2. What gauge power wire?
3. What Fuse rating?
4. Running the amp in stereo or bridged mode?
5. How many ohms is the amp seeing?

If you are pulling the full 1200W out of the amp, I would think that you would probably be pulling at least 60A and possibly higher. A single 4 gauge wire might not be enough for the current it is drawing. Might want to consider going with 1/0 gauge wire.

If you get us this info, it will be a little easier in figuring out what the root problem is.

 

[1sty]

Get me an up close look picture of that fuse holder.
Also I need the model number of the amps.

I f your amps are each capable of over 1200 watts rms output then you are drawing, even at the bulls*** 80% efficiency, pulling over 200 amps at 14.4 volts.

4 GUAGE CAN'T EXCEED 100 amps.
You need to run 1/0 power and ground cables. The fuse should be a 200 amp 12 volt fuse the holder will be around $30, each fuse is $11.

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/STISANLFH0W

Basicly the fuse and the entire wire is presenting a bajesus of resistance since its current ablilities are being exceeded. Also for this much juice will require a bigger alternator.

This all depends on those amps. I need the model number.
In any case if the fuse is heating then it is presenting a resistance to the circuit, there is no other possiblity. Either you have alot of crap on the ends of the fuse holder or the wires current potential is being exceeded. If an ohm meter reads zero across the fuse holder then it is physicaly OK. You may want to check out www.mobileaudio.com for the wire guage chart.

Please get those pictures to me, also any of the amps, wiring and especialy the ground wires and ground point would be very helpful.

 

[1sty]

power = volts*amps

1200 = 14.4*x
x=1200/14.4
x=83.3 amps
Ultimate lists a 80% effiecency so the actual draw would be 103 per amplifier.

 

[Protege01MP3]

ok.. off the top of my head... dont know the model number of the amp...

i'm pretty damn sure that the fuse I'm using is 60A... I only have 1 amp.. not 2

the amp is bridged and ONLY powering the 2 12s

pretty sure the power wire is 4 guage

and i dont know how many ohms the amp is pulling

 

[1sty]

amplifiers pull amps not ohms.

A single amplifier capable of 1200 watts rms needs a 100 amp fuse not 60.

Check that fuse holder with an ohm meter, with the system off, and make sure its not dropping and voltage across the fuse holder or fuse.

 

[Protege01MP3]

also... i seem to get different "power levels" from different fuses.. i dont remember what fuses gave me what but i do remember trying the diff fuses..

when i had that one fuse in.. that would not blow for anything... i had power... but i had to pump up the sub volume on my alpine to about 12 for good bass... now.. w/ the other fuse i noticed that the subs hit harder when the sub volume on the alpine is at 0 than they did at 12 before... im assuming thats because the fuse i have in there transfers more power than the previous one?? and i do remember slightly diff levels when trying all the other fuses too

 

[1sty]

No fuse will transfer power better then another. No will a fuse holder.

You have a wiring problem. It is resulting in an impedace across the fuse or holder. I would suggest taking apart the sude holder and reattaching everything. It could be as simple as something, either wire , fuse holder or fuse has some grease or oil on it.

 

[Protege01MP3]

i already tried re wiring a couple times.. then i rewired again when i got the new fuses and housing.... didnt rewire the whole system.. but just that little section with the housing and fuse

i dont think im gonna get much help untill i have time this weekend to go through everything and get you guys specs... I'm also gonna have my friend at Xtreme look at it since he's gonna do my custom box anyway... keep the suggestions comin though

 

[1sty]

Wheres your ground, did you remove the paint and what guage is the ground wire.

Up to an 80 amp fuse.

 

[Protege01MP3]

like i said.. imma have to go through everything this weekend..

work 8-5
school 5-10

EVERY GOD DAMN DAY!!!

so i dont have any free time

i'll keep you guys posted though