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MTX Sub Amp Burning Up


TC_2006_VLX

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So this past week I did a family vacation to a very shallow lake in central Iowa. This resulted in me having to jump in the water to push it in to the dock. This left my lovely sister (driver in training) at the wheel while I was getting ready to plunge in. Well one day she thought she turned the boat off, but accidentally turned it to stereo only (I have been guilty of this before as well). This was left one for 4 hours or so on AUX setting with no phone/ipod plugged in to actually play music. I came out later that day to do my general clean up of the boat and i could smell burning plastic. Being the hyper care boat owner i am i went in to instant panic mode and started looking for the source. Turns out my sub amp must have over heated and completely melted. Would this have been from incorrect wiring, amp burning out internally, or something bigger/scarier. Would appreciate any input/guidance on this before installing another amp... could get expensive having to replace them.

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Melted wire at the terminal block usually means poor or loose connection. Resistance causes heat. So no it wasn't really her fault, it was likely a matter of time unless you somehow caught it in the meantime.

The only other cause could be if the amp had an internal issue and was somehow pulling too much amperage through the terminal block. Unlikely at idle, but possible.

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An amp at idle, as in not playing music but powered up, has very little current draw as compared to when playing music. I do not see that in of itself being an issue for 4 hours. Not uncommon to hammer on a system for 6 hours at the party cove. What I can see: 3 turn on leads all twisted together. This is likely a poor connection as its too large for the terminal. Not a high current draw circuit, but there could be a whisker hair contacting the ground cable. What looks like maybe a 8ga ground lead with a crimped terminal of some kind and what looks like a 4ga B+ stripped and inserted directly into the amp. Hopefully 2 things: 1) 8ga is appropriate for that amp, making the 4ga overkill and 2) the B+ is fused at its source.

Id say the amp is toast. Toss it and re-due the cabling. I would suggest a relay or junction point for those 3 turn-on wires. 2 together is ok, but 3 is pushing it.

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Am i able to daisy chain the remote wires together so that its only 2 going into 2 of the amps and 1 going into the last of the chain of amps? There are fuses in the 4 gauge power sources. I can upgrade the negatives to have 4 gauge as well if you see value in that, but they are rated for 8.

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Yes, you can daisy chain

no harm in running larger then needed gauge cable, but not if it wont fit properly into the terminals. Gauge will be determined by the amp's potential draw and length to battery/switch. What the amp manufacturer states is likely based on it going in a car, where the ground can be less then 18".

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I think the MTX Thunder Marines are designed specifically for marine applications, but ill do some more diggin tonight!

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I think the MTX Thunder Marines are designed specifically for marine applications, but ill do some more diggin tonight!

Not referring to the gear, but to the cable gauge rec. MTX makes a whole line of auto gear, so their marketing dept could likely fallow a standard equation for wire gauge, which might be based on how a car is wired. The take away is to do your own calculations.

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What would be my best way to determine if its a copper clad aluminum wire? O btw greatly appreciate all of your guys input!!!

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Dropped the boat off at a pro shop here in Minneapolis for them to give it a once over. They said that everything looks okay (rewired the remote wires), but could you a little organizational cleaning. They inspected the fried amp and said it looked like it faulted out causing the burn out.

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