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amp drawing current when off?


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I had a strange situation where I discovered my kicker amps are drawing current when the boat is completely off. I was unsure until I put a voltmeter and tested it. Both amps are doing this.

My current setup runs both positive battery terminals to the perko switch with one battery's negative going to the block. The other battery's negative runs to the first battery (series). Everytime I get off the water I switch the perko to the off position and key on the ignition to check for power. When nothing comes on (gauges and PP) I am content the switch is off. The ONLY other item going to the batterys are the two amps. One positive (fused and split) and two negative leads. The positive goes to one battery and one negative from each amp goes to a battery (each battery has one negative going to the amp, since terminal space is an issue).

Has anyone dealt with this before? I can understand maybe one amp being faulty but not two! I am by far not an electrical genius, did I set this up incorrectly? I used the circuit testing setting on the voltmeter to see if they were drawing a current (they would only draw current if the circuit was completed correct?)

Thanks for any tips, info.

Matt

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Your batteries are probably equalizing through the amps. You need to make sure the amps are only connected to one battery. Disconnect the negative wires to one battery and see if the ghost voltage goes away.

Edited by JustinOSU
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Matt,

Remove the Positive wire driving your amps from the battery and relocate it to the Perko Switch wiper terminal. I would also recommend connecting a single 6-8 gauge negative wire at the battery and then run that to a common negative bar under the dash. There should already be one there for all the instruments so tie both bars together. Then connect your amp grounds to the new Ground Bus Bar.

diagram01.jpg

Edited by MoonDawg
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What exactly do you mean by drawing? There will allways be 12 volts going to the amps if they are wired directly to the battery. Just because the voltage is connected to the amps doesn't mean they are using it.

Example

If I connect a spare wire to the battery positive post and then connect a volt meter to the wire, it will show 12 volts, that doesn't mean voltage is being used.

Edited by JustinOSU
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.... There will allways be 12 volts going to the amps if they are wired directly to the battery. ....

Example

Bingo! That is why I told him to move the positive wire to the wiper side of the Perko.. As he has it wired it is always on until the batteries are dead.

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Voltage present doesn't mean current being used. If you have a good quality meter turn it to DC amperage, put the positive lead on posistive amp terminal and the negative lead on the posistive power lead so your meter is in series, if no amperage is detected, don't worry about it.

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He could also break and egg and pour it on the Amp. If it cooks then the amp is drawing current. Biggrin.gif

If you scramble it, you could call it a Kicker scramble. Tomato.gif

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Not to confuse the good advice above, but once you correct the battery connection make sure your signal wire is connected to the head unit so the amps only power up when the head unit does.

Peter

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Everything is pretty much the way I have always installed amps before (except the two battery setup). This is the first time I have ever seen amps actually draw a current when turned off. I am thinking that it may have something to do with what Justin said. The batteries are equalizing through the amps. I am hoping that hooking both grounds to one battery may fix the issue.

I did run a ground lead from the battery, around the bow to the ground bar on the driver's side, just as a precaution for a good grounded electrical system.

I am thinking that I will run the positive off the perko switch with the positive lead to the starter and run both negatives to one battery. This should eliminate any issues, since there is nothing else hooked up to the batteries.

We will see what happens.

Thanks again for the reply's.

One other quick question: I blew one of my amps pretty bad and it started smoking. I am sure that if I could find a way to put the smoke back into the amp it would work, any suggestions?

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Everything is pretty much the way I have always installed amps before (except the two battery setup). This is the first time I have ever seen amps actually draw a current when turned off. I am thinking that it may have something to do with what Justin said. The batteries are equalizing through the amps. I am hoping that hooking both grounds to one battery may fix the issue.

I did run a ground lead from the battery, around the bow to the ground bar on the driver's side, just as a precaution for a good grounded electrical system.

I am thinking that I will run the positive off the perko switch with the positive lead to the starter and run both negatives to one battery. This should eliminate any issues, since there is nothing else hooked up to the batteries.

We will see what happens.

Thanks again for the reply's.

One other quick question: I blew one of my amps pretty bad and it started smoking. I am sure that if I could find a way to put the smoke back into the amp it would work, any suggestions?

There is a way to do it but, you must collect the escaping smoke from the onset.

Edited by LS-One
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One other quick question: I blew one of my amps pretty bad and it started smoking. I am sure that if I could find a way to put the smoke back into the amp it would work, any suggestions?

u might try that 'liquid smoke'...fire some of it off in where you saw the smoke come out...should be go0d as new ;)

-krak

o...and this is #200 *spank* ;)

Edited by krakdaddie
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