Can't seem to trace the root of my problem. Maybe somebody can point me in the right direction? First I'll detail the specs of what's running in my car, and then I'll give an overview of my wiring to hopefully rule that out as a source of the problem.
So if you want to skip to the meat of this thread and find my problem - scroll down some
Setup Specs:
Orion 4004
---- 50x4 @ 4 Ohm Stereo
---- 100x4 @ 2 Ohm Stereo
Orion 3002
---- 75x2 @ 4 Ohm Stereo
---- 150x2 @ 2 Ohm Stereo
2 x Eclipse SE8363 6.5's [Front]
---- 40W RMS / 70W Max
2 x Eclipse SE8493 6x9's [Rear]
---- 75W RMS / 150W Max
Kenwood Excelon KDC-X589
---- 3x4v Preamp Outputs
(Subs coming soon...)
My Wiring:
I'm running a Directed Audio 2-amp wiring kit, 4 Gauge power wire off battery to a fuse block 1 ft away, then run all along the length of the car to another fused distribution block in the back. From that distribution block it goes to an 8 gauge power wire to the amp. 4 Gauge ground wire from the [-] terminal on the battery to a part of the chassis 1ft away, secured firmly with a bolt. Ground wire from amp is 8 Gauge, 1.5ft cable, also firmly secured with a bolt into the chassis. Filed away paint on the chassis and got to bare metal on both grounds. My RCA cables from the head unit are run on the opposite side of the car than where I ran the power wire. Ummm... speakers are now running on either 14 or 16 Gauge wire, not sure which it is - but its not the flimsy cheap stock crap that comes in the car.
The Problem:
Just bout two new amps, an Orion 4004 and Orion 3002. I had the 4 Channel one hooked up to my speakers, and if I ran it for more than 40 mins it would simply stop giving me any output on my speakers, and after about 3 mins it would come back on. Then after playing for another 10 mins, it'd cut off again. Repeat process of cooling for 3 mins... play another 10. Etc, Etc, Etc. The amp is mounted in the trunk of my car, nothing is sitting on top of it or piled around it that would be causing it to heat up and get so hot. And when I say hot, I mean if I touch it for more than a second it would burn me. I'm guessing that temperature would be about 190 degrees F... considering the "Troubleshooting Tips" in the install book for the amp says thermal protection engages when amp heatsink temp exceeds 190. And their solution to this problem is make sure the amp has plenty of room to breathe... which if you ask me, it does.
I just bought these recently, so I went back to the place I bought them and asked why it was doing that - they didn't seem to give too much help. They put a multimeter up to the connections to make sure I didn't have a short on any of my speaker wiring or anything like that, and it all was ok. They recommended me shortening my ground wire from the amp (it was about 5ft). So, I shortened it to 1.5-2ft, and they said if that didn't fix it, then we'd send it off to Orion. Shortened the ground wire, still got the same problem. So we boxed it back up and sent it to Orion two days ago.
Because this left me audio-less in my car for the time being, I decided that I could just throw my 2 Channel 300W amp in there, and use it to just power my rear speakers so I'd at least have some music. So, I took it out of the box, put 'er in the trunk, hooked up the cables, and yay I got me music again. So today I was like well... it feels kind of hot after running for about 20 mins - I wonder if it'll do the same thing the other amp was doing. Sure enough, after about an hour it cut out and was burning hot.
Now, I've searched a few different forums and noticed that most similar problems are related to crappy amps which run extremely hot and cut out, or trying to power a lower impedance than the amps are rated (usually those posts are more related to subs, and people not having problems with their amps just powering their front/rear speakers...) But - I dont think either of these problems are what I am running into. So - if anybody has any ideas, please, throw them at me.