Cutting out problem - help Mike!

[Jetter]

I have an older Alpine head unit in my 08 Z1. It is connected to 5 JBL amps which power 8 wetsounds in boat speakers, 4 rev 8s on the tower and 3 subs. I have 4 batteries on boat to help power the system when boat is not running.

I am having issues with the amp bank cutting out. There is a relay attached to the lead from the head unit designed to turn on external amps. When the system cuts out the relay just keeps clicking on and off and won't stay "on". Problem is intermittent and I'm pretty certain it's not a power supply problem although it will first cut out at louder volumes with heavy demands for subs.

Any ideas from the stereo gurus out there?

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[freeheel4life]

Relay chatter is typically low voltage to the coil. Poor ground for the coil. Or a bad coil in the relay.

Never seen a relay on a remote turn on but with 5 amps to turn on it makes sense to use a low amperage circuit to turn on a higher amperage circuit (the point of a relay).
Is the display on the head unit cutting out when the issue shows up??

[chpthril]

^^^^^ agreed on the relay.

I would get one one of the inexpensive digital volt meters and wire it to your house bank. You can get round, you even get rectangle that fit a typical carling switch cut out.

1) you want to make sure the bank gets recharged when you come off the lake, not later. Low batteries sitting is not good. 2) make sure they are fully charged prior to leaving the dock. Are your amps wired direct to the house bank or through a manual battery switch? 3) monitor the voltage meter through the day and see what the level is when you start to have the issue.

Once you start to have the issue. power down, pull the RCAs from one or two of your woofer amps and go back to playing. I bet the issue will go away for a little longer.

Really sounds voltage.

Now, this all presumes there are no bad connections causing a voltage drop to the head, amps or relay coil.

[Jetter]

Thanks. Yes the head unit turns off completely when it cuts out. I'm going to snap some photos of the setup. I may have to have you guys explain what to test in more layman's terms for me. I'll repost once I get home and am able to test more.

Relay chatter is typically low voltage to the coil. Poor ground for the coil. Or a bad coil in the relay.

Never seen a relay on a remote turn on but with 5 amps to turn on it makes sense to use a low amperage circuit to turn on a higher amperage circuit (the point of a relay).
Is the display on the head unit cutting out when the issue shows up??

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[freeheel4life]

I think Mike is spot in. This sounds like a low voltage issue

[Jetter]

I had put the multi meter on it when it was cutting out and was getting 11.7 volts. I see now after rest it is 12.7-12.8. Can 1 volt be the cause? I am purchasing a battery tester today and will be testing all of them individually.

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[chpthril]

If the head unit is powering off, I would want to watch the voltage at or as close to, the head as I can. This would be using both the head units black GND and yellow B+ first. Then monitor the red turn-on. You would then need to know the head units voltage threshold. Yes, 11.7 can be the cause. Many electronics like this, dont like below 12V. Simple things like blow motors and bilge pumps dont care, they just run slower as the voltage drops.

[Jetter]

After load testing the 3 batteries that are connected in parallel one of them tested good and the other tested poor. I am replacing them this afternoon. Will report back if problem is rectified.

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[chpthril]

What was their static voltage prior to a load test? What kind of tester was used?

[Jetter]

Not sure what you mean by static voltage. I pulled the battery connections and tested it with 100A battery load tester. It showed ok when you first attach it but as soon as load is applied it tested very poorly. Both of them tested that way. I took them to a battery shop and they confirmed they are no longer good.

[chpthril]

at rest, no load. and not recently charged. Unless you used an electronic conductance tester, a battery has to be fully charged first, before a traditional toaster grid load tester can be used. You also make sure that the tester, which ever type, is going to give you a pass or fail result, that is based on the battery type. If testing deep cycle, you have to know if it has published CA's.

[Jetter]

I have replaced the two batteries and so far the problem is resolved. Will post if something changes. Thanks for the help to those who replied!