I recently got an amp from ARC, a Vibe Slick a4, to power my 10" Vibe slick sub and SA50 components in the doors.
The amp's situated under the driver's seat. I wired everything up nice and neat, with power direct from the battery, running down the LHS of the cabin, and quality RCAs down the RHS. The amplifier earth is attached to one of the bolts holding the driver's seat in, and I sanded the contact down to bare metal. Power and earth wires are both 8-gauge. I haven't run the wires for the components yet, so the amp is set to 2-channel mode and is bridged to power the sub. I've checked all the connections with my multimeter and all are sound.I also have a cheap 2 x 100W amp from Maplins just as a backup/tester amp.
The problem I have is that the Vibe amp will only ever work once after being wired in
- and it works absolutely fine - but after I turn the car off and try again it always goes straight to protect mode. Unconnecting everything except +12v/gnd/rem still leaves the amp in protect mode on starting the car. If I disconnect the amp and take it out of the car for a while (maybe 4-5 hours) then reconnect it, then it works fine again until I turn the car off, etc. etc. etc. Placing the amp in 2- or 4-channel mode makes no difference to this. Neither does leaving the amp wired in and letting it cool down for 4-5 hours - it has to come out before it works again.I was wondering whether my wiring might be dodgy, and so connected my little backup amp instead, again bridged and powering the sub, and this works fine every time.
I'm flummoxed, and would really appreciate any suggestions.
Cheers
