Volt Meters

[KREGER]

I am thinking about putting a dash mounted Auto Meter digital Volt meter in the boat to know when to shut the system down for low conditions. Does anybody use one to see how the system is doing for Voltage while playing with the engine off? Thanks

[Sotally Tober]

I just use my GPS/Fishfinder which is on when the key is in any position other than Off. It has a voltage read out. Has worked well for me.
Didn't you get a genny?

[KREGER]

Nice Powel Sig!! I never got a Genny. I did get an APS 75 to charge it in the evenings. I get 3 hours of comfortable level listining time with 2 - 2150's. For now it works for me.
I do still have an issue with what appears to be a voltage dropout. When I turn the volume up to a certain level, the amps pop off and then back on again like the battereis are running low. It does this even with a fresh "smart charge" on the batteries and the AMPs - cold. I am going to take out a volt meter to AZ tonight and see what the voltage is at the amps when this happens. :)

[h2oski2fast]

Nice Powel Sig!! I never got a Genny. I did get an APS 75 to charge it in the evenings. I get 3 hours of comfortable level listining time with 2 - 2150's. For now it works for me.
I do still have an issue with what appears to be a voltage dropout. When I turn the volume up to a certain level, the amps pop off and then back on again like the battereis are running low. It does this even with a fresh "smart charge" on the batteries and the AMPs - cold. I am going to take out a volt meter to AZ tonight and see what the voltage is at the amps when this happens. :)
Insufficient power wire or a bad connection somewhere.

[KREGER]

h2oski2fast
I have a 2 Ga. Ground wire from the batteries going about 15" to a 1 " wide flat steel bar accross the back of the amps underneath the cover. The 2-PPI 1500.1's have 2-4 Ga. wires each bolted on to this bar and the 2-PPI 600.4's each have one 4 Ga. Wire bolted on to this bar. These wires are about 6" long from the amps to the steel bar.
I am wondering if just running the 4 Ga. Wire (about 24"-30" each) from each amp to the battery terminal would be better.
For the power side I have about 12" of 4 Ga comming out of each amp to a 4 to 1 fuse block. Then there is 2 Ga. at about 20" long, going to the batteries. I am starting to think that mounting the fuse block about 6" from the batteries would help. In this picture, the batteries were not in yet. The 2 2150's have been installed on the far left in the corner. This seems like a serious amount of wire, so I will measure the voltage before and after all of the connections to see where it falls off.
http://usera.imagecave.com/kreger/DSC02392-copy.jpg

[h2oski2fast]

You really need to measure amperage, not voltage. You are pulling a lot of amps through that wire, even though it is a short run, I'd recommend stepping up to 1/O power and ground wire (instead of the 2g). Another thing to consider: Are all the amps shutting down at the same time? If so, you might want to take a look at the wiring for the head unit. Do you have a relay on the "turn-on" lead from the radio? If you can try and isolate the head unit power from the amp power.

[KREGER]

You really need to measure amperage, not voltage. You are pulling a lot of amps through that wire, even though it is a short run, I'd recommend stepping up to 1/O power and ground wire (instead of the 2g). Another thing to consider: Are all the amps shutting down at the same time? If so, you might want to take a look at the wiring for the head unit. Do you have a relay on the "turn-on" lead from the radio? If you can try and isolate the head unit power from the amp power.
Good Stuff. :) It does shut down at the same time. I do have the head unit powered by the AMP batteries. Should I run the head unit off the engine battery? Thanks Check your PM

[Cat & Mice]

You could use something like this.
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2634
Can turn it on and off and is much cheaper then a full gauge.
MP

[Sotally Tober]

How many total watts are you running? I ran 1/0 for a total of 2500W. 2-4 G sounds small for all those amps. I'm running 3 trojans which will last me a weekend. I'm using the same APS as a charger. Works great. Figure Ill use the genny on the houseboat for my week at Powell which is just next month.

[KREGER]

The total Watts now would be about 3600.
Here is what I figured out.
I have all the inputs going into this AMP that is shutting down. I wired it 2 Ohms mono which I figured out later it could be only 4 Ohms Mono. The light turns on at the protection circuit when this happens. When this AMP cuts out, they all lost their signal and blip all at the same time. I have since wired it 4 Ohms and get much higher volumes now.
Thansk for the Call friday h2oski2fast. I made the changes you suggested.