P700 Electrical Question (Stereo cuts out)

[sek-hunter]

I recently purchased a 24" Bazooka Party Bar for my 700. It is rated at 450 watts. I mounted the party bar overhead on the ROPS near the back window. The bar came with a hot and ground that was 14 guage awg and about 5 feet long. I hooked to the battery to see how it sounded and noticed at full volume or near full volume, the sound would cut out (kinda like a CD skip). Especially when a little bass kicked in. I went ahead and ran my wiring by extending the ground straight to the battery. I then ran a fused 14 guage wire from the positive side to a switch in the dash and from the switch back under the seat up the rear of the passenger ROPS to the speaker. So the 'hot' wire is now getting some length to it. Now, the speaker bar cuts out at about 3/4 volume and sometimes less than that.

I would probably never need the thing turned up all the way, but I want it to work like it is supposed to. How do I fix this problem? I checked the voltage at the battery last night and was getting a steady 12.4 with the key off while the stereo was playing with the lights on the speaker bar on and the rock lights on. There was no change to the voltage when the speaker cut out.

1. Shorten the ground wire? If so, how short and can I ground it to the ROPS?
2. Re wire the whole deal with heavier wire even thought the wire going into the speaker bar is still gonna be 14 guage. If so, what size should I go with to ensure that I am getting all the current than I need?

Thanks in advance for anyone who could lead me in the right direction. I am trying to avoid a long series of calls to customer service with some dude who reads me ideas of things to try out of a trouble shooting manual.

 

[Admin]

 

[Neohio]

Quick and dirty way to see if your power wires are too small....
Grab a set of jumper cables. hook directly to battery and the 14ga from the sound bar. If you crank it and it still cuts out, power is not your problem. If it solved the issue, run a 10 gauge wire to the sound bar and call it good.

Not being familiar with this radio, does it have a signal wire to turn it on? Running your main power thru a cheap switch might be your issue as well. If just two wires, Use the switch to trip a relay to give power to the soundbar.

 

[Tramguage1]

Mine does the same, I will try the jumper cable trick and find out if that helps.

 

[Plumber32]

Some of those soundbars have a voltage cut out. To save the battery for starting. Might be drawing to much.

 

[WildTurkey]

450 watts equals about 37 amps of current. (450 watts divided by 12 volts) Suggestions above are great for diagnosing the problem. To run any length of wire at that current you are in the 10 gauge and larger wire size.

For reference:
Part 1: Choosing the Correct Wire Size for a DC Circuit - Blue Sea Systems

 

[junior1954]

37 amps may be enough to overcome the 35 amp alternator even with sufficient cabling, though I agree that's the place to start. If voltage/amperage is less than demanded the amp cuts out. They actually make a capacitor discharge system that may correct your problem if larger power cables don't, storing power for heavy demand (loud bass beats).

 

[sek-hunter]

Problem solved... ran two 8 gauge wires last night from the battery to the speaker. I can now turn the speaker to full volume and my phone to max volume and the music doesn’t cut out at all. Glad we got that lined out. I was gonna be upset if I bought a half price sound-bar because you had to play it at half volume.

I’m gonna leave my switch wired to the dash and run it to a relay under the seat to send power to the speaker.

I found this sound bar at my local audio shop for $299. For that price it is a phenomenal speaker. I am very happy with it. I’m sure that it isn’t the sound or quality of the higher priced stuff, but it is plenty loud and sounds good! Beats the little JBL Flip I e been carrying around for two years!

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