Car Stereos: Power cuts off, alpine stereo, heat dissipation

Question
QUESTION: Justin,
I installed an Alpine Stereo in my boat, also a Sony X-plod 800 watt amp connected to a bazooka tube.  The deck powers four speakers...nothing special.  If I turn it up to a certain point the power cuts off on the deck completely...is this a ground issue or wiring problem or a protection device in the deck...tec.. thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Terry,

This issue almost certainly sounds like overheating and/or safety shut off.  Ensure the speakers are hooked up cleanly with no shorts and are providing enough resistance across the circuit.  A ground or wiring problem isn't impossible, but is unlikely in this particular scenario.  Especially if the deck will happily work consistently at lower volumes.

Justin

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QUESTION: Ok..that's what I thought, if it is a safety shut off, is there a way you know of to adjust it or turn it off...I feel like I can get more volume out of the system, but the deck won't allow it.

Answer
Hi Terry,

It depends on what kind of shutoff it is.  If it's a hard shutoff that basically says, "OK, output has exceeded X watts, shut off now!" then no, there's nothing you can do about it.

However, if it's a thermal cutoff that's being hit as a result of the temperature inside the deck getting too high, you can try all of the obvious ways to get the temperature of the device down: reduce clutter behind it, help with heat dissipation via some sort of fan/heatsink, move other heat generating items away from it, etc.

These sorts of things are usually tough to do anything about, as they're there specifically to protect the hardware from itself, and the manufacturer has decided allowing it to go beyond what it is would result in irrepairable harm to it.

Justin