Hey everyone. I have a 1200 watt California brand amp for my two 10" Alpine type R subs. I've had the Soundsystem for about 12-15 years and don't drive the car every day any more. A year or so ago I'd notice the amp wouldn't turn on sporadically and I attributed that to at first the battery which kept dying (again, I don't drive it much). After a new battery I attributed it to a bad ground. I was driving it recently and it kept turning on and off and so I gave the amp a little tap and it would turn on for about 15 seconds then off after each time I tapped on it. I'm assuming there is a loose connection inside the amp, is this something that I might be able to fix myself? It looks like the cover would come off of it.

Thanks for any help.

 

Depends. Do you have soldering skills and equipment, and experience with component-level electronics repairs? If not, you'd probably best find a qualified technician to troubleshoot/repair the unit for you.

If you decide to go in anyway, be aware that the heavy-gauge cables usually used to power those units are capable of carrying enough current to cause serious damage if you accidentally short something to ground while poking around in there.

 

I have soldering experience and a pretty small amount of component repair experience. And thank you for the reminder on the cable, I'm running 00 gauge wiring. (I was struck by lightning last summer on family vacation, I don't want to be shocked again anytime soon lol). Thank you for the info.

 

Amps have gotten so cheap over the last few years it probably wouldn't even be worth sending to a tech. You'd have more into a repair bill than it's worth. It's rare that you would be able to open the amp up and see something that is easily repairable but there's always a chance. Don't forget that the caps will hold a charge when you're poking around in there.