Help with Alumapro cap and Stinger relay! Pleeez.

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:01 am

The problem that I'm having is that after I shut off my car I get a random pulse sound out of my speakers... like the sound you get when you connect a small battery to a speaker terminal to check polarity. It seems to cycle the sound for maybe a minute after the car is off. Also my amps are always on even when I turn off the power on the deck. They do however shut off when I turn off the car. But then I get the sound after shutting off the car. This is a little frustrating. I think it has to do with the Alumapro cap and the isolator. Maybe I hooked it up wrong.

I ran 1/0 from the battery to one terminal then the same out to the alumapro cap. grrr, this is a little frustrating. What do you think?

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:00 am

Have you metered your Remote in on the amps to see if you have 12v even when the radio is off? I'm assuming you have used the Remote turn on from the deck?? Can you take a cople of pics of the cap and solenoid? Maybe of the amp terminals as well? I'll try to help as much as I can.. pics would help.

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 4:25 am

shawn k wrote:Have you metered your Remote in on the amps to see if you have 12v even when the radio is off? I'm assuming you have used the Remote turn on from the deck?? Can you take a cople of pics of the cap and solenoid? Maybe of the amp terminals as well? I'll try to help as much as I can.. pics would help.

Hi Shawn, Thanks for the feedback. After looking and listening I see that the amp's power lights come on and go off 3-4 times before it finally shuts down. I dont have any pics yet. im going to take back out my seat today then I'll take a few. I'd like to get this fixed since I'm pretty much done with my install.

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:11 am

does the sound come out of all the speakers, subs included?

Have you tried disconnecting anything not necessary to see if removing it helps?

Did you upgrade your factory power wires?

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:25 am

ttocs wrote:does the sound come out of all the speakers, subs included?

Have you tried disconnecting anything not necessary to see if removing it helps?

Did you upgrade your factory power wires?

I upgraded to the big 3 but dodnt do it completely. maybe that could be the issue. i ran 1/0 from battery positive to alternator, from battery ground to chassis. and yes, the sound comes out of my speakers... not sure if its coming from the subs. its a sort of popping sound like the sound of a mic getting tapped. I will look at it after breakfast then post. Thanks!

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:44 am

With the amp going on and off like that would explain why you are getting the popping sounds. Were you having this problem before you installed the big cap?

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:04 am

shawn k wrote:With the amp going on and off like that would explain why you are getting the popping sounds. Were you having this problem before you installed the big cap?

No, I wasn't having the problem before installing the cap. i think i may have installed it incorrectly. i will post some close up shots in the next hour. thanks for your help.

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:19 am

not sure how you would do a cap wrong and end up with anything less then a smoke show or nothing.......... Try disconnecting the cap just to see if it goes away.

Post by **Eric D** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 10:26 am

A friend of mine had these same issues with his alumapro cap installation.

I have not seen the installation on one of these, nor have I done an installation on one of these, but I have some guesses as to what could be going on.

I believe a remote line from your deck goes to the amps and to the cap to kick its relay over. If the relay is installed wrong it may be keeping the remote line energized while the cap discharges. This could make your amps come on and off a few times after you shut everything off.

If you have a multimeter, you should measure the rem input on the amps and then turn the stereo off to see what happens. It should go to less than a few volts and stay there. If it bounces back up, then you have some idea where the problem is. You should also measure the 12V in on the amps. They should stay at 12V all the time unless the car is running then it will jump up a few volts.

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:09 am

Eric D wrote:A friend of mine had these same issues with his alumapro cap installation.

I have not seen the installation on one of these, nor have I done an installation on one of these, but I have some guesses as to what could be going on.

I believe a remote line from your deck goes to the amps and to the cap to kick its relay over. If the relay is installed wrong it may be keeping the remote line energized while the cap discharges. This could make your amps come on and off a few times after you shut everything off.

If you have a multimeter, you should measure the rem input on the amps and then turn the stereo off to see what happens. It should go to less than a few volts and stay there. If it bounces back up, then you have some idea where the problem is. You should also measure the 12V in on the amps. They should stay at 12V all the time unless the car is running then it will jump up a few volts.

This is exactly what I was thinking as well. Which is why I'm hoping to see some pics

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:43 pm

Here are a few pics... It doesn't really show much but it gives you the basic layout. This is with my back seat removed. there are two terminals for the 1/0 gauge and two smaller silver terminals. on one side I have the remote from my head unit coming in... I ran a wire from the second silver terminal out to the middle termination on the Alumapro cap. I'm going to check the voltage on the remote wire in the morning. Maybe I didn't hook it up right? hmm.

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:44 am

Can't see it all, but I can tell right away you are missing a couple connections. This should help

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:55 am

shawn k wrote:Can't see it all, but I can tell right away you are missing a couple connections. This should help

Thank you for your help. I thought that I didnt need a second relay. i have the stinger relay whish i thought was enough. i see a smaller second relay. i have a smaller relay i could use... do i really need it???

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:38 am

As a guess, if that is the way it should be wired, I doubt your deck has the current to switch the large relay. Deck REM lines are very little current, and if you draw too much off of them, they will either be damaged, shut down to protect themselves, or otherwise act up. You would need the smaller relay to power the larger one.

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:11 pm

Eric D wrote:As a guess, if that is the way it should be wired, I doubt your deck has the current to switch the large relay. Deck REM lines are very little current, and if you draw too much off of them, they will either be damaged, shut down to protect themselves, or otherwise act up. You would need the smaller relay to power the larger one.

Sounds good to me! I'll bust out the smaller relay and wire it up. I'll let you guys know if it solves all my problems.

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:28 pm

Also keep in mind (notice) the 5w 5ohm resistor. This is really the biggest reason for the using the solenoid. The cap is discharged everytime you shut off the radio and 12v is removed from the cap as a safety feature. With your current install, you are removing the 12v line from the cap (provided the solenoid is installed correctly), but the cap is still charged. You should also notice in the diagram that the Remote lead triggers the small relay, and in turn throws Neg 12v (ground) to trigger the larger realy (solenoid). This is where I'm concerned how your current solenoid is installed if you are trying to trigger it directly with the remote. Follow the diagram and install the small relay as shown (with the resistor) and you should be good to go

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Wed May 05, 2010 12:44 pm

Eric D wrote:As a guess, if that is the way it should be wired, I doubt your deck has the current to switch the large relay. Deck REM lines are very little current, and if you draw too much off of them, they will either be damaged, shut down to protect themselves, or otherwise act up. You would need the smaller relay to power the larger one.

I looked this up online. This is how I have it wired. but then again i think i have a remote lead going into the center input of the cap. dammit, now I need to go look again.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/image ... -SGP38.pdf

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Thu May 06, 2010 6:06 am

I have installed the smaller relay and hooked up the wires that are x'd out on the picture. The issue I'm having is on the larger Stinger SR200 Relay... I have one of the smaller posts grounded and the other connected to the red wire on the smaller relay. So, Where'd the true ignition wire go? I unhooked the true ignition wire from the binding post that now has the red wire from the smaller relay going to it. UUUG, I'm sure it's something staring right at me... I shouldn't have been drinking Coronas when I was messing with it.

Anything jump out at you? because at this time I have no powa to my amps and the relay is not kicking on.

ShockTherapy · Post by **ShockTherapy** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:23 am

shawn k wrote:Can't see it all, but I can tell right away you are missing a couple connections. This should help

Got it all figured out. I wired it exactly like the diagram says except I used a jumper wire instead of the resistor. Alumapro and Stinger both said that with the stinger I should do that. anyhow, works good! no funny problems. Thanks for the help!

shawn k · Post by **shawn k** » Thu May 06, 2010 11:36 am

Sounds like you're on track. Really the only downside to doing it this way is that you're not discharging the cap when you power down you're system. If you ever have your system down for any lengthy time period, the cap will inevitably lose it's charge. This means that the next time you power up the system, you are "hot" charging the cap. It's somewhat harsh on the cap, and will shorten it's life span at least to some extent. Also keep in mind that if the cap isn't being discharged 15 farads can create a significant arc if ever shorted. Just something to keep in mind.