Could bad ground cause a protection light to come on for an amp

First, check your ground, a bad ground can cause overheating. Also check your power connection to the amp. Also it could be something internal within your amp. Does the amp the overload protection light come on at all? Are you bridging any channels?The ohm load may be too low for your amp.

Sounds like a shorted speaker wire. Try disconnecting speaker from amp and see if protection light goes out- if so replace bad speaker wire. Only other issue i can think of from your short description is that you might have a bad ground going to amp or the remote power wire is bad. try running a new ground wire to a clean metallic spot on you cars chassis close to where the amp is located. Good ground = good clean sound

Disconnect the speaker wires then the power and ground completly. Then power up the amp and if the protection light turn on the you have an interanl problem if not then you ohm is problably to low and causing the amp to go into protections.

-david

your amp goes into protective mode so either a bad ground or need to get wires more contact with the amp

it shouldnt cause it flash the protection light but you are correct in thinking they have wired it wrong ...

the ground of your amp should be grounded to the metal of your car not the battrie ....

Either blown subs, or bad amp.. Disconnect the subs, and try turning the amp on, if the amp is still in protect then your amp is bad, if the protect light goes off, then your subs are bad, or possibly wired at to low of an impedance, but I don't think that will trigger the protect on an Audiobahn amp.

The red light indicates that your amplifier is in protect mode. Amps go into this mode if there is something wrong with the setup of the system to prevent fatal damage to the amplifier circuitry. This is bad thing since the amplifier will not function until the problem is solve and it can remove itself from protection mode.

Amplifiers can go into protect mode for many reasons but one of the most common is incorrect mounting. Is your amp sitting on the metal of your vehicle? Is it bolted down and screwed into the metal of the vehicle or your seat? The amp should never be touching any sort of metal. Only the ground should touching the metal of your vehicle.

Speaking of grounds, many people often neglect proper grounding which can cause an amp to go into protect mode. Do you have a solid ground? Is the wire less than 3 feet long and directly connected to a non-painted metal part of your vehicle? Is the ground wire the same gauge as your power wire?

These are just a few reasons why an amp can go into protect mode. You can find more information here. Or simply google for why your amp is in protect mode.

Hello mcis43fan,

The protection circuit can be activated by shorted or grounded wiring or it can be caused by a defect in the amp itself.

First, disconnect all wires except power, ground and the remote turn-on lead and see if the amp powers up normally. If it still goes into protection, the amp is defective, most likely shorted outputs and needs repair or replacement. If the amp powers up normally, test the other wiring for shorts and grounds. You can reconnect them one at a time to determine which one is causing the problem.

Hope this helps.

something is shorted in the circuit, or your subs. unhook the subs first and try it again, if it is still in protect then it is most likely the output transistors.