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Visionary
Posts: 1290
Ruskin, Fl |
Any of you guys that used the Alpine KTP-445 amp have a failure? This has worked perfectly for almost 5 months and 8000 plus miles. I am running Polk MM521 speakers rated at 2.7 ohms. I spoke to Polk tech support before the install and was assured that I would have no issues running this set up.
About a month ago there was a noise similar to RF interference through the speakers and then I lost audio. I still had iPod control and a stereo signal on the display. The next day I unplugged my old iPhone 4 and the radio started working. I did a reboot of the iPhone, plugged it back in and all was good. I thought it was an iPhone glitch caused the problem. All was good for a couple of weeks.
When it happened again I discovered unplugging the iPhone was just a coincidence. No audio for a day and it started working again. Since then it has been working on and off, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. Now it is not coming back. I checked all my connection. All seem good. I am able to plug rear speaker back into radio bypassing amp and I have sound. I can't do than with the front without cutting and splicing.
I even tried putting power to the blue 12V trigger and nothing. Has anybody seen an amp crap out intermittently? Any ideas would be appreciated. I can't decide whether to go to Best Buy and pick up another Alpine and spend 20 minutes swapping out or change to the RF amp.
Thanks
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Cruiser
Posts: 160
Camas Washington | I have the same amp with no issues. I doubt is the actual amp sine they are built to take a pounding. It is either your I-pod - phone connection with a bad cord or the wiring of the amp. One thing I did for added protection is I added some resisters when I wired the amp to help with any overload / power surg, this was suggested by an installer I know that had installed the pioneer in bikes. Best to go to your local car stereo shop and ask if they have anyone who has worked on touring bikes before. Have them run a test of the amp. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1290
Ruskin, Fl | Thank you. I got the amp out. Looks like moisture got into the input plug. Some corrosion on the pins, mainly the larger B+ and ground pins. That would explain the way it was acting. Trying to figure out how to clean the female (plug) side and test. Update to follow.
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Cruiser
Posts: 160
Camas Washington | Interesting, were do you have it stored? Mine is in the hole under the trunk. I have it velcro in there. As for wiring, mine is all hard wired. What pins are you talking about? |
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Visionary
Posts: 1290
Ruskin, Fl | Mine was on top of the left fuel tank. The front was almost under the fuse box. I am talking about the black 16 pin plug that connects under the fuse on the amp. I have confirmed this to me the issue. I cannot get a reliable connection on the 12V (yellow wire) pin. I really don't want to splice 16 wires to replace the plug, but that is the only way to do it right. I can't get the female portion of the pin out of the plug.
So I went to replacement parts on the Alpine website. That is the only part listed and it is not available. Now I know why there are 5 amps on Ebay without harnesses.
I am considering soldering a wire directly to the circut board for power till the amp dies. If I have to rewire a ton of stuff I am putting in the 300W RF amp. That's why I went with speakers than can handle 90W. People talking about heat related failures is why I went with the Alpine, and I hate to lose an inch of saddle bag space.
UGH! |
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Visionary
Posts: 1290
Ruskin, Fl | So my amp is back in and working. There was no sign that water got into anything except te contacts on the plug. On hind sight I should have used dielectric grease. I had to go to the extreame to get my bike back together with a radio last night.
Photo 1 is the pins on the amp. Top left is 12+. I could clean the corrosion off the pin, but the plug was toast. Just the power pin.
I soldered a wire to the inside of the amp where power comes in and ran the seperate power wire out. I even did it right with a grommet.
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