Ten Steps to Maintaining Your System

In This Chapter

► Keeping your system clean and cool

► Securing your subwoofer box 

► Checking your antenna

► Maintaining your power

The automotive environment is a tough place for electronics. It can get brutally hot and bitterly cold. It can get sticky with humidity and brittle with dryness. Plus, components have to withstand near-constant vibration, jarring bumps, and dirt and dust. Car audio components are made for the harsh realities of the automotive environment, but they perform best and last longer if you maintain your equipment.

In this chapter, I give you ten tips to help you keep your equipment in top shape.

Keeping It Clean

Vehicles collect a lot of dirt and dust from passengers climbing in and out, gear that gets stored inside your car, and also airborne pollutants. The magnets of subwoofers and other speakers can attract small screws or other pieces of metal, which can end up in the moving parts of a speaker, damaging it. Amplifier cooling fans often suck in debris and distribute it over the amp’s internal circuitry, and even a small amount of dirt in the disc mechanism of a CD or DVD player isn’t a good thing. Plus, a dirty car audio system just looks bad.

First, it helps to keep you car clean. Every time you clean your car, clean your car audio components as well. Use a soft bristle brush or compressed air to clear away dirt, particularly around the disc slots of CD and DVD players.

Clean amplifiers’ heat sinks with a rag, and carefully suck out any dirt and dust clogging the screens covering cooling fan with a vacuum cleaner. Video screens can be wiped off with cleaners made especially for LCD screens and a soft cloth.

Electronics hate heat. Circuits can get damaged if they overheat, and amplifiers in particular can fail or go into thermal protection mode. Try not to hammer on your components too much on very hot days, and let the interior of your car cool down before cranking your system. Amplifiers that are mounted in the trunk may need special attention. Cooling fans that blow air

across the heat sinks can help.

You probably got a car audio system so you could crank it up, but pushing components past their peak for hours at a time can put a strain on them. It’s okay if you crank your car audio system for short periods — as long as you’re not damaging your hearing — but pushing your system too hard for too long could cause a component to fail.

If you’re not listening to your system, turn it off by switching off the head, which causes the entire system to shut down. Otherwise, every component in the system is sucking power from your car’s charging system. It may only be small amounts of juice, but in a large system, the current draw can add up to a dead battery.

Because a vehicle is subject to so much vibration and jostling, even the most carefully installed components can get shaken loose. Check the mounting screws on your components as well as all of the connections from time to time to ensure that nothing is coming loose.

Paying Attention

After you’ve become very familiar with your system, you’ll know if something isn’t quite right. Maybe a speaker buzzes, you may hear a strange noise coming from your head unit, or a popping sound when you press the brakes or activate some other electronic accessory in the vehicle. Pay attention to these odd sounds and try to find their source before they manifest into bigger problems.

Securing your Sub

A subwoofer box that isn’t secured to the vehicle is an accident waiting to happen. If you stop suddenly or take a sharp turn too fast, a subwoofer box can go flying and harm someone in the car. At the very least, a flying box can damage the vehicle or the sub, so screw it down.

Checking your Antenna

An antenna is often an overlooked part of a car audio system. Power antennas need to be occasionally cleaned and lubricated. Check your car owner’s manual for proper care of your antenna.

Maintaining Pouter

Proper power is the lifeblood of a car audio system. Without it, your components will either perform inadequately or could even get damaged. Make sure your car’s electrical system is working properly and is well maintained.

Check the connections at the battery and keep the battery terminals free from corrosion.

Keeping your Change

You know that pocket change that falls between the seat cushions of your car? If you have your amps mounted under the seat, a coin could potentially fall onto the amp’s exposed connections or some other component and cause a short. The same goes for tools or any other metal objects that are unsecured in the trunk.