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Don't use PAC AP4-CH41 for amplifier integration (if your Gladiator sits for more than couple days)

AlphaWolf

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I have a 2020 Gladiator Rubicon with the upgraded Alpine stereo system. However I noticed some static coming from the front and overhead speakers 3 months in. The local dealership found that they were bad speakers and replaced...couple weeks later they blew out again, so at that time decided to do a whole speaker upgrade and that's when the fun really began.

Went with the PAC AP4-CH41 amplifier integration unit for ease of connecting an external amplifier and tying into system since it is advertised as plug and play.

Well long story short sometimes i travel for work and my cars sit an extended period of time 3-5 days, after one of those trips the battery was completely dead. Checked amplifier and they put battery isolator on the amplifier and thought that was the fix. Went on another trip and same thing happened. This time took to dealership to make sure nothing else was wrong then back to stereo installer. After much investigation and testing it was found that the PAC was drawing 0.5 to 0.8 amps when the engine was shut off, at that rate it will draw down your battery quick. Side note, I bought a yellow top optima battery in between.

So while it is a good product with plug and play and ease of installation if you are like me and can't drive your Jeep daily it's better to go with a different option for integration.

For those interested, I went with Focal 4" component speakers, Kicker Comp 8in subwoofer in a custom enclosure behind the rear seats, JL audio 5 channel amp, with bass knob installed in front dash. Sounds great when I have the Gladiator in my possession, haha.
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Hootbro

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Did you contact PAC to see what they say? Maybe it was a one off issue.
 
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AlphaWolf

AlphaWolf

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Did you contact PAC to see what they say? Maybe it was a one off issue.
We did, they supplied another one after lengthy conversations with their tech services, and we tested that one, and it did the same thing. To give some background...we isolated (unplugged) the PAC from the rest of the stereo system, and the system was drawing less than .02 amps with the engine off, which is about normal for a modern car with all the electronics. When the PAC or the replacement PAC was plugged in with the stereo system, the gladiator was pulling .5 to 1 amp with the engine off, that will drain your battery and aux battery, in the case of the gladiator, pretty quickly. There tech service said they only have about a couple hundred of these out there and since the gladiator is new could be anything but they haven't gotten a lot of feedback yet.
 

breezytrees

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Total newbie here, but is it possible to run the amp off the cigarette lighter power?

The cigarette lighter is only supposed to go hot on ignition. I hear most guys running their subwoofer amp off this wire.
 

brancky3

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Total newbie here, but is it possible to run the amp off the cigarette lighter power?

The cigarette lighter is only supposed to go hot on ignition. I hear most guys running their subwoofer amp off this wire.
Just for the remote turn-on lead. You can't power it from this as the wire can't handle that much load
 

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brancky3

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We did, they supplied another one after lengthy conversations with their tech services, and we tested that one, and it did the same thing. To give some background...we isolated (unplugged) the PAC from the rest of the stereo system, and the system was drawing less than .02 amps with the engine off, which is about normal for a modern car with all the electronics. When the PAC or the replacement PAC was plugged in with the stereo system, the gladiator was pulling .5 to 1 amp with the engine off, that will drain your battery and aux battery, in the case of the gladiator, pretty quickly. There tech service said they only have about a couple hundred of these out there and since the gladiator is new could be anything but they haven't gotten a lot of feedback yet.
I have one ready to be installed on mine, but I have the AP4-CH41 r.2. Maybe it won't be the same as your issue.
 
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AlphaWolf

AlphaWolf

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I have one ready to be installed on mine, but I have the AP4-CH41 r.2. Maybe it won't be the same as your issue.
Yeah I hope so. Good luck at least if you run into problems you know where to start trouble shooting.
 

BigRed97

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I ran the R2 version with no problems at all, it sat for a week multiple times... Could be they fixed the issue in the later ones?
 
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AlphaWolf

AlphaWolf

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I ran the R2 version with no problems at all, it sat for a week multiple times... Could be they fixed the issue in the later ones?[/QUOTEI
I'm glad for you! Probably did after a lot of feedback.
 

brancky3

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Just wanted to provide an update that I installed my AP4-CH41 r.2 a few weeks ago and have had zero battery issues.
 

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AlphaWolf

AlphaWolf

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Just wanted to provide an update that I installed my AP4-CH41 r.2 a few weeks ago and have had zero battery issues.
That's great, looks like they must have fixed it in the second version. As for my system it is working with the different interface system...the Gladiator sat for over a week and I was able to crank the engine without any issue!
 

Swaggy_T

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Just wanted to provide an update that I installed my AP4-CH41 r.2 a few weeks ago and have had zero battery issues.
How did you check how much v your systems is pulling with and without. I installed the pac lp7-2 LOC pro and I woke up. This morning to a dead battery.
 

brancky3

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How did you check how much v your systems is pulling with and without. I installed the pac lp7-2 LOC pro and I woke up. This morning to a dead battery.
I didn't. My truck still started after 4 days of non-use after installing my unit
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