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Well, I finally bought an aftermarket HU cuz installing an amp with the stock one was too much of an hassle. I got it from CC and they installed it, it works fine but my amp still doesnt work. The amp is supposed to power my 12" sub but it doesn't even turn on. Here's some pics of my setup, anyone have any ideas on what's wrong?


Here's 1 side of the amp, the RCA's lead to the back of my head unit:


This is the other side, middle the + and - are connected to each other and the outer + and - go to my sub. The red power wire goes to the battery, the ground is grounded near my taillights, and the remote wire is tapped into the blue/white wire behind my head unit:


The back of my sub box:


The back of my HU:


Wire taps from Radio Shack, they connect the blue/white wire to the remote turn on wire:


Ground for the amp, it's grounded to a bolt that holds the taillights in place. I was gonna ground it in one of the holes behind the seats but I didn't have any screws big enough to stay put:


Under the hood, this shows the inline fuse and the battery:


Closeup of the inline fuse (yes, there's a fuse in there):


Power wire for the amp, connected to the positive terminal of the battery:


Anyone know what's wrong? Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 786

Everything looks good with the exception of your remote turn on wire, usually (99.99% of the time) it is solid blue. If you have a solid blue wire try that.

Failing that, test for power along the power wire. Check after the fuse and at the amp.

Your ground should be good, good enough for your amp to at least work anyways.

The only thing that I saw that seemed to be of any concern was the remote connection at the deck.

 
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I don't have a solid blue wire, I used the blue wire with a white stripe because the installation manual says "Blue/white: to system control terminal of the power amp or auto-antenna relay control terminal (max 300mA 12V DC)".

I guess I'm gonna have to pick up a multimeter tommorow and test the power wire.

 
Rep Power: 786

Double and triple check your fuse

Does your amp turn on at all? do anything?

 
Rep Power: 607

get rid of the tap and soder it

not saying that is the problem........but do it the right way.

 
Rep Power: 786

Taps are good enough in my book

Twisting and taping the wires, not so much, but taps or butt connectors are fine

 
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I had 4 brand new 40A fuses, after the first one didn't work, I switched them but it still doesn't work. The amp does nothing at all.

There isn't a lot of room back there so I dont wanna solder, I took off the 1st tap I put on and it looked like it was making a good connection. I guess I'll see if there's a connection when I go measure it.

 
Rep Power: 786

Go buy a hand held multi meter from Rat Shack. I have one and it works well. It even folds into a handy case and goes in your pocket when you aren't useing it

 
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Iwas looking at your amp, has the --L+ -R++ and it looked like you had a jumper wire in there? would that put it into protect mode? most amps are made to bridge on their own I always thought and wouldn't need a jummper wire.

 
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In the owner's manual, it says: "If you are bridging the amplifier, connect the speaker wires to the terminals marked 'bridged', observing proper polarity." I guess that's what it means, right? I figured if I did it wrong, one of the lights on the amp would be on.

 
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If you use the outer negative and positive that is bridged, it looks like you have a little wire on the middle 2 terminals also, if you do that is your problem.

 
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Yeah, don't connect the unused + and - to each other.

 
Rep Power: 337

take that middle wire out or take it back...quit worrying about it and make CC fix it. you paid for them to install an amp....make em install it correctly

 
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Ya, I have a jumper from the middle + and -. It's dark and raining out right now (you should know, you live near me ), I'll give that a try after work tommorow, thanks!

Alex: I installed the sub and amp, they installed the HU. I would of done it myself but they had free installtion so I let them do it. The HU seems to work fine so I can't tell them to fix the amp, lol.

 
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All those pictures and no ones figured it out yet?? Either the amp is done, but most likely your ground. Isn't there a grommet around that post??? Screw it down somewhere and call it a day.


That amp is probably one of the best to se with a factory head unit. With JBL and TX you don't need a remote turn on, all you had to do is connect it up the rear speakers, battery, ground and you would have saved the expense of buying a new head unit..

 
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Reread the last six posts before yours...

 
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Pardon me I did miss the jumper... however the amp should still light up and go into protect mode. I've seen quite a few jobs with grounds done in the same fashion and I simply assumed that there is somekind of gasket or grommet there that could be prevent current from flowing through.

 
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There's no rubber in between the ground wire and the car, I'll go take another pic of it now.

I bought a DMM and took some measurements. I got 12.38V DC at the battery, 12.38V DC at the fuse, but only 2.38V DC at the amp. What could cause such a big drop in voltage?

 
Rep Power: 315

ground loop or the amp is not hooked to a switched ignition
or you have a large amount of resistance.
Voltage = Current X Resistance

 
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Oh ya, I took out the middle jumper and the same thing is happening. Anyway, here's another pic of the ground.

 
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kjgracing: How can I fix a ground loop? I'll check the voltage on the remote turn on wire. Wires are supposed to have low resistance, what could cause it to go up so much?

 
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Man I didn't even notice it was you, i must have been tiered. If it is still acting up this weekend and the weather is nice, ill meet up with you and see if i can figure it out.

 
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Lol, I don't think the weather will be nice, I think we're supposed to get the remnants of those 2 hurricanes.

The voltage of the remote wire is 11.18V DC at the head unit but only .5V DC at the amp. Wtf?

 
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Ok, the only other thing I can think of is you have a bad whire in there someplace or a bad connection. If the wire has a break in it that could cause the problem.

 
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Maybe when you put the Scotch lock on the remote wire you 'bit' off too much wire and it's not conducting well?

How about measuring the voltage at the amp. Put your meter on the positive and negative right at the amp and see what that says.

 
Rep Power: 337

u might have killed the amp connecting the terminals like that..get a Volt meter or Test Light....if your ground is good and you have voltage on power and remote..your amp is dead

 
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I'll have to check the wires for any damage tommorow.

The wire splices have a metal piece sticking out, it looks like this:



I measured from that metal piece to ground and it read 11.18V, so the remote wire is connected. I measured the voltage at the amp and it read 2.38V, I don't know why because it's showing 12.38V at the fuse.

I have voltage at the power and remote, but it's significantly lower than at the source. I think since the amp requires 12V to run, 2.38 isn't enough and that's the reason it's not turning on. But I need to find out how to fix this :\

 
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How about measuring the voltage of the remote wire just after the scotch lock? I may be wrong but it sounds like you took a measurement off the metal tooth and not the actual wire.

 
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If both your power and your remote leads are showing drops in voltage at the amp, I'd suspect the ground you are testing them with. Assuming it is the ground wire from your amp, did you sand the area are where you bolted it to the car, to strip off any paint? Are you sure that area you bolted it into connects to the whole body of the car?

 
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The metal tooth is what connects the wires together so I assumed it would be the same. I didn't really want to strip off any insulation just to take a measurement.

I didn't sand or take off any paint, but I'm pretty sure it's connected to the whole body of the car. I'll try the ground near the rear seats, I heard a lot of people grounded it there and it works good.