Car Audio Freaks! I need help...

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R

rmorse

Gr8 Stalker
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2008
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Great Mills, Maryland
Hey all,

Got two different situations here. Start with my car, then on to my brothers.


My Car:

My JL 12 inch sub stopped working randomly, during finals week. I finally have time to work on it, and I was playing with it all day. At first, the amp wouldn't turn on, no power. My brother wired up the amp and sub the first time, as it was his old car. When I got the car, I upgraded the sub. The first thing I looked at was the ground (tonight). I just finished pulling the ground, and putting on a new solderless connector on one end, as the old one was falling off. I went to put it back on the bolt where it was grounded, but it wouldn't fit around the bolt. So, I grabbed the old connector. Saw that it wouldn't fit either, which means it was just barely touching ground in the beginning. :screwy:

Found a new spot to ground it, threw it on. The amp now powers up, but just BARELY. It is not getting nearly enough power to hit my sub. Any suggestions? Do you think the new spot I found to ground it is bad?

His Car:

He is home from Texas, and I was looking at the sub he has. It is a little 150 watt Baja 10 inch. I had a AWESOME 700 watt 10 inch lying around collecting dust, so I decided to throw it into his car. Hooked it all up, connected the power, and the fuse blew. So, thinking that the sub was trying to draw too much power, I hooked back up his old sub. Fuse blew again. I played around with it, and have blown 5 more fuses so far. Any suggestions? Last thing I am going to try is just the amp, with no sub hooked up. I am thinking this one may be the ground as well, but I am not 100% sure.

Thanks all!
 
Problem 1 sound's like a bad ground, try a wire brush to clean the surface your connector makes contact to, if that doesnt work try to ground it somewhere else? If it isnt the ground then it could be something in the amp has just failed and it may be time for an upgrade...

His car seems a little more serious but I always go with a series of elimination with this stuff. Try just the amp I suppose, and if that doesnt work find someone with a voltage regulator. I learned the hard way that it's easy to fry older amps when changing the amount of draw.

Good luck that stuff can be aggravating...
 
alleykat0498;2612625; said:
Problem 1 sound's like a bad ground, try a wire brush to clean the surface your connector makes contact to, if that doesnt work try to ground it somewhere else? If it isnt the ground then it could be something in the amp has just failed and it may be time for an upgrade...

His car seems a little more serious but I always go with a series of elimination with this stuff. Try just the amp I suppose, and if that doesnt work find someone with a voltage regulator. I learned the hard way that it's easy to fry older amps when changing the amount of draw.

Good luck that stuff can be aggravating...
Click to expand...


Thanks, heading out now to work more. I have a voltage regulator, I'm about to use it to see what the amp is pulling.
 
I meant to say a voltage meter, sorry long long long day.
 
Lol, I did too. Didn't even realize that, until you made that comment.


Anyway, back in. I ran a new ground, on problem Amp 1, and tested the ground itself before trying it. Ground is golden. Amp still does not power up. I'm calling it quits for tonight, getting too cold to keep working on it.

I'm thinking the amp may be blown, which I'm fine with, since it was a crappy amp anyway. Just bummed, since it means it will be awhile til my car goes boom boom again. Ah well, I needed a better amp to run my JL anyway.
 
Which fuse is blowing on the second amp? Sounds like there is a dead short in the power wire or the amp is shorted internally.

Either way, figure out what it is before you set the car on fire.
 
imo it sounds like both amps are blown.
 
It sounds like the power wire has a short to ground. Check around wwhere it goes through the firewall, into the trunk, or anywhere the wire could be pinched or chafed. A bad ground is possible, but dosent explain the blown fuses. Check ohms between the negative terminal on the amp and a known good ground on the car. There should be zero (or VERY close to it)ohms. If you have a reading over .1, then you have a bad ground. Check ohms between the power wire to the amp and a known good ground (you should disconnect the wire from the amp first). You should have infinate ohms (no connection). If there is less than infinate ohms, you have a short to ground in the power wire. Also, check that your ground location is actually part of the main body of the car (I usually use a seatbelt bolt). Another thing...a system draws a lot of power. You prbably added somewhere between an 8 to 4 guage wire to the positive side of the battery. In order for the electrons to flow at the maximum rate, you need to add a same size wire to the negative side, too. It's the one in, one out rule. Run it between the negative terminal on the battery and a known good ground on the body under the hood. Keep this wire as short as possible.
 
frnchjeep;2613454; said:
It sounds like the power wire has a short to ground. Check around wwhere it goes through the firewall, into the trunk, or anywhere the wire could be pinched or chafed. A bad ground is possible, but dosent explain the blown fuses. Check ohms between the negative terminal on the amp and a known good ground on the car. There should be zero (or VERY close to it)ohms. If you have a reading over .1, then you have a bad ground. Check ohms between the power wire to the amp and a known good ground (you should disconnect the wire from the amp first). You should have infinate ohms (no connection). If there is less than infinate ohms, you have a short to ground in the power wire. Also, check that your ground location is actually part of the main body of the car (I usually use a seatbelt bolt). Another thing...a system draws a lot of power. You prbably added somewhere between an 8 to 4 guage wire to the positive side of the battery. In order for the electrons to flow at the maximum rate, you need to add a same size wire to the negative side, too. It's the one in, one out rule. Run it between the negative terminal on the battery and a known good ground on the body under the hood. Keep this wire as short as possible.
Click to expand...


Awesome, thanks...
 
One down, one to go. Car #2 is up and running.
 
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