I've recently wired my amp along with the subs to my head unit. I had the subs working for about 2 minutes, then they stopped. I began checking connections and tried making better connections where needed.

The amp's fuse lights up red, and the red "protect" light on the side is also lit. I feel it's getting power, but i don't know if it's turning on. The capacitor has the read out lit but it's flickering. So, I'm not sure if it needs a better ground or power connection.

If anyone has any ideas on where to start or what i should check, that'd be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

 

you'll need a DMM in order to trouble shoot voltage. you need to know what voltage is at the terminals.

grounding is very important, more important than power wire since the connections are of higher resistance (typically).

disconnect the sub(s) to see if the protect light goes out. check all fuses.

pics of your connections and install will help us better help you.

 

Alright thank you. The fuse on the amp is still lit so i'm guessing that one works. The one near the battery is also good, I'm pretty sure.

Do you mean disconnecting the sub wires from the box or the amp?

I think i've figured out that it's not the turn on lead. Since i've turned on my head unit and the fuse from the amp lit up. So i know it's responding to the head unit it a sense. Whats not happening, is the ability to control the sub from the head unit, or the sound going to the sub.

The red light which means"protect" does that mean it's getting power, but it's not on? Because it says green means " power"

Okay I'll try and have pics up pretty soon.

 

 

thanks for the pics.

Your ground is in a bad spot, you don't want to use the fuel pump cover screw.

#1 Grounding - Find a flat spot that you can reach from under the car (not above the gas tank). drill a hole sized for a 1/4-20 bolt. with sand paper, remove all paint around the hole until shiny metal is exposed. use a 1" 14/20 bolt, washer on each side, and nut. The head of the bolt should be under the car, the threads on the inside. Then coat the outer bolt head with silicone to prevent rust. This will take you about 30 min. but you won't have any ground problems anymore. do this regardless of your problem. My build log (linked in my sig) has detailed pics of this process).

#2 Turn off system (amp lights go out). Disconnect speaker wires from the amp terminals. Turn on system - see if the power light is green. If the light is red with no speaker wires connected, the amp is bad. If the light is green then you have a short in your speaker wiring.

If you have a short - you should start by removing the sub from the box and inspect each wiring connection - at the sub, at teh box terminals, etc. no bare copper should be visible. you should be using proper terminals, making sure no wire strands are not secure. Same at the amp, you should be using spade terminals if it has screws, etc. No bare copper visible.

#3 - Wiring. You need to clean up your wiring. Amps get hot. They can melt wire insulation. Route all wires neatly using zip ties to create a path.

#4 - Mounting. You must secure the amp - and no wiring should be under it when secured. I prefer to make a wood board for mounting the amp - I use t-nuts in the wood board and 10-24 bolts to secure the amp. I secure the wood board to the car however that location works. sheet metal screws, bolts, etc. Always know what's on the other side of the metal before you drill! I also carpet the boards for a clean look. If you make the board larger than the amp, you can make holes for the wires, and hide wiring under the board (make 1" stand offs so the wire isn't smashed).

my link has plenty of pictures detailing these processes. It may take a few hours, but the safety and security is worth it. If anything, it's harder to steal and less prone to failure.

Cheers!

 

Okay thank you very much i'm going to try all the things above.

The first thing i did try was the disconnecting of the subs from the amp. The thing i noticed was that when the ground wire was in a "bad" spot or not connected it was red.
The thing i noticed when i was about to disconnect the subs is that the light wasn't even on. So i was gonna move the ground. So i disconnected it and the light turned red?

I'm probably guessing my amp is bad. So by bad does that mean a fuse or something else?

Oh and another thing is when the ground is connected the light doesn't turn on. So i'm not sure what that means.

 

Sometimes when an amp goes into protect mode it has blown the fuses.

You need to check the fuses in the amp.

Make sure you don't have any wiring backwards.

 

blown fuses would prevent the amp from lighting up at all.

 

Keep up this good work in the Audio Visual Forum and I will have to end up asking you to take it over....

Your Thoughts ? PM me about it...
WheelBrokerAng

 

Alright i'll have to check those then. If the fuse lights up red does that mean anything particular?

By wiring backwards you mean? wrong connections? or?

Thanks