Amp has no power.. Help! Not Newbie.

ziljin · 06-05-2006, 09:58 PM

Hi everyone,
I've hooked up many amps in my day

This is my first carpc.
Here are the specs:

Mac Mini & xenarc screen off a carnetix 1900

1 powered usb hub and usb hard drive powering off the carnetix 1290

mitch's Sirius/alpine tuner
Backup cam
Gps

Now the question. I had a cheap walmart amp powering the speakers. Worked for a month. The other day stopped working and went into protection.

I'm stupid and bought a walmart sony 600w amp same thing... no power once I try to play music through it. Seems like it worked at first, then I started itunes and it died. I know I'm leaving the possibilities wide open. Just looking on where to start looking. Could i be drawing too much at once? The grounds appear to be fine. I'm getting 14v to the amp. and .5 @ the remote turn on.
Any ideas will help a lot.
Thanks!!!
Jeff

FrmDrkSide · 06-05-2006, 10:27 PM

Well if it's not a typo, the .5 for remote turn on is your problem.

Most amps will turn on with a minimum of 10.5v but 11v or more is the norm. I'm not sure if the psu unit your using has an amp turn on wire, or if your using it. But if it is only .5 volts on the turn on led, it definitely won't turn on.

Disconnect the turn on from the amp and use a digital multimeter to read voltage, that would be a good place to start trouble shooting.

blazinaspire · 06-05-2006, 11:55 PM

yea and if you have nohthing to connect the remote wire to, then runa wire from the battery through a switch and then to the remote terminal, or just use your ignition wire

ziljin · 06-06-2006, 11:34 AM

hey,
thanks for the help.. It's a typo... 11.5 on the remote

mbuchman · 06-06-2006, 06:01 PM

Hm, well first thing to do is start at the amp.
Check to make sure fuses are good
If fuses are good, use a 1/8 to RCA converter plug so you can plug in a CD player or something directly to the amp. If no sound comes out, then it is a problem with the amp. If you find your amp working good, then you check to make sure the RCA line is good, and check to make sure that the carpc is putting out sound, and that the reciver is putting out sound, you get the idea. But start at the amp.

Your amp might also go to protect if the gains are set wrong. But just start with the above, and keep cutting things out. Another good thing to do is pull the amp out, and put a different one in. If everything works, then you know it is the amp.

Could also be blown speakers, but it isn't, so don't worry about that. But it is possible that the speaker wire shorted out or something, so if you have an ohm meter, you could measure the ohm level of the line. It should be anywhere between 1-8 ohms (cause you didnt say if it was a subwoofer or not), but if it is reading a really high or really low resistance, then you know the wire is damaged. really low resistance would mean that the amp would probably be going into protect due to the short.

All those things are sorta scattered, but basically, you just start somewhere, and keep checking things off that work. You already did the power checklist, so that is a good start.

-Matt

RedGTiVR6 · 06-07-2006, 04:45 PM

ziljin - any luck?

thebeebster · 06-26-2006, 12:01 PM

so the turn on wire can go into any .5 wire? cause i have a stock head unit and dont have a spot to plug this wire in. any ideas?

Shadow · 06-26-2006, 04:48 PM

thebeebster: No, it cannot. In your car there will be a huge orange wire at the ignition harness, not the radio harness. Your car doesn't have an accessory power(switched) in the radio harness at all. Find the big orange wire (if you're colorblind ask someone to point the orange to you because the yellow stuff is the airbag). Tap it and put a 30A fuse on it and use that for your remote. The key will turn your amps on and off.

Will Albers · 06-26-2006, 08:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Shadow

thebeebster: No, it cannot. In your car there will be a huge orange wire at the ignition harness, not the radio harness. Your car doesn't have an accessory power(switched) in the radio harness at all. Find the big orange wire (if you're colorblind ask someone to point the orange to you because the yellow stuff is the airbag). Tap it and put a 30A fuse on it and use that for your remote. The key will turn your amps on and off.

30 amp fuse for remote turn on???? My god man, where are you getting your info from? Try .5 amp.

And for others reading, not all cars use orange for acc. Please be careful

Shadow · 06-26-2006, 08:41 PM

Will, the 30A fuse is to protect in case of a dead short. If you put a .5A on it then you'll need to use a relay to power more than one piece of equipment. Otherwise you can just splice that one wire. 10 years of installation is where I get my info from.

scott_fx · 06-26-2006, 09:13 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Shadow

Will, the 30A fuse is to protect in case of a dead short. If you put a .5A on it then you'll need to use a relay to power more than one piece of equipment. Otherwise you can just splice that one wire. 10 years of installation is where I get my info from.

oh snap!

parksgm · 06-26-2006, 10:08 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Shadow

Will, the 30A fuse is to protect in case of a dead short. If you put a .5A on it then you'll need to use a relay to power more than one piece of equipment. Otherwise you can just splice that one wire. 10 years of installation is where I get my info from.

Guys, 0.5A is too small, for the reasons Shadow cited, but Shadow, 30A is too large. I sure as heck don't want > 29A of current flowing through my small gauge remote turn-on wire BEFORE the fuse blows. Why risk the wire heating that much? I realize it's a small point, but details make the difference.

Also, it's really a good idea to get a wiring schematic/color code guide from a reputable source before connecting anything to the factory harnesses...Will has a great point...assuming all cars follow convention is a great way to short something...

RedGTiVR6 · 06-26-2006, 10:10 PM

30A fuse!?

good god!

Will Albers · 06-27-2006, 06:49 AM

Grab your aftermarket head unit and take a look at the fuse in the remote turn on lead. Maybe they upped it to an single amp in recent years, but for the longest time it was fused at half an amp. The current dra on remote leads should be milliamps.

Shadow, I have read a lot of your posts recently. Although you have had some good advice here and there, you are showing a signinificant amount of misconceptions in the industry which leads to bad recommendations. I'd like to know what shop maintains these after 10 years. Please be careful - someone could take your statement as gospel and fry their system/car

2k1Toaster · 06-27-2006, 07:19 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Will Albers

Grab your aftermarket head unit and take a look at the fuse in the remote turn on lead. Maybe they upped it to an single amp in recent years, but for the longest time it was fused at half an amp. The current dra on remote leads should be milliamps.

Shadow, I have read a lot of your posts recently. Although you have had some good advice here and there, you are showing a signinificant amount of misconceptions in the industry which leads to bad recommendations. I'd like to know what shop maintains these after 10 years. Please be careful - someone could take your statement as gospel and fry their system/car

fight! fight! fight! fight! fight!

j/k

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