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Knowledgable audiophiles give input please

The voltage would only be lower with the car on if your alternator is completely dead. In which case your battery/car would repeatedly die shortly after a jump start. Not much will cause a amp to go into protect other than heat, reversed polarity or a short. we know the amp is not getting hot, and if you have ruled out external shorting. My guess without seeing this first hand is that it must be internal.
I'm sticking with my original notion that you have a bad amp.
 
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Not much will cause a amp to go into protect other than heat, reversed polarity or a short.

or, your ohms impedance are at the margin....(if its bridged)//// If it cuts out when youre playing it... youre max'd.

we can rule out reversed polarity lol.

Maybe the amps protection LED light terminals are hangin by a thread, and when u bang, it lights up cause its shorting out...(the LED I mean)
 
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Alright...well spent all day on the car again. Get this...ever since I rewired my indiglo gauges yesterday, I have been blowing my number 24 fuse whenever I hit the brake pedal. This causing me to have no brake lights...so I have spent the whole day trying to figure that one out. Obviously it had to have been something shorting out because of my wiring yesterday. So that is where I started. Well, I must have ran over and checked my wiring a thousand times and didn't come up with anything. SO, I completely unconnected my amp and sub and stuck a 30A fuse into the 15A #24 slot (until I get it sorted out, so I can drive with taillights - before someone starts asking) and well...the fuse doesn't pop anymore, and my cruise control works again. I don't know what is up with my car but it obviously has some serious electrical issues... I measured the battery again with my multimeter configured correctly this time and this is what I got as far as voltage readings. 11.8ish with the car off and 14.4ish with the car running. I am getting tired of all of these quirky problems. I wish things would just work with this car.
 
Haha, thanks man. Yeah, it just seems that once I finally get something fixed on this car, something else breaks or starts going bad. I guess that is just the nature of owning a car. I had my glo gauges wired to my foglights because at the time I didn't have a hayne's manual...so I wired em to the foglight ground and foglight power. SO, I decided that I wanted the gauges to come on with the parking lights instead of with the fogs and I hooked the power lead into the power on the dimmer switch and ran the ground to a bolt under the steering column. Now, the gauges come on with the parking lamps, they seem to run a lot better (but maybe that is wishful thinking,) I can drive without fear of getting a ticket for lack of tail lightage and for whatever reason...my cruise control came back. Wow...someone please explain that one for me cuz I am clueless. I guess I will just wait a lil bit and get a nice amp and try the wiring ordeal all over again. I just don't know...
 
You probly got too much on that circuit.

"what my indiglos' no way....they only consume X of juice and blah blah blah........"

But then you hit yer brakes, and that sends it into overtime.

Bad feedback from the Indiglo's? yes maybe.

Well uhh did you tap power from the switch too? or did you run a dedicated power to em?
 
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Yeah, makes sense... But still, the cruise control stopped working about a month ago. All I did was rewire some wires that only deal with the foglamps and viola the cruise works again. It is weird to me....but I have never claimed to know much about circuits and loads and such. I am just happy to have cruise control back.
 
Haha, yeah...I know, I put a 15A back in and so far (crosses fingers) it hasn't blown yet. So...yeah, hopefully this solves things for now.
 
i was always told to disconnect everything except for ground and power, and then see if it still does it, just try to narrow it down, i had one that would instantly pop fuses, so i took it back(after only having it up for like 2 days) and they gave me a new amp( memphis :laugh:)
 
Sprebound said:
Alright...well spent all day on the car again. Get this...ever since I rewired my indiglo gauges yesterday, I have been blowing my number 24 fuse whenever I hit the brake pedal. This causing me to have no brake lights...so I have spent the whole day trying to figure that one out. Obviously it had to have been something shorting out because of my wiring yesterday. So that is where I started. Well, I must have ran over and checked my wiring a thousand times and didn't come up with anything. SO, I completely unconnected my amp and sub and stuck a 30A fuse into the 15A #24 slot (until I get it sorted out, so I can drive with taillights - before someone starts asking) and well...the fuse doesn't pop anymore, and my cruise control works again. I don't know what is up with my car but it obviously has some serious electrical issues... I measured the battery again with my multimeter configured correctly this time and this is what I got as far as voltage readings. 11.8ish with the car off and 14.4ish with the car running. I am getting tired of all of these quirky problems. I wish things would just work with this car.
Click to expand...

I would like to get the wiring schematic for this, but my program was just re-installed and I don't have all the kinks worked out yet to get it working again.... I should be able to have something ready for you like Sunday night maybe..... As far as your amp goes, sorry if I skimmed too fast and missed someone posting this already but....

1. Multimeter ground connection, make sure it has low resistance and that paint has been scraped away.
2. Multimeter voltage at amp when key is in accessory (constant and remote)
3. Multimeter voltage at amp when car is running (constant and remote)
4. If the remote is shutting off check what it is hooked up to, maybe be on the wrong wire or an ignition circuit possibly
5. Anything else not working properly on your car? Radio not keeping memory, work on anything recently electrical, etc, etc?

I'll try to get that schematic ASAP.....

EDIT: Found this fuse layout in the forum.... http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=8691&highlight=fusediagram details that fuse #24 is your brake lights.... which you probably already knew.... did you happen to hook up some gauges or other accessory to your brake fuse or wire? Did you add a 3rd brake light or something to the same circuit?
 
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I have indiglo gauges that used to be wired into the parking light circuits, but I rewired them to get power off the dimmer switch and grounded to the steering column now. Still, it wasn't until I undid the power from the battery for the amp and undid all of the wiring that my problem stopped. I already have a 3rd brake light, it came with the car...haha. Now...my question. Why, after I disconnect the amp and the power cable at the battery, does the system stop blowing fuses and allows my cruise control to work again? I should probably check the power cable and make sure it isn't shorting out on anything when I routed it through the car...and I will check all of the voltage levels that you recommended and get back to you.
 
#24 I see is brake lamps......

Check your BRAKE LAMPS....

BRAKE LAMPS.....

SOMEHING to do with the BRAKE LAMPS CIRCUIT.

IS something spliced into the BRAKE LAMPS circuit?

Do you have a dedicated + terminal post adapter on your BATTERY for the AMP?

I know you didnt splice into your BRAKE LAMPS for the AMPLIFIER or indiglos, are the PARKING LIGHTS have anything to do with the BRAKE LAMPS? umm right?

Do you have LED Bulbs for the BRAKES? Somethin wierd happened with my car when i tried to throw on LED bulbs. Had to revert to regular ones. Check your bulbs. Check 3rd brake light. and those tiny bulbs for fun. Something is shorting out? Check backup lights. cause I cant remeber but I think backups are powered in line with the parking light line? at the harness in the back of the trunk.

Dig up info on where the Brake lamps circuit goes to.... and all what is wired to it.

just going on a whim here, but Id say if your amp isnt wired funny, Im specifically speaking bout the remote line.(like you dont have the remote goin to your brake lights do you?) lol. ..ANd fused power at the battery for your amp, and nice, solid, short well grounded..line from your amp to the chassis...almost eliminate the AMP from the issue. Id have to say fuses are blowin to do with somethin with the indiglo's? or if you used the brake line to wire somethin' in?

Do you still have your amp grounded at "I then took off my ground (currently connected under the driver side rear seat latch.) "

Mostly, car seat bolts have extra weld in them so they are not a good ground at all. and put up too much resistance. Move your ground.

What ohm is your subwoofer?
I didnt see where you wired the remote too anywhere in your posts. Is it going to the HU?

Or will you try to jump it again from + on amp?
 
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Sprebound said:
I have indiglo gauges that used to be wired into the parking light circuits, but I rewired them to get power off the dimmer switch and grounded to the steering column now. Still, it wasn't until I undid the power from the battery for the amp and undid all of the wiring that my problem stopped. I already have a 3rd brake light, it came with the car...haha. Now...my question. Why, after I disconnect the amp and the power cable at the battery, does the system stop blowing fuses and allows my cruise control to work again? I should probably check the power cable and make sure it isn't shorting out on anything when I routed it through the car...and I will check all of the voltage levels that you recommended and get back to you.
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Simple.... Everything works before hand... You put something in, things start messing up.......... you pull out what you put in, everything works again... Must of been what you put in... :) (sorry to be a smart ass)

I wouldn't think grounding to the steering wheel would be a problem, but I would recommend grounding to the chassis for future installs.

Here is what I think happened, I think at some point in your running of your wires you must of pinched a brake wire or your remote turn on wire, which sounds like it may have been hooked to a parking brake light circuit, thus dead shorting your circuit every time you used your brakes..... I would go through and inspect your remote turn on wire carefully and check if any of the insulation is exposing bare wire. You should also notice a drop in voltage at the amp on your remote wire if it is shorting out somewhere. I fixed an amp install that an installer had accidentally pushed a remote wire into a metal clip, eventually wearing through the insulation and grounding out. Customer complained of the amp going in and out. I found that I had about 1-2 volts at the amp when the power was on, starting following the wire towards the radio, 1st plastic piece I pulled up, I found the pinched wire, fixed it and the amp didn't have any more problems....

Let me know what you find...
 
K...well several months after the fact and I have finally decided to give this a crack again. I tried runnng double ground wires and before I wasn't getting any fireback when the car is turned on/off, now I am. Anytime I either turn the car on or off the sub backfires. I thought this was supposed to remedy this problem...not create it. Anyways, I will disconnect everything once again. With everything connected I checked my voltages. With the car off (amp and sub works) I am drawing 12.48v. With the car on, meaning engine on and running, the amp and sub do not work and I am pulling 14.18v. As someone mentioned previously I think this is just a bad amp. Anyone know if I can take it anywhere and get it tested for either cheap or free? That would put my mind somewhat at rest knowing that the amp is the culprit and not my car's wiring system...god I hope it isn't the electrical system...eeegad...haha. Anyone?
 
Ok lets try this.... can you get pictures of basically your whole install... I'd like to see... The power connection at the battery, where the remote wire was connected to, the connections at the amp, the ground connection to the chasis, and possibly the sub connection......

For testing, Idk if Circuit city tests amps, or American TV, I think they might, but IDK for sure.... Best Buy should test amps and radios though, they might charge you to test it out since it's not something that would be under warranty.... Depends on who you get and how busy they are. If I'm not busy I usually won't charge someone to check their stuff out. I think the rule is suppose to be that if it works then we don't charge but if it doesn't then we figure out what is wrong and then charge.... I think... don't quote me on that... I don't remember the rule exactly... Steeda.....??? any words....???
 
Alright, as soon as I finish my Corn Pops I am gonna get on that...haha. Wherabaouts in Wisconsin are you? I don't think the Best Buy down the road has any installation bays...but that could just be because I've never seen em. Guess I could call.
 
Sprebound said:
Alright, as soon as I finish my Corn Pops I am gonna get on that...haha. Wherabaouts in Wisconsin are you? I don't think the Best Buy down the road has any installation bays...but that could just be because I've never seen em. Guess I could call.
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The one in Inver Grove Heights does! ;) I know you don't work far from there.

Heck I didn't know you were having problems man, I'd lend a hand if you need some help :) I've done my fair share of amp installs. Do you have the RCA cables running somewhere far away from the power cable? If you don't you'll get that nasty thud everytime you turn it on. I haven't ready the entire post yet though so I'll have to go over it after lunch :laugh:
 
Redlineracer12 said:
Do you have the RCA cables running somewhere far away from the power cable?
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I think we have a winner. Also, I suggest sanding down the area where your ground is and resecure it. I know on occassion I have to reconnect mine because it'll work itself loose and start backfiring...
 
I usually run the power down the passanger side doorsills and the ground, rca's, and turn on down the drivers side door sill.

Sorry to see that you are still having problems.

On a side note -> where is a good place to ground an amp or two in the trunk area of our cars?
 
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