02 Cav electrical probs help

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

I recently installed a 12" HDC3 and a AQ1200 in a friends 01 or 02 cav z24 for him. I haven't gotton a chance to look at it yet with my DMM, but here is the problem layed out in his words.

"lol sometimes everything but the starter on my car works so the only way to get my car to start is to unplug the power wire connected to my amp then turn the car back on for a second

turn it off then replug in my amp

then turn the car back on one more time and it works everytime"

"well by unplugging the amp, im in turn unplugging the entire system sub and all, and my car can handle just a head unit and everything else, so when i start it up without this connected it gives the car a chance to charge the battery up a little, then when i turn it off and replug it back in the battery has built up a little charge"

He says he knows he is bs'in the explanation, because he knows nothing about car audio. Basically, he gets in his car, it doesn't crank at all. He unplugs amp, car cranks and starts, then he plugs amp back in. It doesn't happen all the time, but every time it does happen he says that solves the problem. I tried to explain that the amp shouldn't be drawing enough power when turned down/off to do that and if he has the radio up when he tried to crank it. He said once he turned it all down and tried to crank, and it did start, besides that no.

He has a yellowtop, which is why I didn't hesitate when putting the AQ1200 in his cav with a 105 amp alt. I am going to have my DMM to it and plug in and unplug his amp and see the difference on the battery voltage (which shouldn't be much), but I am not sure what else to do. If it does end up being that the amp is drawing enough to do that...then wtf? And if it isn't the amp, then what else? Just looking for some more idea's, as troubleshooting subs is not the funnest thing.

Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[th3disturbed1 10+ year member]

check to see if the amplifier is on when the car and radio are off. if so, your remote wire is wired to a constant power source.

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

check to see if the amplifier is on when the car and radio are off. if so, your remote wire is wired to a constant power source.

Did that when I installed it. My first thought too. Except I didn't think that was an issue, because if the amp was draining the battery dead, it wouldn't matter whether the amp was still plugged in, the battery would still be dead and wouldn't crank. And I checked it lol.

 

[Brian_smith06 10+ year member]

hmm thats weird. is the battery connection loose at all? im just saying that since everytime he unplugs it and then plugs back in it works.

for 1200 watts i would say that yellow top should be plenty. i too have a cavalier and i have a yellow top and red top all 1/0 with stock alt and have no issues at all. and i have about 2000 watts on tap with my system

 

[jpexpc 10+ year member]

Where is he unhooking the amp from? The battery in the front? The yellow top? The amp itself?

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

hmm thats weird. is the battery connection loose at all? im just saying that since everytime he unplugs it and then plugs back in it works.
for 1200 watts i would say that yellow top should be plenty. i too have a cavalier and i have a yellow top and red top all 1/0 with stock alt and have no issues at all. and i have about 2000 watts on tap with my system

Good idea. I'll check that out for sure. And good to know about the power, 1200 on the HDC3 already seems like to much in his car. I mean, I want more, but his car is saying otherwise. His rear dash is basically falling off now. lol.

Where is he unhooking the amp from? The battery in the front? The yellow top? The amp itself?

I think he is unscrewing and unhooking it from the amp, starting car, and putting it back in.