Amplifier is grounding out, or something else?

[tomstrong92]

I switched cars for my system, it was all working perfectly.

I have my amp correctly grounded to the seat bolt in the trunk, no corrosion, etc. I have switched locations 3 times, it's not the ground.

I tested both fuses on the amp ( KDC-8105D ) they are both fine.

My power wire is getting power ( 12V without car on, 14~15 with car on ( only have an analog meter ).

My ground is also getting a good reading.

My remote is as well.

The inline fuse is good.

The power cord is not grounding out anywhere, I have it heat shield tubed in the engine compartment, and it is running through a rubber grommet already existing for my dash wires.

The amp will simply not turn on in the new vehicle, I really don't want to take out my carpet and re-run the wires to the old vehicle to test the amp again.

It is not the remote wire, I even removed it and jumped it from the power terminal.

I have called Sonic, Crutchfield, and Kenwood tech support, none of them can figure it out.

The amp is not screwed down, and is sitting on carpet, it is not grounding to metal.

When I jumped the REM from PWR, the small speaker wire does not spark when it contacts wire-wire, but when it touches the metal wall off the amp frame near the terminal, it sparks. I told this to Crutchfield and they said that the amp metal is supposed to be grounded. I just don't think the amp frame is supposed to be grounded, and that is the only thing I can think of that is causing my amp to not work.

I opened up the amp and looked inside, it looks perfectly fine, nothing burned, nothing loose.

My next move is to test each terminal from the INSIDE or the amp, there are gold metal connectors that run from terminal to the amp motherboard in an L shape, do you think my terminal could be broken?

Kenwood said my amp is probably shorted out on the inside, but I told them what would cause that to happen, it went from the back of a van to the trunk of my car and never was dropped or set down anywhere else. I also have never had the amp bolted to my sub enclosure, so there are no components that have jarred loose inside either. Kenwood says the only course of action is to mail it to Virginia... Sonic said I am 3 months past my 1 year warranty, and to call Kenwood since they can't figure it out, and the amp was not purchased from Crutchfield, only my headunit was, but they helped me anyways.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention, when I jump from PWR to REM, twice the amp red triangle flashed on, the amp has a blue bar light and a red triangle, Kenwood said the red triangle means the amp is under power and working properly, the blue bar light means there is a signal from REM and it is on. The tech guy could not explain this phenomenon.

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[All_Logix 10+ year member]

Unfortunately my friend I am going to have to agree with Kenwood Tech on this one and say something is shorted within the amplifier. And to put your mind at ease MOST amplifiers do ground their chassis, which is why it isn't a good idea to mount it to the vehicles metal, it will attempt to use the amp chassis like a ground wire. If you have a good ground and you are getting power on the remote wire and power wire and nothing happens, there is something wrong with the amp.... If I had to guess I would ask exactly how you removed it from your previous vehicle. There are a lot of stories of people who remove the fuse from the power wire and not the negative on the battery first and this can cause problems.

 

[tomstrong92]

Well I had a capacitor, ( not using it now in new installation ) I removed the power from the capacitor to the amp, then I removed the power from the battery to the capacitor, then the caps ground then I discharged the capacitor and removed the amp's ground. Then I removed the fuse and power wire from the battery.

How much do repair shops usually charge?

This is the 4th vehicle I have had this amp in, I have never removed the battery negative before removing the power wire

 

[All_Logix 10+ year member]

Yeah it doesnt happen all of the time it is just something that can cause issues, I had a buddy that removed his amp wire and it blew the fuse to his HU. but I digress, to be honest I wouldn't let just anyone attempt to repair the inside of an amp, it requires a pretty good understanding of microelectronics and transistor amplifier topology, unless it is something really simple. the first thing I would say do is take it to a local shop and have them bench it

 

[tomstrong92]

Thanks, I will find a local shop, I did look around at what the signs are for each problem faced internally for a blown amp, and will look for them this afternoon, hopefully it is something easy I can do myself. I can do iPhones and computers, but amplifiers look a bit more compicated like you say. hopefully the repair is not too much at a shop. The amp is 200 at bestbuy but I can get the same amp brand new on amazon for 130

 

[All_Logix 10+ year member]

If it is trashed, let me know, I can give you some options on much better amps for not much more

 

[tomstrong92]

Thanks, that would be great. I atually was doing the same. The nearest repair shop is a little far, I wont be that way until monday or tuesday. I decided to buy a pack of 30 amp fuses, thinking even though my fuses tested fine, maybe they are broken. Wishful thinking, they get here tuesday as well. So right after I come back from the shop. I looked around inside for soot, visible severing of the components, smell, and nothing seemed wrong. I tested it out in the other vehicle and it still would not power on. Next time I get the chance I will take ohm readings between all the prongs on the board.

I was looking at the

Kenwood Excelon X500

Alpine MRP-M500 and the Alpine MRX-M50

Rockford Prime R500

JBL GTO 501EZ

MTZ TD500

I have two Kicker Comp12s wired at 2 ohms

 

[All_Logix 10+ year member]

Lets see...I have not had a whole lot of luck with kenwood amps, but haven't used them in a while, the alpine is actually a pretty good little amp for the cost and the JBL might be worth looking into. I have practically no experience with their amps outside of the MS series. I would steer away from the RF prime though. look into these....

JL jx500/1

Polk PA600.1

Kicker ZX400.1

These are by no means high end but they are affordable and fairly reliable

 

[Chris t camp]

Unfortunately my friend I am going to have to agree with Kenwood Tech on this one and say something is shorted within the amplifier. And to put your mind at ease MOST amplifiers do ground their chassis, which is why it isn't a good idea to mount it to the vehicles metal, it will attempt to use the amp chassis like a ground wire. If you have a good ground and you are getting power on the remote wire and power wire and nothing happens, there is something wrong with the amp.... If I had to guess I would ask exactly how you removed it from your previous vehicle. There are a lot of stories of people who remove the fuse from the power wire and not the negative on the battery first and this can cause problems.

 

[Chris t camp]

I'm having a similar problem kind of like your having dude except my problem is my amp is getting power but when I hooked my sub to it and turned my head unit on I heard a thump assuming that the amp kicked on and while I was tuning the head unit I started smelling burnt electricity so I looked back there and smoke was coming out of the port of the sub box I rushed back there to the sub and it was stuck so I unhooked it and it unstuck so I'm thinking the amp fried it it's only a 2000.1 apm audio pipe the sub supposed to be 1500 rms dvc4 I made a noob mistake by not setting all the knobs to zero before turning it on so then I go and get another one of my older subs hook it to the amp speaker terminals and it did the same exact thing idk I'm puzzled because never had this happen before I got to thinking because I mounted the amp to the floor in front of the sub with screws and was thinking that it may have grounded the amp out and caused that I got the back of the amp off looking at all the insides of it and it clean and no visible burnt spots nor does it smell burnt if anybody could give me some advice if I should try it again since I've in mounted it from the floor or just get another amp I hope that it didn't mess the subs sq up or anything for that matter tia.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

thinking because I mounted the amp to the floor in front of the sub with screws and was thinking that it may have grounded the amp out and caused that

Mounting the amp to bare metal is not an issue. The entire case is grounded just like your radio.
You can connect a multimeter to the subwoofer output to do some testing. First disconnect the RCAs and turn on the amp. With the multimeter set at AC volts, see if you are getting any power. If no, then turn off the amp and plug in the RCAs. Run it again and post the results.