Can Oxidation in ground/power wires cause an amp to not work?

[Bluebullet1004]

Can an oxidized power and ground wire cause an amp to turn on but not play sound? Because the amp I have hooked up right now, the light indicating that the amp is on is on and the protection light is not but I'm not getting any sound or anything going to any of the two speakers or subwoofer that's hooked up. I have troubleshot the problem down to where it has to be something in the power, ground, or remote wires. Could it be that the amp is getting power, just not enough power to actually do anything? Or that it's grounded but just not well enough because of oxidation or some other situation?

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[tc300 10+ year member]

I would change it anyway....

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

If the negative battery terminal is corroded, this may well mean the grounding of your amp and/or chassis to negative terminal is not large enough for the power you are trying to draw.

 

[Bluebullet1004]

I've checked and cleaned the battery terminals and still, nothing. I also forgot to mention that I have a second, much smaller amp hooked up also that does work. The smaller one I think is about a 50watt two channel and the bigger one is a brand new polk audio pa660 four channel. The smaller one causes my speakers to sound fuzzy though so I don't actually have that one wired to my speakers right now.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

if the amp is on then the connection is not the reason it doesn't have sound. RCA's can cause no sound, a short in the speaker output for the amp or even the head unit.

oxidation happens to all exposed copper. auto parts stores sell a connection protector that can prevent it.

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

Yes very possible on many amps if the remote is hooked up but nothing else is the light on the amp will come on .

If you have a dmm check your power wire with your - on the ground if you have 12 v your next check should bee the rca's if you have 12v comming from the power wire and a good ground AND your rca's are sending a signal from the hu to the amp check the ohm load of your speaker wire to see if a speaker wire is broke/disconnected if all that is good and all fuses are good you might have an amp issue

 

[bumpasauras 10+ year member]

Sounds like a grounding and/or a broken/disconnected rca