Help! Did Big 3... I think I fried my HU

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

Okay... so I started doing my Big 3 yesterday, and I got one of the wires hooked up. The only thing that really went wrong was that I accidentally touched the alt + to a bolt on the frame (the NEG on the battery was not fully disconnected so it sparked for the split second it made contact) but when I got back into the car and the stereo sounded fine.

Today, I finished putting the remaining grounds in, and had my buddy help me to turn the subwoofer box facing inwards (checking for a difference in sound). I got back into the car, turned it on, and...

A horrible screeching/whining noise was coming from the front speakers, even with the HU in standby. I don't mean like a subtle noise, I mean it completely overpowered the music. Everything electrical that was running in the car could be heard whining through the speakers.

I figured it had something to do with either the Big 3, or maybe one of my RCAs, because it was playing fine yesterday. So I tried taking the Big 3 wires out, but the whine persisted. I switched RCAs, and the whine still persisted... I even disconnected my front stage amp (thinking it might've blown by the arcing) but even the SUBS were "crackling" in the same way that the front speakers were.

Figuring I had narrowed it down to my HU, my buddy pulled his car up and I ran his RCAs from his HU to my amp... and everything sounded perfectly fine!!

So did I really just blow my head unit? Is there anything else I can check before I go and drop money on another one?

Click to read more...

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

sounds like you cooked it.

step 1: unhook battery

 

[andrew2944r 10+ year member]

Sounds like somethings not hooked up right off the HU

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

Sounds like somethings not hooked up right off the HU

I didn't change anything at the HU level, the only thing I did was add the Big 3.

But still, even when that wire arced the stereo played fine all last night... it was only today that it starts acting up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

try running new RCAs

 

[Ken448 10+ year member]

Id check the RCA's are the fronts amped?

DOH missed by a few seconds //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

try running new RCAs

I thought about that but all 3 RCA wires are doing the same thing, and they all worked perfectly fine up until today //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

I thought about that but all 3 RCA wires are doing the same thing, and they all worked perfectly fine up until today //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

so swap in one new set and see if it fixes it.

 

[Ken448 10+ year member]

go buy a set of cheap RCA's and run em outside the car from your radio to the amps

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

I was thinking maybe running my buddies' RCA's from my HU to his amp/speakers to see if it caused his speakers to screech... that would just about narrow it down to the HU right?

 

[Ken448 10+ year member]

you dont want to risk frying your buddies speakers though!

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

you dont want to risk frying your buddies speakers though!

This is true.

 

[Linkz 10+ year member]

ground loop?

 

[CadillacMatt 10+ year member]

ground loop?

But we temporarily un-did the Big 3 and the noise was still there... no issues prior.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

If it is the head unit I will take it off your hands if you decide to get a new one.