Help save our vacation!

[Swanson]

Hello all! I hope i can get some help from you guys. We are leaving on vacation tues morn but i have an issue. We were planning on taking the wifes yukon xl due to the tvs that were installed by the previous owner. Taking all 5 kids on this trip (3 under 5) so i am praying i can get some help to save me from going insane.

So everything worked just fine and then out of nowhere the speakers just stopped working. No sound at all. Radio is powered and seems to be just fine. But no sound at all. It has a a pioneer radio with gps and movie playing functions. It also has tweeters as the only source of speakers. The previous owner took what i assume were subwoofers out of the far back storage area. Sounds like all the factory speakers are either removed or disconnected. Under the pass middle row seat is a battery. A buddy of mine said the tweeters may be powered by that battery and the battery (kinetik 1800) was dead. I removed it and am slowly charging her back up. 2 hours into charge and 28%. Usually my charger gives me a bad battery reading on screen after 30 40 min if it is bad.

Tweeters only is a bit annoying but the kids dont notice when frozen or lion king are playing. All the wiring is there to just add a sub and i have been thinking maybe i will get lucky and order a nice sub and i will be plug and play. Im not usually that lucky though. I have 3 kids in baseball right now and coaching on 2 of the teams. Time is not my friend right now to upgrade. Its for sure on the list though.

Anyway for right now assuming it is the battery and it may be dead and need replacement, what are my options to hit that goal of sound on vacation? I just need those tweeters to work! I dont mind getting another battery but do i need that 1800 model? I dont know the specs of the tweeters or how to gauge what i need for what i have. Can i google for a smaller battery? If so any guess as to what size?

Thanks and happy fathers day to all you fellow dads out there!

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[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

There should be more than just tweeters hooked up. Are there larger speakers in the doors by your feet?

As far as batteries, just get an AGM battery that will fit in your vehicle. Standard batteries vent poisonous gas when charging, but AGM's should not under normal conditions. Was the Kinetik just wired in parallel with the battery under the hood? If so, check the front battery too.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

agams charge weird and u need to charge on low power.. but the battery don't power speakers man, gotta be an amp somewhere.. is there a wire on battery under hood that runs to that battery? does it have a fuse on it?, if so check the fuse if u change fuse and it works then u have an amp but u need to find that 1st.. could be bad hu or wire grounding behind it.. u gotta find out whats up with that 2nd battery., is there a wire running off that battery somewhere else if so find out where if nothing there but the end of the wire, then u don't need that battery at least not for speakers, u need to look for fuses and amp

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

I am so confused by this post.

Car ONLY has tweeters? Only tweeters playing would be terrible.

Rear battery died? Is it not hooked up to the front battery?

No amps?

 

[Swanson]

I am going to have to check on those things in the morning. I just reinstalled the battery after a 36 percent charge after about 8 hrs. The speakers did work after reinstall of old battery but it lasted about 20 min. So i guess this battery is toast. I just need some advice on what battery to replace it with power wise? The door speakers are hooked up they are blown though. Something i didnt notice till today. I dont drive this truck much nor does the wife. She puts on about 2000 miles a year taking kids to school and going to the store ect...This thing is low low milage. And again i bought it off a guy that had this thing bumping i assume.

The primary battery under the hood was replaced about 4 months ago. I put a gold rated battery in there from sears i think. The truck sat for 10 days and started right up just last week. I will take a picture after i get the kids to bed and walk the pup. I hope that will help. Wiring wise it has 2 pretty massive cables i assume go to the main battery. It has all kinds of wires in the loom. It also has some thick wires that run to the far back storage area that hooked up the sub box.

Any tips on where to get one of these batteries? If i am running 6 tweeters and assuming 4 door speakers what size battery do you guys suggest? Im just gonna get a new one in the morning.

These are the pains of buying a used vehicle i guess but it was a deal i couldnt pass on for what we need it for. Thank you for the responses and advice.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

The battery should not be dying if connected to the front battery. Must have a blown fuse in the power wire going from front battery to the rear battery.

You do not need a rear battery at all just running 6 tweeters and 4 door speakers. The previous owner probably had a good size amp for the subwoofers that required an extra battery. But there must be an amplifier somewhere running door speakers. A 4 channel amp can run of the stock front battery no problem.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

yeah did u says theres a sub box or ther was one? unless u are running a sub which based on the 200 miles a yr i'd guess u don't give a crap about that.. so instead of worrying about battery u can buy some cheap speakers and take them to s stereo shop let them figure out how to reconnect speaker to the radio (u can buy cheap speakers at walmart keep reciept tell shop see if ones in truck will work if not install new cheap ones if u don't need them return them unopened)... u saw wires under hood if fuse in holder on the big power wire is gone thats y 2nd battery THAT U DON'T NEED AT ALL DIED..... wonder if he had speakers ran on amp and then took amp out thats y your speakers don't workand tweeters do they run off radio he amped the other speakers and removed amp u just need speakers reconnected to radio.. DO NOT BUY A BATTERY...

 

[Swanson]

Thanks for the input fellerz. ok so I went thru the truck late last night and found out more info. It does have a 1200 w 4 channel quantum amp under another seat.

It has 6 tweeters and 4 door speakers. Only the front are actually working and are blown to ****.

The amp is wired to battery. The battery is wired to the under hood battery.

I'm going to find the inline fuse now. But why would they be inop and then work after a slight charge? We heard the speakers fade away like not getting enough power.

I admit I feel lost in this situation. Not installing this myself and having little experience with this type of work doesn't help. I actually run an auto repair shop. We do zero audio work...zero. we can rebuild and install an engine in 2 days though. Haha. And I'm on vacation and they are slammed busy so I can't just roll up and I said we left Friday so I could get a couple extra days.....doh.

 

[Swanson]

I found a thick wire that comes thru firewall. It has kicker on it. It was tucked under ps pump for some reason. It is NOT connected to battery under hood. I will throw it on but not sure if I should attach it to pos or neg?

 

[DarkKnightSM]

I found a thick wire that comes thru firewall. It has kicker on it. It was tucked under ps pump for some reason. It is NOT connected to battery under hood. I will throw it on but not sure if I should attach it to pos or neg?

Before you go attaching that wire, trace it into the cabin, see where it goes. You dont wanna make a wire that could be touching bare metal, hot on the other end by attaching it to the pos lead on the battery. You own a auto shop and rebuild engines? This is basic stuff here and am a bit concerned for your customers. These are basic deduction skills for any field let alone car audio.

 

[DarkKnightSM]

You also said your amp was wired to the battery, the second battery? If your battery is not holding a charge, perhaps that wite you found may lead to the second battery. But trace that wire before you hook anything up. Ive worked on peoples cars before wih shoddy wiring jobs and never assume anything, i always look to see where the wires come from and go. And the amount of laziness and cheapness of some people amaze me. Ive seen wires spliced together with different gauge and different type of wire. Hot power leads that go nowhere, exposed just waiting to spark

 

[DarkKnightSM]

When people sell cars that had a aftermarket setup, half the time they rip half the stuff out. Amps, subs, crucial wiring. And forget to tell the buyer. It really ***** and is usually a pain to figure out what they did. It makes me wonder what kind of wiring they did behind the head unit as well, but thats not the point. If you really want to know whats going on with this car. Look around, at the amp, the batteries, under the dash or even behind the head unit, although might prove to be unnessary in this situation. If i had to guess. He ripped out the amp for the subs, and the subs themselves, leaving the amp for the rest of the speakers, let me ask, what kind of amp is this, 4 channel? 6 channel? Take pictures

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

I found a thick wire that comes thru firewall. It has kicker on it. It was tucked under ps pump for some reason. It is NOT connected to battery under hood. I will throw it on but not sure if I should attach it to pos or neg?

don't connect any wires man did u ever find a amp? u better off go to stereo shop tell them problem and have the look at it u gonna fry something important messing with stuff u don't understand.. #1 if that wire don't have a fuse on it under the hood and u hook it up (to + btw) u can fry stuff much more important than speakers.. u don't need 2nd battery for amp just on speakers get that removed and run wire straight from starting battery to amp.. or do as i said go to shop tell them to wire speakers back to radio problem solved..

 

[DarkKnightSM]

don't connect any wires man did u ever find a amp? u better off go to stereo shop tell them problem and have the look at it u gonna fry something important messing with stuff u don't understand.. #1 if that wire don't have a fuse on it under the hood and u hook it up (to + btw) u can fry stuff much more important than speakers.. u don't need 2nd battery for amp just on speakers get that removed and run wire straight from starting battery to amp.. or do as i said go to shop tell them to wire speakers back to radio problem solved..

Best advise ever ^^

 

[DarkKnightSM]

Last thing i really can say is... fixing other people car audio wiring mess is way harder then installing a full new system from a stock setting. It takes alot more work to figure out what others did or didnt do that might be hidden. If its simply for sound and you refuse to take this to a shop. Look behind the head unit, the wiring for the stock speakers should be back there. Typically people run 9 con wire from the amp to behind the head unit where you can connect to the stock speaker wires. A stock vehicles speaker wires get connected to the head unit, where the head unit powers the stock speakers. In this case they were seperated so the power can come from the amp. If you are confused about how amps work, power wires, fuses and so on, disconnect that 9 con wire from your speakers, hook your speakers back up to the head unit, match the colors together. I usually find that speaker wires are labeled, fron left + rear right pos etc. it can be hard to see but theyre there. If not l, look online for typicall speaker wire colors from front to back, left to right. Then match them up with the speaker power wires that come out of the head unit. Keep in mind this is JUST for the stock speakers, who knows where he ran the tweeter wires to. He may have just ran the tweeters....ugh, you see how involved this can be. Just take it to a **** shop lol

I do apoligiZe, i just now saw your post about the four channel amp.