How to diagnose a short in the remote turn on wire

[mcganz121]

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting on this forum. It looks like it is full of great info.

Cliffs:

-The setup has been problem free for over a year. All wires are correct and neat

-Car has been hard to start prior to replacing battery

-An intermittent loud pop would come out of the speakers and sub when the HU turns on (I believe this is due to the amps already being powered while the car is off)

-Replaced battery. New battery dies the next week. AAA tests the system and everything checks out.

-I look in the trunk and notice that the power light is on for both amps while the ignition is off, therefor draining the battery

-I removed the fuses from each 12v power wire for about a week.

-I replaced the fuse for the 4 channel amp and everything is fine so far... I am thinking there is a short in the amp for my sub.

Could I have burned out the remote wire relay in the HU since I am running two amps? I believe the remote is being shorted, but it is acting correctly at the moment (tested with a test light). If there was a short, I wouldn't think that this would be intermittent? I think I could find out what is shorting if the problem was constant.

Head unit is an alpine 9886

Click to read more...

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

With the car off, and the amps on are you sure the remote wire is wired correctly? Are there any strands of wire from the POS input on the amp touching the remote input?

 

[BrownVanMan 10+ year member]

my guess is maybe you hooked up the wire to the constant 12v?

 

[BrownVanMan 10+ year member]

are the 4ch and sub amp on the same wire from behind the deck? have you tried leaving the power and ground hooked up to sub amp and then removing the remote wire?

 

[mcganz121]

Thanks for the responses... There are no wire strands bridging the inputs on the amps. I have both remote inputs for the amps hooked up to the blue wire with white stripe on head unit harness.

My goal is to disconnect the remote and see if the amps stay on; however, I can't because the issue is not present at the moment.

Perhaps I should run one of the remotes to a cigarette lighter or similar?

 

[mcganz121]

*Update

Popping sound when turning on the car is gone with the amp for the sub disconnected. The 4ch amp on the speakers is turning on and off properly.

I am starting to think that this is a fault with the amp for the sub.