Power drop at remote wire

[Litoffsnozzberry]

Hello new to the site hope i am posting in the right section!

so I recently installed a kicker cx800 amp woth two 10 inch kicker comp r subs and it was woring fine for a week but now it is tripping the red port? light. amp won't play any audio. as soon as I turn the key its already in protection mode. I tested all connections and there isn't any voltage drop in the power cables and ground is good. used a multi meter and a high quality test light for ground. my remote wire tests at 14v with car and audio on, but when plugged in drops to 6volts. also attempted jumping power from main wire to remote and still tested 4-6 voltage and than power and neg tested at 6 volts. it starts to climb back to 12.8 when i detach the remote wire! I'm think it's the amp or I grounded the remote wire out when I tucked it? any help is appreciated!

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

as soon as I turn the key its already in protection mode.

So without any speaker wires or RCAs connected it powers up into protect even when jumping 12+ to the REM terminal? If so your amp is broken and nothing in there is really user serviceable.

 

[Firewalker]

Is it just me or is that remote turn on wire stuck in the positive amp connection? If so why did you do that it goes to the back of the head unit where there is a blue-white or blue remote turn on wire that you connect that to. If you connected it to the positive amp connection chances are you sent too much voltage through it and fried the amp.

 

[dragon.breath 10+ year member]

Check the power connection at the battery, and the fuse at the battery. I have seen a bad connection that would show voltage but not be connected well enough to actually allow enough amperage through to make the amplifier work.
If that is not the problem, it sounds like a bad amplifier.

 

[Firewalker]

If you save that photo and zoom in it looks like it is connected to the positive amp connection unless my eyes are playing tricks on me.

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

If you save that photo and zoom in it looks like it is connected to the positive amp connection unless my eyes are playing tricks on me.

yes I did that after, sorry. to test my remote wire. re.ote wire is a 16awg wire running from my rote harness on my headunit. blue and white spliced in and ran along my sill plates. reads 14v before plugin 6v after. I DID THIS JUST TO TEST MY AMP BECAUSE THATS A CONSTANT 12V POWER.

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

So without any speaker wires or RCAs connected it powers up into protect even when jumping 12+ to the REM terminal? If so your amp is broken and nothing in there is really user serviceable.

no I haven't disconnected all wires yet. I'll try that now and see. Thank you!

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

Check the power connection at the battery, and the fuse at the battery. I have seen a bad connection that would show voltage but not be connected well enough to actually allow enough amperage through to make the amplifier work.
If that is not the problem, it sounds like a bad amplifier.

the fuse was a little jenky. it's an inline and the insulation was exposed a little so I put electrical tape to insulate it because it had a weird inline twist connector not two studs like I'm used to.

 

[Deiimos]

If you’re dropping 12v with remote applied, it sounds like you have a bad connection, fuse, fuse holder, etc. From 12v down to 5v would be a very large amount of current being drawn if that amp was pulling it down from being blown, so I’d lean towards wiring at this point, bad connections.

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

So without any speaker wires or RCAs connected it powers up into protect even when jumping 12+ to the REM terminal? If so your amp is broken and nothing in there is really user serviceable.

I I got a brand new amp and it is still doing the exact same thing.

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

so I disconnected my ground for the parking brake figuring that might of been an issue it worked properly before that ground and that wasn't it. checked the connection on the head unit and it was still capped perfectly for the remote. do I have to splice in the blue white remote wire and the power antenna, with my remote wire to the amp or just the blue white remote cable from the harness to my remote wire to amp? I currently have my remote from my amp and the blue white remote turn on capped together.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

If you save that photo and zoom in it looks like it is connected to the positive amp connection unless my eyes are playing tricks on me.

Bruh he said he jumped the remote to test. And since he got the same result that rules out the remote wire.

 

[Slo_Ride 5,000+ posts]

Take the amp. Wire it straight to the battery. Positive and remote to positive and negative to negative. No speaker wires no rcas. If it still does it it's amp problem.

 

[Litoffsnozzberry]

Take the amp. Wire it straight to the battery. Positive and remote to positive and negative to negative. No speaker wires no rcas. If it still does it it's amp problem.

I exchanged the old amp with a brand new amp. and the problem still persits. I removed my dash again to check connection.i also removed a parking brake wire that I grounded to the metal frame around the radio. where the screws that hold it in go. still lit a red light.

 

[Deiimos]

One thing to keep in mind is, the main power wires you installed (red / black 4 gauge or whatever size it is), anyway, it passes high current from the battery straight to the amp. This wire simply can’t show 5 or 6 volts unless it has a bad connection somewhere along its run. Typically at the terminals and or fuse holder. Or heavily overloaded to where it is ready to catch fire.

If something were shorted pulling those 4 gauge wires down to 6v, you would be passing huge current through them with that much voltage drop and you would blow a fuse or melt your wiring, neither seems to be happening so a bad connection and or fuse is a more likely culprit.

Looking at the voltage your meter is showing, 4.69v, it’s got to be a bad fuse / holder, or a faulty connection somewhere. A bad amp just can’t cause this, they either blow fuses or just don’t work right, but it isn’t going to pull the 4 gauge wire from 12v to 4v without popping a fuse or getting super hot in the process. I don’t think it is an amp problem based on what I’m seeing.

Post photos of your wires where they connect to ground, and to the battery, what kind of terminals are on the red / black wires, also some of the fuse holder, and close up of the fuse you are using.

I don't belive your remote wire has anything to do with the problem. To test just the remote wire, unhook it at the amp, and measure it by itself with the head unit off / on, if you get roughly 11- 12v, it's plenty to turn the amp on. Black meter probe at the amps ground terminal or cars chassis, red meter probe on just the remote wire disconnected from the amp.