Subwoofer Help ?!

[kurtis16]

Okay so I've had this sub in my car for about a year, I installed myself and everything went flawless for the most part.

Well, in the past couple month it would cut out so I would just go to my trunk, wiggle the sub and it would kick back on. Then last week I could not get it going to the life of me so i started checking wires. Saw my ground wire was getting hot and kinda burning the bottom of my seat since thats where its mounted on a screw designed for easy amp ground wire location. Anyways thought that was my problem so I got a new ground wire... Still nothing so i open up my sub box and use a multimeter to see if its getting power. Which it is, atleast the ohms were moving on the inside when connecting positive and negative of the multimeter.

Decided to put my sub in a buddy car connected to his amp to see if it would work.. it didn't so i assumed the sub blew since the wiring seemed fine. Whatever, decided to just buy a new sub and box since I've tried all I can think of, new sub does not work connected to the system either.

So what could be wrong here ?? I dunno what else to try.. Any help is great so please help me troubleshoot !!

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[blazian87 10+ year member]

Okay so I've had this sub in my car for about a year, I installed myself and everything went flawless for the most part.Well, in the past couple month it would cut out so I would just go to my trunk, wiggle the sub and it would kick back on. Then last week I could not get it going to the life of me so i started checking wires. Saw my ground wire was getting hot and kinda burning the bottom of my seat since thats where its mounted on a screw designed for easy amp ground wire location. Anyways thought that was my problem so I got a new ground wire... Still nothing so i open up my sub box and use a multimeter to see if its getting power. Which it is, atleast the ohms were moving on the inside when connecting positive and negative of the multimeter.

Decided to put my sub in a buddy car connected to his amp to see if it would work.. it didn't so i assumed the sub blew since the wiring seemed fine. Whatever, decided to just buy a new sub and box since I've tried all I can think of, new sub does not work connected to the system either.

So what could be wrong here ?? I dunno what else to try.. Any help is great so please help me troubleshoot !!

Sounds like a bad ground to me. How thick is your ground wire? 4 gauge? 8 gauge? If it's too thin, it will get too hot. You need to find a better location and scrap off the paint to bare metal. and possibly some better wire. Pictures of your ground location would help.

What new sub did you buy?

 

[kurtis16]

The kit I bought was an 8 gauge ground wire but i upgraded to a 4 just last week after i saw how hot it was getting. I can go take a pic pretty quick here to show. Just confuses me how sub didn't work in my buddy car and a different sub didn't work on this amp.

Also I was just going to buy a phoenix gold on kijiji but since it didn't work I didn't waste my time.

Any other suggestions you got other than ground I can try while I go take a picture ??

 

[kurtis16]

Sounds like a bad ground to me. How thick is your ground wire? 4 gauge? 8 gauge? If it's too thin, it will get too hot. You need to find a better location and scrap off the paint to bare metal. and possibly some better wire. Pictures of your ground location would help.
What new sub did you buy?

View attachment 26552489

I know it looks like its attached on paint but its not ??

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

View attachment 26552489
I know it looks like its attached on paint but its not ??

The floor looks really black. It would help if you cleaned the surface and grind as much as you can to bare metal near the hole. Tighten it as firmly as possible. It should not be loose whatsoever. Watch this video on how to make a proper ground.



So you said you tried your sub with your friend's system.. Did his sub work before you swapped it with yours? Did you try your new sub with his amp yet? Does he have a good ground as well?

What brand wire did you get? Is it true OFC 4 gauge wire? There's alot of bunk wire out there that might claim to be 4 gauge but is mostly rubber, and very little copper wire. Maybe you damaged your amp using the 8 gauge wire for so long?

 

[kurtis16]

The floor looks really black. It would help if you cleaned the surface and grind as much as you can to bare metal near the hole. Tighten it as firmly as possible. It should not be loose whatsoever. Watch this video on how to make a proper ground.

Ill try grinding paint off of it tmrw see if that works. But with a bad ground should the amp light be a lot more dim or show less voltage with a multimeter? Either way ill try a new ground spot and grind more paint off.

His sub worked fine when I unhooked his and swapped it with mine for the quick time being. Then worked again when i hooked it back up. And it was all with his amp.

Don't know the brand of the wire as I just bought it right from the local car audio store from the installation desk. He recommended the better ground and gave me what he said would be best. Seems legit as it's pure copper wire.

How would i tell if the amp is damaged with a multimeter? From what i can see all is well but maybe I'm not on the right setting at the right location.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

Ill try grinding paint off of it tmrw see if that works. But with a bad ground should the amp light be a lot more dim or show less voltage with a multimeter? Either way ill try a new ground spot and grind more paint off.
His sub worked fine when I unhooked his and swapped it with mine for the quick time being. Then worked again when i hooked it back up. And it was all with his amp.

Don't know the brand of the wire as I just bought it right from the local car audio store from the installation desk. He recommended the better ground and gave me what he said would be best. Seems legit as it's pure copper wire.

How would i tell if the amp is damaged with a multimeter? From what i can see all is well but maybe I'm not on the right setting at the right location.

I would keep your ground location since you already made a hole but clean it up better and grind it down to bare metal.

What is the impedance of your sub? and how did you wire it? Maybe there's a loose wire inside the enclosure? Make sure all your connections and wires are not loose.

You can't tell if the amp is damaged with a multimeter. Swapping amps would be the best way to check but before you do anything, get that ground done right.

 

[kurtis16]

I would keep your ground location since you already made a hole but clean it up better and grind it down to bare metal.
What is the impedance of your sub? and how did you wire it? Maybe there's a loose wire inside the enclosure? Make sure all your connections and wires are not loose.

You can't tell if the amp is damaged with a multimeter. Swapping amps would be the best way to check but before you do anything, get that ground done right.

Thing is I didn't instal the location of the grounding. Just a screw that was already there in my 98 golf and when I was looking up guidelines when installing at the beginning somebody said it was specifically there for the ground wire of an amp and people just said they used it so I went with it.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

there should be at least something written on the wire. If you really want help, you have to give more details of your whole system, subwoofer wiring, Amplifier settings, wire size etc... If you put your sub in your friend's system and it worked then its an amp/connection problem. As blazian87 already suggested, properly do your grounds, check your wiring make sure the wire connecting the subwoofer is not fried either, nor is the positive run to the amp.

 

[fly_marlin]

Don't mean to thread jack, but blazian...I wanna hear your car lol

OP, can you double check other connections on the amp? RCAs, power, speaker wire... Btw, is the power light even on?

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

Don't mean to thread jack, but blazian...I wanna hear your car lol
OP, can you double check other connections on the amp? RCAs, power, speaker wire... Btw, is the power light even on?

haha unfortunately my car was totaled a few months back so I currently don't have a system to listen to anymore //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif I ripped out all my equipment and it's sitting in my room now. I am preparing to buy another car soon for a SQL build. I CANNOT WAIT to start on it. lol

 

[fly_marlin]

haha unfortunately my car was totaled a few months back so I currently don't have a system to listen to anymore //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif I ripped out all my equipment and it's sitting in my room now. I am preparing to buy another car soon for a SQL build. I CANNOT WAIT to start on it. lol

Ah that is unfortunate. TCs get loud pretty easily, just put a PB 3XL into one and it's pretty loud. Not a lot of room to mount stuff though. Hope you get back into it soon!

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like you have a bad connection from the sub to amp.Possibly from sub to Post from inside,came loose as you stated it worked when wiggled, then later didnt, and swapped subs and vehicles,and didnt work in either vehicle,so you either have a Bad connection from sub to the Post internal,or not connected at all.Id take the sub out, and check the Ohm load on the sub, and check the connections on backside/inside the box and check the ohm load at the post as well, should all read the same, then check outside binding post/connections that go to amp,all should be same.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Okay so I've had this sub in my car for about a year, I installed myself and everything went flawless for the most part.Well, in the past couple month it would cut out so I would just go to my trunk, wiggle the sub and it would kick back on. Then last week I could not get it going to the life of me so i started checking wires. Saw my ground wire was getting hot and kinda burning the bottom of my seat since thats where its mounted on a screw designed for easy amp ground wire location. Anyways thought that was my problem so I got a new ground wire... Still nothing so i open up my sub box and use a multimeter to see if its getting power. Which it is, atleast the ohms were moving on the inside when connecting positive and negative of the multimeter.

Decided to put my sub in a buddy car connected to his amp to see if it would work.. it didn't so i assumed the sub blew since the wiring seemed fine. Whatever, decided to just buy a new sub and box since I've tried all I can think of, new sub does not work connected to the system either.

So what could be wrong here ?? I dunno what else to try.. Any help is great so please help me troubleshoot !!

Hmm.. maybe I read this a bit wrong..

#1 = Wiggle the sub, and it kicked back on= possibly loose connection

#2 =Ground wire hot burning seat= poor ground/too small of ground supply needed for amp

#3 = Checking Ohm oad with DMM,and all over the place?= No reading /bad reading, Blown sub??/Should read close to Coil ohm load a bit higher,or lower..not moving..

#4 = Put sub in buddys car not knowing what ohm load you are at?= Could have been at a lower ohm load than his amp could handle,and fry his? I would have told you go fvck yourself on that one

#5 =New sub,new box not working on existing system either?= No supply/power to sub,RCAs not hooked up,Blown fuse on amp,wiring issue on amp,HU settings not correctly set for sub amp...FRIED AMP

About all I can think of without more details of even if amp powers up at all/LED indicator working or not ect.

#6What could be wrong?

 

[kurtis16]

there should be at least something written on the wire. If you really want help, you have to give more details of your whole system, subwoofer wiring, Amplifier settings, wire size etc... If you put your sub in your friend's system and it worked then its an amp/connection problem. As blazian87 already suggested, properly do your grounds, check your wiring make sure the wire connecting the subwoofer is not fried either, nor is the positive run to the amp.

My sub didn't work on buddys amp, I've checked all my wiring and the only the ground wire seemed a bit fried but only cause it had melted seat on it so i got a new ground wire which use to be 8 gauge and now is 4 gauge but haven't been able to get the sub running since changing the wire. Also I got new +/- speaker wires from the amp to sub cause the guy at the installation shop suggested i get thicker wire so i did that as well. The 12v wire is 4 gauge and no fuse is blown. The brand is stinger 4 gauge 1750 amp wiring kit running a 700w mb quart amp with a 10in kicker comp dual voice coil 4-ohm sub.