system use to work, now doesn't. very confused.

[vfallen44]

so a while back i bought a whole system and wired it myself and it worked great. recently the mono amp and sub went due do being wet. bought the same sub and a different, but similar mono amp and wired it exactly how it was and it worked good. next day started my car and realized both amps were not on. confused but figured a wire must have came loose. no wires were loose and no fuses were blown. head unit still turns on but the amps just... don't turn on. i checked the remote wire and it's perfectly connected to where it needs to be. i bridged a wire from the power to the remote and both amps turn on, but they don't stay on, they kinda turn on off on off on off etc. in a steady pattern. i'm extremely confused and don't know what the problem is. any advice would be appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[Justin braaapp]

What stuff do you have? what's your electrical like what subs amps do you have how is your setup wired? This would all help us give you an answer

 

[big scott]

sounds like a voltage issue,.

so you say you bridged the remote wire to the power wire at the amp?? and when you do it turns off and on ??

i would check your voltage at the amps, and your remote wire coming off your radio.

what do you have??

how many amps do you have?

also check your amp grounds.. make sure the surface is clean of paint, and make sure they are tight.

 

[vfallen44]

sub is a polk audio 12" dvc 4ohms - db1240DVC - Polk Audio

amp is an alpine 500watt mono - Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

other amp is a kenwood, not sure about those specs.

subs are wired like this - http://images.crutchfieldonline.com/ca/learningcenter/car/subwoofer_wiring/1DVC_4-ohm_mono.jpg

all other wiring is exactly how it should be. nothing changed but the mono amp. the system even worked too then next day just didn't turn on

 

[vfallen44]

yes when bridged at the amp they turn on and play the cd i have in my head unit, but the amps just turn onn and off, almost like a blinking effect like on, off, on, off every half second. i have a mono amp for subs and 4 channel for speakers.

 

[big scott]

do it again and wiggle the wires at the amp and see if you can get it to do it . im thinking you have a loose wire.

but also check your voltage at your amps. you have a dmm ?

also if all that works out good, pull the wires off your mono amp and play your system. it may be your amp. like if you do that and your system plays fine well your amp is not good.

 

[big scott]

also did you set that mono amp right ?? how did you set it ?

 

[Justin braaapp]

Just take your wires out of the amp look for any corrosion on the wires do that big scott said an wiggle your wires around on the amp and see what happens. check your grounds, all the paint should be scrapped off where its grounded and you should have good connection on the ring terminals meaning no corrosion or loose ring terminals. Just for the sake of it try to run a remote wire to the back of the headunit instead of jumping it from the power terminal to the remote terminal. If the amp works fine then it is an issue with the wires somewhere. I actually had a similar issue when I was trying to just rig some stuff up in my truck. I tried jumping the remote from the power terminal and the same thing happened to me. What had happened with mine was The remote wire just wasn't making good connection on the power terminal so I fidgeted with it and got it to work fine however I personally prefer my remote wire to be hooked up to the headunits remote wire but that is just my 2 cents

 

[vfallen44]

so i measured my voltage and found some interesting results. when the head unit is off i get about 11.5 volts at the power and nothing at the remote turn on... when the head unit is on my power voltage jumps to about 200(if that's even possible, not sure if i was reading it right) and the remote has about 11.5 on it.

 

[Justin braaapp]

how are you measuring the voltage? With a dmm I assume but what setting are you using because something is wrong there. Where are you checking your voltage at and why are you checking voltage on the romote wire?

 

[Justin braaapp]

Take the dmm set it to DC voltage and put the positive lead on the positive battery terminal and the negative lead on the negative terminal. When the car is off it should read about 12.5 which is normal resting voltage, anything bellow would insinuate your battery isn't holding a proper charge. when the car is on you should be idling at 14.4 or around there with your system turned down obviously

 

[vfallen44]

power to ground

remote to ground

i have an old non-electric voltage reader, i set it to dcV (other options are dcMA and acV, not sure what they mean) and the measuring scale is a little weird to me. it goes something like this...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 l l l l 15 l l l l 20 llll25,30,40,50. etc the scale gets smaller and smaller the more left it goes and the needle just jumped left to the max basicly.

 

[vfallen44]

so when my car is off my battery is reading about 15.8V and when the car is on it's at 14

 

[Justin braaapp]

so when my car is off my battery is reading about 15.8V and when the car is on it's at 14

Something is way wrong there man when you're car is on you should read at 14.4 ish idling and when its off you should read at 12.5 ish.. hopefully you're just taking the readings wrong and there isn't a bigger problem. But when I had the issue of my amp turning on and off like you it had nothing at all to do with my voltage

 

[vfallen44]

i know the voltage is higher when the car is off. I've had battery problems before but i didn't think it had anything to do with why my sound system isn't working, especially since it worked a day ago. ill try re-wiring my remote and securing my grounds and what not and look into this battery deal. thanks for all the help guys!