Help! I messed up on my amp and it's not working now

[peanut]

I had someone put in my amp so i didn't do it and i wanted a new amp and it looked easy enough to replace.. so i disconnected the negative battery wire and start to take apart the wiring from the amp.. When i put the screwdriver to the Red Wire it sparked!! Sh*t!! I didn't have the right socket to unscrew the Postive wire so i said Screw it and continue to take apart the wiring..

No sparks after that.. anyways to make it short.. I tried to put the old amp back but now there is no power.. (yes i did connect the wiring wrong) Did i short the Amp or just the Red Wire that connects to the battery??? I connected it back ok but nothing!! what can i check for??


For the Ground, it's the black wire.. that's ground ok, The middle part is for the skinny blue wire that connects from the Wiring from the stereo section... and last is the "12 Wolt Postive" slot for the Red Wire that connects from the Battery.. right?? and of course the two plugs that goes from the CD player to the amp.. ???? what can i do or check?? that is the correct wiring right??

[donz]

could have blown a fuse.. check the fuses, sometimes there is one on the back of the amp if you don't have an inline one.... if not, am is pretty messed.

[peanut]

nope Not the fuse, i pulled it out and it's still attached.. a broken fused is like snapped right???

The installation is correct right?? Then what is up?? No way can a little spark ruin a amp? The power light is not on.. There is no way that the Red Wire can be broken or brunt right??


The wiring is right Right?? Black cable is grounded, the skinny blue wire is connected from the wiring in the Stereo Area and the Postive 12 Volt spot is for the Red Cable that goes to the battery???

[Moe Man]

check the fuse that is on the amp,then check the one in the engine bay.if both are ok then i dont know what happen

[Weapon_R]

You should have a fuse on the power line from your battery to your amp. Check to see that it's still okay. Next, check to see that your amp fuses are fine. It sounds like a blown fuse somewhere.

[peanut]

Thanks for all your help guys!! what is this about a fuse from my powerline?? is the powerline the big thick Red Cable?? I don't have that.. He just hooked it straight from my battery onto the amp... what do i buy? is it the same as a In line fuse??

but is the Power Cable (the red one) good.. I don't have to worry about buying a new Power Cable because it don't get burnt out right???

thanks for all your help!! How can i test the Red Cable to see if it is alive?? I put a screwdriver on the exposed end of the cable and no spark??

[ZMan2k2]

Dude, you're scaring the hell out of me, the way you're testing for power on your + connection.

Anyways, pop the hood, and locate the positive on the battery. There should be two wires connected to it. One is the main vehicle connection to the alternator, usually black or wrapped in some sort of hose cover. The other one should be your amp lead. About 18-24 inches from the battery there should be an in-line fuse. It'll be a glass fuse in a plastic casing. Take a look at it, and see if it's blown.

Hope that helps.

[nine8civicSi]

thats definately the inline fuse saving your ass from blowing your amp! unless that is you dont have an inline then you might be fucked, if thats the case, get your amp bench tested and hope for the best!

[hjr]

you should ALWAYS disconect your battery when doing ANY work with the electronics of a car. You may just be fucked.

[nine8civicSi]

Originally posted by hjr
you should ALWAYS disconect your battery when doing ANY work with the electronics of a car. You may just be fucked.

or you could just disconnect the inline fuse on your power wire so theres no power going to it!

[soupey]

or u cud come meet me or go meet ur friend and i can tell either should b able to tell u if its dead within minutes, lol

[peanut]

that asshole didn't connect no inline fuse to my battery thing!! He just hooked up the Red Cable straight from the battery to the amp.

I don't really know him.. He was talking to some guy in my class and was talking about his system and i ask if he could do amps. He said sure and i said I'll pay him to do it.. He said ok 100 bucks.. I said screw that i can have it professionally done.. $30 bucks.. he said ok and i went to get the parts..

man i feel like an ass!!! i could have give him $20.. it was so damn easy!!! (ps... later after we finished i was like "you wanted to charge me $100 for this easy shit???" He was like.. no no.. i would have gotten you the best amp cables and accessories for that.... not just the work..



ps. how can i test if the amp is dead or not???

pss. i put in a new 25 volt fuse (it's a different color but i think it should be the same) and nuthing happened :(

[soupey]

take 2 wires, attach one to the "Battery +12V" on ur amp, and the other to the "Remote" on ur amp....attach another wire from the amp's ground to a ground (either placing a wire under a bolt somewhere and scratching the paint off so that there is contact between the ground and the body of the car....or u can connect direct to the battery (-)....then attach the remote and 12+ wire to ur 12v power source....there should be a light or smthn to show that ur amp is working....if it doesn't turn on...then its probably toasted, altho its worth opening up and checkn to c if its a simple repair...my best advice to u is to check ALL ur fuses one more time.

good luck, pm me if u have any more questions

[nine8civicSi]

ps fuses are in amperes not volts....either way get ur amp bench tested!!! that will tell u all!!!

[Phuqu]

Originally posted by peanut
I had someone put in my amp so i didn't do it and i wanted a new amp and it looked easy enough to replace.. so i disconnected the negative battery wire and start to take apart the wiring from the amp.. When i put the screwdriver to the Red Wire it sparked!! Sh*t!!

You let the smoke out. :eek:

[SpeedStar]

I kind of did similar thing... When I was resinstalling my Amp my power cable coming from the battery touched the negative connector on the amp. Although I disconnected the power terminal from the battery, it had slid back over and was touching the posistive terminal w/o my knowlege until the above stated incident. I figured every was ok and continued to install the amp. But there is no singal from the sub when the stereo is on. The amp is still gettting power because the light is on but there is no signal from the sub. Any ideas?

[peanut]

i just got tired of this shit so i brought new cables and a new amp.. i was going to get it anyways to hook up two amps.. so i started to pull at the Power Cable adn guess what.. It did had a inlilne fuse!! it was a part of the cable so i missed it!! blown fused!!!!


ps i have a quick question.. i have installed a 4 channel amp but on the installation it had a pic of installing in Two RCA Cables?? WTF?? on the back of my stereo I only have two RCA outputs.. one is red and the other gray like.. What extensions or what do i have to buy to have two RCA Cables connecting to the 4 channel amp??



ps. felt darn good to have that Thump hitting against my back as i cruize!! thanks for all your help and suggestions!!!

[peanut]

Originally posted by SpeedStar
I kind of did similar thing... When I was resinstalling my Amp my power cable coming from the battery touched the negative connector on the amp. Although I disconnected the power terminal from the battery, it had slid back over and was touching the posistive terminal w/o my knowlege until the above stated incident. I figured every was ok and continued to install the amp. But there is no singal from the sub when the stereo is on. The amp is still gettting power because the light is on but there is no signal from the sub. Any ideas?

that happen to me too...

i would check the Remote Blue Wire to make sure it didn't come off on the stereo section..

make sure the postive and negative speaker wires is in the right spot on the Sub!!! i was drinking and did it opposite!! ha ha!! easy mistake...

make sure the RCA Plugs is in the right spot or plug in all the way..

check your highs or lows...

make sure all your wires is connected soundly.. that happen to me and i moved the thing and it worked!!!!

check your inline fuse.. that won't be it cuz you have power.. but you never know.. That's all from my experience when i install that damn amp like 20 times trying to fix it!!!!

[Zero102]

Hrm, only 2 pre-outs?... If you split the signal, you will have no fader control.
I don't know if that matters to you or not.
If it doesn't, radio shack and home depot (and probably rona) have RCA splitters. 1 female - 2 male. Run a single set of RCA cables to the back, then use the splitters at the back to make it into 4 channels. Cheaper than running 2 sets of cables and splitting at the front.
If you are running 2 amps, make sure to use one of the outputs from your 4 channel to go to the sub amp.
The other possibility is to buy an equalizer.
OR, you could use the speaker outputs on the deck, and a level converter (high - low), will turn your speaker outputs into RCA outputs.

Those are your best bets.

Good to hear you found the fuse.

Yeah, if the remote wire is on, and there is ground, but no +12V, the power light will come on, and it will really mess with your head.
Took me a long time to figuire out (well, 20 mins, for me that's a long time) when it happened in my last car.

[peanut]

Originally posted by Zero102
Hrm, only 2 pre-outs?... If you split the signal, you will have no fader control.
I don't know if that matters to you or not.
If it doesn't, radio shack and home depot (and probably rona) have RCA splitters. 1 female - 2 male. Run a single set of RCA cables to the back, then use the splitters at the back to make it into 4 channels. Cheaper than running 2 sets of cables and splitting at the front.
If you are running 2 amps, make sure to use one of the outputs from your 4 channel to go to the sub amp.
The other possibility is to buy an equalizer.
OR, you could use the speaker outputs on the deck, and a level converter (high - low), will turn your speaker outputs into RCA outputs.

Those are your best bets.

Good to hear you found the fuse.

Yeah, if the remote wire is on, and there is ground, but no +12V, the power light will come on, and it will really mess with your head.
Took me a long time to figuire out (well, 20 mins, for me that's a long time) when it happened in my last car.


thanks for your help!! so let me get this straight.. A good CD player has two sets of RCA holes in the back? I have a Kenwood 45 Watt and it only has one set of RCA Holes (the Red and Gray)

a good CD Player should have two sets of RCA Holes??? i got a RCA Y cable.. that is useless right?? i should just return that right? what is that good for?


ps. i rather go to walmart or Home depot F Radio Shack I HATE their salespeople they look all depressed and mean all the damn time!! what is wrong with those sucky Radio Shack people!! i'm glad they stop asking for my phone number and address for a stupid cable!!!

[Zero102]

RCA Y cable... that sounds like what you need (I don't know exactly what it's called).
It will be 1 female plug - 2 male plugs.
Well, you need 2 of them, but that's what the cables should be.

Yeah, most mid-range decks have 2 sets of pre-outs, and when you get closer to the high-end decks, you will get front/rear and sub pre-outs.
That's alright though. I never use the fader control personally, so I wouldn't miss it.

I hate radio shack as well. They are always so rude there. Like they have the best jobs in the world.

I bet walmart would have one, proly just as cheap, if not cheaper than anywhere else.

Hope you get this thing hooked up and going soon.