Can't get subs to work.

[kevinpcasey]

This was my first install but i had a few of my friends hold my hand
the whole way through it. I already had a headunit installed in my 01'
hundi accent so i though it would be easy work i was very wrong. I
bought 2- 10" kicker subs in an enclosure from a friend and he tested
them for me and they work. I also bought a new Legacy LA290 400 Watt
High Performance 4 Channel Amplifier offline and i bought a wireing kit
aswell. I wired everything up correctly and it doesnt work. no sound or
power to my amp. and all of my fuses are working i checked them i even
hooked the wire directly to the positive terminal no luck though. all
of my wireing is good and i still get no power to the amp what is
wrong? i also have a jbl amp that is a higher wattage then the other
one but also wont power up but it works in my friends car i soo anger
by the whole ordeal i spent three days on this for nothing

[winkenstein]

Where are you grounding your Amplifier?

should be on a good solid, clean, point of the car chassis
make sure that you've scraped the paint away down to clean metal,
or if your mounting the amplifier on the back seats, then a seat bolt
should be a good grounding point.

[winkenstein]

also, did you remember to run a remote turn on lead from the headunits
remote wire back to the turn-on lug at the amp?

[kevinpcasey]

i did both of those

[KU40]

if you're using a subwoofer preout on the deck, it may just be turned
off on a setting. but if there is no power at all to the amp (no
lights come on), check the voltage of the power and remote wires at the
amp with a DMM, make sure they both read 12+


--
KU40

[kevinpcasey]

Whats a DMM?

[kevinpcasey]

what's a DMM?

[Matt Ion]

kevinpcasey wrote:
> what's a DMM?
>

Digital Multimeter.

Available cheap at just about any electronics supplier (Radio Shack, etc.) and
most auto-parts stores.

[[email protected]]

Matt Ion wrote:
> kevinpcasey wrote:
> > what's a DMM?
> >
>
> Digital Multimeter.
>
> Available cheap at just about any electronics supplier (Radio Shack, etc.) and
> most auto-parts stores.

[brianlanning]

kevinpcasey wrote:
>I wired everything up correctly and it doesnt work. no sound or
> power to my amp. and all of my fuses are working i checked them i even
> hooked the wire directly to the positive terminal no luck though.

Something else to check... I had a similar problem with my install a
few weeks ago. It turned out that the fuse in my inline fuse holder by
the battery. It wasn't blown, but it somehow wasn't making contact.
I'm still not sure why. I replaced the fuse and it fixed the problem.

Attach the amp to your battery directly, like in the engine
compartment, and make sure it powers up. Then follow the wires all the
way back to the trunk. Any intermediate connection is suspect. The
digital multimeter like someone else suggested is a good idea. I used
it to diagnose my problem.

In the trunk, if you short the remote turn on lead to the positive
power wire coming from the battery. If the amp turns on, you know it's
the remote turn on lead that's a problem. If the amp doesn't turn on,
you know it's the power or ground wire.

When you get a multimeter, here somethings to do:

You should be able to see the +12 volts appear and disappear on the
remote turn on lead when you turn the head unit on and off.

Measure the voltage across the power and ground wires in the trunk.
That should be around 12 volts. If it's not, there's a weak connection
somewhere. Measure the voltage at various locations excluding pieces
of the system. For example, if when you measure across the power and
gorund wire, it's 0 volts, or something a lot lower than 12, run a
separate ground wire outside the car back to the battery, then measure
the voltage across the power wire and this new ground. If the voltage
is good now, you know it's the ground wire in your trunk. If it's
still bad, you know it's the power wire.


brian