Well I had a crappy SPX audio set up. The amp would die for like a couple seconds then come back on every now and then, I never bothered fixing it or complaining about it since I got it all for 100 bucks, subs, amp, box everything. Anyway. The other day it died for good. So I figured the amp must have died. So I get a new Kenwood Amp + sub combo, 400 watts, 200 bucks on sale from 300. I wired it all up but its still a no go. Amp doesn't even turn on. The remote wire appears to be in correctly but i'm not 100% sure. I tried using a volt meter to see if maybe theres a break in the power cable but idk how to use a volt meter Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could possibly be? or how can I do various things to test for the issue.

 

check the fuse on the power cable.
Next try setting the volt meter to where it says VDC. This test for dc voltage. Touch the red lead to the power wire and the black to ground, you should see something around 12 - 13 Volts.
Next turn on your radio and touch the red lead to the remote turn on and the black to ground. You should see 12 - 13 volts again.
Next make sure you have the ground wire attached to a good ground.

Let us know what you find

 

should I check it with the car turned on? I believe I used the VDC setting but I only saw something like 6.5v. my car wasn't turned on tho.

 

^^^what he said. The volt meter will let you know where the problem is. I had a similar problem and it ended up being the fuse. i didnt disconnect the power cable before the install.

 

To test the constant power cable, Car can be off. Doesnt matter as that wire is live or "on" all the time. The remotoe wire usually blue, has to be tested with the car on. It is a remote that literally is triggered by turning the car on which then signals the amp to turn on. After you do both of those tests, check the fuse on the constant power cable usually red in color.

If you check everything i mentioned above and its still a no go, then check your ground. Make sure its a good ground and is grounded to the body of the car. The shorter the ground cable, the better the ground.

And if all that fails you then its a problem with your rca cables if your running a after market radio. If running stock radio, then it could be your line output converter which can usually be found behind the radio.

Hope that helps!

 

It could be the RCA cables? I thought that couldn't be the problem since the Amp itself doesn't turn on. Its not like it turns on and just no music. The little power light doesn't light up. I'll check all that stuff tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out. Driving around with no subs sucks.

 

I totally forgot that you said the amp doesnt even power on... It has to be one of these three wires then or a fuse: Power, Ground, Remote. Check those then also check the fuses on the amp itself

 

hmmm aright. I'll replace the fuse with a new one, I got plenty layin around and check out the remote and power wire tomorrow.

 

I changed fuses and it still doesn't turn on. Lets say I check both wires and get 12v. what else could it be? I believe when i checked with the volt meter, it read 6v. whats the problem if thats the case?

 

which read 6V the power wire or the remote turn on wire?

if you check both wires and get 12v, it could be a couple other things.

1.) A bad ground connection. Switch you volt meter over to Ohms setting. Touch one lead to the end of the ground wire, and the other to metal on the car. You should see a short, or a few ohms at most.
2.) Make sure you have all three wires in the amp at the right spot. power to 12+ terminal, remote to remote, and ground to ground. I know this sounds like a no brainer but I've seen this a few times, and even have done it myself when I wasn't paying attention.
3.) A bad amp.

 

both. I think they did atleast. too dark to recheck now but when I was playing around with it earlier, it read 6v. I got a funny feeling that its got something to do with my ground. I'm gonna grab the dremel tomorrow morning and grind at the metal under my ground i have now. I have the ground bolted up under the little tire hook thingies under those plastic tabs by the seats.

 

Nice, Another good place to ground it that I found was on the bolts that hold the rear seats in place.

 

Subs are back up and running. I took the volt meter, Touched the positive to the batt and the negative to the ground and got 9v. Then I moved the negative to the latch and got 12v. Repeated for the remote and got the same thing so i knew it was the ground. So I took out the back portion, took a dremel to my grounding point, got some of that paint off there, put a new ring terminal on the ground wire and now its all back up and running . Thanks for your help guys, This is why i love SL.

 

Nice! thats the word I was looking for... ring terminal! Thats what I used for my grounding my amps. They work like a charm. Glad to hear your bumpin again!