Well I need to know if not grounding the high level input harness going to a amp would kill it!

had this harness grounded then took the car into (C230 Kompressor) the audio shop to get a cd changer installed, they yanked the box out and amp(reason unknown) and when i looked last this wire was disconnected and now amp does't work?

no fuses blown, shows 3V+ from ground terminal to 12V+ terminal with fuse in, take fuse out and I get 12V+

please some one help me here

 

well, lets put it simple...

First off, you need to have the same amount of ground as you do power, in other words, if you have a 4guage power wire, you need atleast a 4guage ground...

If your amp is improperly grounded, it will slightly turn on due to the power it is receiving from your RCA's and your REMOTE wire. Doesn't matter weather or not you have your main power wire connected or not, the amp will slightly turn on, but not enough to make boom! The best bet (from what I can read and picture in my mind from the situation you've painted) is to check the ground coming out from the amp. If it's not hooked up, then confusious says, that might be a problem! Also, are you using a Capacitor?

 

I dont think I really understand....

1 - what are you using to measure the voltage?
2 - where are you measuring the voltage
3 - I dont think you should be getting 3v on the ground
4 - I dont think you should be getting any voltage through the amp with the fuse out (or blown)
5 - Is the high level input power, or sound?

 

True, you should have the same wire size for both ground and wire, but length does not matter (much)... and you should not be putting voltage to your ground.

I could be completly wrong about this, but you should not be getting enough power from your RCA and Remote wire to turn the amp on. The remote is simply a signal wire, and the RCAs will NOT turn the amp on regardless.

If the ground is not connected properly your amp will not turn on. So yes, do check this.

 

My amp turns on slightly. the lights turn on. Nothing else though, and the lights are extremely low. It gives it enough power to power some lights.

 

Ok sorry I guess I wasnt clear here on the setup.

I have a 10 gauge power wire coming directly from fuse box
I have a 10 gauge ground wire coming from the central grounding spot in the trunk
I have a 12-14 gauge remote wire tapped into a acc fuse in fuse box
I AM NOT using RCA's but instead the high level inputs

I was measuring voltages with a digital multi-meter and not a cheap one either.

Its not a overally huge amp, only 600 watts max so everything I have here is correct for this amp, I have put in about 20 systems in about two yeas time and this is the first issue i have came accross and amp not working!

Also incase i wasnt clear this system here is in a Merceded Benz C230 Kompressor

 

I understand that it's fomr the Kompressor, but that really doesn't make a difference.

You have the power for the amp coming from the fuse box? Why not directly from the battery?
If you are using high level inputs, rather than RCA's then I am assuming that those are strictly for sound (sorry, I have only uses RCAs - my current amp uses RCA to S-video shileding cable), and I don't think you would want those grounded.

When you say that the amp doesn't work, are you saying that there is no sound, or it doesn't turn on?

 

Ok the amp wouldn't turn on. But guess what just tossed this into my TC and it magically works????

also i noticed that when the benz came back from the dealer lastnight and I went to hook it up and had no power got out the multi meter and low and behold half the fuse box was dead?

So now i dont have to buy another amp but instead i need to find out why it wont get power in the benz at the same time!

 

Once again, why are you going through the fuse box? Is this a stock amp?

If not, why are you not getting power directly from the battery?

But good job on getting it working (or at least finding out that it still works).

 

I ran it through the fuse box because its in the trunk and its a pita to get through the firewall on a benz.

But good news got it all working now, seems to of been a weak ground. and not sure why after i yanked it out and went to put it back in had this problem but w/e all works now!