For people who have their sub/amp in the cargo area... Where did you run your ground?

I am having some trouble with my system hook up, which has already blown two amps, my only question on the wiring is if my ground is okay. The voltmeter is showing a good ground, but I am curious where everyone else ran theirs. Post pics if possible

Thanks!

 

a multimeter will have some trouble determining what an amp might require for a good ground because of the differences in amperage that will flow through it. i grounded mine to the metal floorboard just to the right of the "bowl" that the spare sits in, right above the muffler. make sure you scrape the paint and stuff off so your wire is making good contact.

i dont know a whole lot about stereo stuff, but i would think a poor ground would simply cause distortion and poor power to the sub. is your sub setup the correct load for the amp? i know for sure you can blow an amp by hooking up something like a 2ohm load on a 4ohm rated amp.

 

Im no expert but losing grd shouldnt harm anything. Ive lost ground a few times to my infinity basslink due to very spirited driving and it shuts off. Like chang i went under the false floor to the spare well, used a small bolt from underneath as a ground stud.

 

I ran my ground to those clips (I believe for cargo net). I unbolted the clip, tested the spot, grounded fine, then bolted the ground wire there.

Its weird, I have hooked up many stereos in the past and never had a problem, but this one is causing me all kinds of grief and burned up two of my amps (one brand new).

I have the power wire ran through the factory grommet (on drivers side). The ground as mentioned above. First I hooked up the amp without the fuse in the power wire, then plugged in the fuse. got into the car, turned on the key and heard pop, pop... Shut it off right away went back and smoke coming out of the amp... fuses weren't blown.

So then I thought maybe its okay. Tried it again same way, this time everything lit up on the amp, but the protection light was on, no sound.

So I gave up for the nite, went back the next day with an amp from my other car... same thing, except as soon as I put the power wire fuse in, both fuses on the amp blew.

So this time I tried hooking up the wires with the power wire fuse in... put in the power wire... fine. Touched the ground to the amp (where it plugs in), and boom, both fuses blow.

So then I try again, this time plugging in the ground first, then power... no fuses blow, but amp smells burnt. I didn't try again assuming it already burned up two amps. I'm stumped.

 

That sucks man. No idea whats wrong there. One amp blowing is bad luck, but two? Something wacky going on...

 

Yeah, I just can't figure it out. My only thought is to try another ground. My power wire is hooked up exactly like the other posts on dash removal (like your write up). And it blew with only the power and ground hooked up (no remote wire or rcas), so it almost has to be the ground... unless somehow my power wire got cut while running it....

Yeah, I am pretty bummed out about it... made a nice fiberglass box, bought the paint to color match it to the car, painted it, etc. Ran all wires, got it looking really nice, then boom, two amps blown, still no stereo. And I can't figure it out.... Im scared to blow anymore amps (I only have one left). Which was the matching one to the second one I blew, so now my other car is going to have an odd amp, so that sucks too.... just my luck though.

 

if you blew an amp without even having the remote or RCA wires in, its gotta be something VERY simple. i would just be 100% sure you arent swapping the ground and the power wire on where they need to connect to the amp. trust me, ive made many stupid mistakes like that in the past, heh.

you could try running a new ground, but it makes no sense that it would blow your amp. if it was a poor ground connection, it would limit the amount of current to less than what would normally go through the amp.

damage to the power wire would only cause the amp to not turn on at all, or if it shorted out, it would blow the fuse up by the battery.

 

Those were exactly my thoughts... I don't know what it could be. I tried two amps and hooked them up four-five times between the two. I am 100% positive I didn't switch the wires. Its an easy mistake I know, but theres no way I would have made the mistake five times.

Good news is I have a new amp on the way, bad news is Im scared to hook it up after all this mess. I can't figure it out.

 

without being able to see the setup, i would at the very least, check these items:

1. measure the voltage between your power wire and groud wire, make sure it is reading +12v, give or take a volt or so. i know its unlikely to read any other amount, just check it for sure.

2. check the ohms between your ground wire (at the end that connects to the amp) and somewhere you know for sure is a good ground, like an exhaust hangar or something that is actually part of the frame. it should read almost zero, or say 'no load'.

i honestly cant think of anything else besides just two amps failing at the same time. it is somewhat odd you are blowing fuses though without the remote wire or RCAs even hooked up. the amp shouldnt do anything without the remote wire hooked up.

 

I checked both of those already, the power and ground were putting off +12.9 or so... checked it twice.

The ohms setting on the multimeter said 0.000L so I imagine that means 0 load if I was doing it right.

Yeah, it was really weird. As soon as I touched the ground to the amp connection, it sparked and blew the fuses. Next time I did it the fuses didn't pop, but the amp smelled like it was burning up... that was the second amp.

Im about to remove the entire power wire and see if there are any cuts in it, but it was brand new wire, and I ran it with the factory wiring, so you would think if it had gotten cut the factory wiring would have as well.... hmm, I don't know. This has really gotten me baffled. I've never had this much trouble in all the stereos I have installed. My last one had been hooked up for about 7 years with no problems till I just pulled the amp to test the Scion.

Thanks for the help though, I appreciate any suggestions because like I said I'm stumped, and out of ideas.

 

youve got me stumped too, lol. i just finished installing a small amp about two weeks ago and didnt run into any problems like this. i would double check all your wires and connections, hook up a good ground right to the floor, and try out that amp again (the one that smelled). and before you do that, hook it back up in your other car and see if it works just fine.

 

Did you just drill a hole in the spare tire well and run a screw through it to the ground? Or did you find a factory hole to run it to?

 

Bolting up to something pre-existing is my method of choice, drilling can be convenient, but make sure you know what you're drilling into. My amp is under my seat so i had a few options a.k.a seat brackets

 

i like to create my own stud to ground to. i went under the car and figured where not to drill ( near the fuel tank, lines,etc.) drilled a hole, took a matching sized bolt about 1 inch long, put the nut and lock washer on the inside of the car. rtv'd the bolthead to protect from corrosion. then put another nut and lockwasher on the remaining stem sticking up inside the underfloor, slid the ground cable under the washer and tightened it down.

 

i bolted mine to the floor right above the muffler basically, to the right of the spare. the metal is very thin, so a screw would eventually work its way out. i drilled a hole a little smaller than a pencil, scraped the paint off to bare metal around it, and bolted it down with the nut on the underside. then i put a little silicone over it to keep water and stuff out.

 

After all the trouble I went through, I realized it was nothing to do with my wiring... I actually had that bad of luck that I had managed to have two bad amps.

I got a new amp, and hooked it up and it worked fine, first try. I knew I had bad luck but didn't expect to have two bad amps. One was brand new and the other worked great in my other car till I unhooked it. There are two amps in my other car and I managed to pull the one out that was blown.

Thanks for the help though, I will post some pics as soon as I get my camera charger.

 

sweet, glad to hear you got it figured out... despite it being bad luck, at least it was an 'easy' problem.

 

Yeah, it was kind of bad luck/good luck. The bad luck I had two bad amps and just happened to hook both of them up to test the wiring which caused a huge headache.... Luckily the new amp had a warranty so it was replaced, and it wasn't a huge problem afterall.

I just put on 10" sub in with 150 watts and its really loud... almost too loud. I turn down the bass for most music. Sounds much better now though.

I made a fiberglass box and color matched it to the car with auto paint....Looks cool. I lost my camera charger, but ordered a new one should be here in a couple days so I will be sure to post pics.

 

I'd love to see pics too when its all done. Am interested in your fiberglass encloseure.

 

I am planning to wash my car and take some pics tomorrow.. I haven't taken any pics since I have done any mods to it. I went on a trip shortly after buying the car and lost my camera charger, and just finally got around to ordering a new one. I got it today and got my battery charged so I plan to take some pics as soon as I get the car cleaned up. I went on a short trip this weekend, and right now it looks like I drove through an army of bugs. I will post pics of the box as soon as I get a chance.