Im ready to smash my new amp against the garage wall

ENVYMYZ · Post by **ENVYMYZ** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:01 am

So I got my new JL Audio 500/1 amp today. I figure I might as well install it this evening, how hard could it possibly be to replace the exising amp I have and run a new power and ground cable. Boy was I ever wrong.
My buddy and I take apart half the car to run the new cables. I bought 4 gauge wire for both the new power and the new ground. Got the cable all through and set up for the hookup to the amp. Well first of all, the remote wire sensing that the JL amp has through the RCA's didnt work. I connected a physical remote wire to the amp and great, it's staying on. I go to connect the subwoofer wires and the rca's to the amp expecting a nice deep bass to no avail. Nothing. I tried bridging the speaker wires, putting all the gains up halfway, messing with the high pass low pass settings, putting the rca's to amplifier out and in. Nothing. I turn up the volume and the only thing that happened was the ohm light kept going on. So at this point I got mad.
Now some of you may remember I had a problem with my eclipse amp frying. Turns out what fried was the ground wire. For some reason the 8V preout on my eclipse 8445 was too much and fried the thin ground wire (300w wiring kit used for over 3 years with no problems till I switched to a 8v preout HU.)
I figure since the original ground wire got fried, I may as well call it a nite, throw in the old amp and see if that works. Nope. Amp kept shutting off like before. Not to mention that in the span of an hour, my battery (which is barely 2 weeks old) discharged. I think I may have fried my alternator as well somehow. At this point im so fed up that I dont know what to do. Help!

bditty · Post by **bditty** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:08 am

Did you re ground this system yourself or use the old location? Did you spark at anytime? If so, your probably right. What kind of amp did you have before?

solacedagony · Post by **solacedagony** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:23 am

I'm guessing the amp was staying on without going into protection mode? Sounds to me like your RCAs are bad or something because if the remote turn-on sensing through the RCAs isn't working and you're not getting any bass, you're not getting a signal. I also hope that you cleaned up and sanded down the old ground location, or chose a new one.

Bwcad1 · Post by **Bwcad1** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:14 am

sounds like you ****** your wiring somehow. where did you connect the remote wire? to the head unit? and im kind of confused how you had a small ground wire and what that has to do with the 8v preout on your deck. those two dont correlate.

Bwcad1 · Post by **Bwcad1** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:14 am

here go do this put the amp down in its spot and take a picture of where its at. wires and all. also how did you battery drain where you doing all this without disconnecting the negative on the battery?

JeremyC · Post by **JeremyC** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:47 am

Bwcad1 wrote: and im kind of confused how you had a small ground wire and what that has to do with the 8v preout on your deck. those two dont correlate.

You beat me to it. The 8 volt pre out has nothing to do with the power or ground on your amp.

It sounds like your RCA wires got screwed up during the original install, and are probably causing alot of your problems.

Either way take some pics for us, so we can help you out.

ENVYMYZ · Post by **ENVYMYZ** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:09 am

Actually I did spark once and everything shut off. But this was after I gave up on the JL and hooked up the Eclipse amp again. As for the ground I used a new one about 3 feet away from the amp AND I sanded down the thin layer of paint that was there. Ill try to get some pics up but its in my friends garage and I wont have internet till either I get everything straightened out or Its still broken :/

ENVYMYZ · Post by **ENVYMYZ** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:14 am

Bwcad1 wrote:here go do this put the amp down in its spot and take a picture of where its at. wires and all. also how did you battery drain where you doing all this without disconnecting the negative on the battery?

When I hooked up the JL I started fiddling with the radio and a cd was playing. At this point I was messing around with the gains and whatnot trying to get some sound out of the sub. Either way I cant figure out how my battery drained that fast, I never actually got the freakin sub to work. Its a new battery.

solacedagony · Post by **solacedagony** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:55 am

You did unhook your battery before you started switching amps right?
And by "Actually I did spark once and everything shut off" you mean what? You had the amp on and moved power/ground wires or something?
Also, the other guys are right on, pre-out voltage has nothing to do with your power/ground.

Bwcad1 · Post by **Bwcad1** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:56 am

sounds like you fried a bunch of shit did you fuse your power wire?