dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

Finished system (amp and hu), tested fine, drove halfway to school, cars power becomes extremely low (can't get above 5mph), now I'm in a lot. Tachometer doesn't work (all needles dead). I turned the car off for 5 and now it has power but I'm worried to drive it. Sound system worked fine before, now the HU is turning off randomly.

Please help im stuck!!

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

tow truck came and jumped me, said I'd be fine. I unhooked my amp and headunit, but I can still hear the car dipping into a stall-like sound at idle every now and then. Nobody has any advice??

Gibbs

iTrader: (6)

Well there is a good chance, depending on the power rating of your amplifier etc, that your alternator isn't capable of powering your system, and keeping a charge in your battery. Which would probably explain why you "sputtered" to a stop and had to be jumped by the tow truck driver. If this is the case you should get an alternator that is capable of producing the type of power that your system needs (requires), or just sell your system and get one that is a little less powerful. Or you could just turn down the base a little.

Hope this helps.

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

My system is not that powerful... I only installed an Alpine MRV-F345 and Alpine iDA-x305 HU..

I'm back home now, I ended up getting a tow. First we tried a jump start and the car died 30 minutes later, at idle.

What could I have done wrong? I soldered the Metra harness to the HU harness properly, and wrapped each connection in electrical tape... I only crimped four wires, which I also taped up.

At this point, I've disconnected the harness from the HU, and I've taken the power wire out of the amp. (That was prior to the jumpstart). The battery still crapped out after that...
Does that even make sense?

If that rules out amp and HU problems, then it must be something to do with where I attached the power cable to the battery...

Finder

Simple things first. Pull the harness out completly (not just from the head unit but from the car side as well) and leave it out. Check the battery terminals and make sure they're on tight (pop them off and pop them back on to be sure). If you see corrosion, clean. Since you're powering an amp, I'm assuming your running a power lead from the battery into the cabin. Disconnect that lead entirely at the battery. Still happens? Pull the battery and load test it. Could be coincidence the battery crapped out. Did you check all your fuses? I've seen fuses crack but not break entirely causing sporadic problems. Work your way back from there.

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

I just had a friend test the battery, it only said so for a sec but we metered the negative side and I think he said there is almost a 12v pull. Which he says means that a positive wire is hitting a negative somewhere, or hitting ground.

Does that make sense? If so, what could I have screwed up? Every wire is surrounded with electrical tape..

adamtaylorpcb

iTrader: (7)

like finder said, remove all connections you just made and see if its still going

your negative side will always have current flowing through it... thats how your comp stays alive while the car is off.

check fuses, when i wired up my radar to my homelink i got careless and the wires arc'd didnt think anything of it but the same exact thing happened to me when i was driving afterwards.... it was just a fuse luckily. i was going 70mph and my car did a nose dive to 5mph.... scary ****

also, look into tech flex to run around your wires, provides extra protection like a condom

Example (i know its ethernet)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_500wt_1604

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

Just jump started again, this is after I disconnected the amp power wire directly off the battery, and I completely removed the harness itself from the car.

It's idling, and the car sounds like it keeps dipping into almost-stalling. Actually, right now it isn't so bad but when this happened last night, it started getting bad after 10 minutes.

I'll check the fuses next.

**UPDATE** Car just died. ~15 minutes from jumpstart -> dead.

So this could be a fuse causing a problem?? Forgive me, I'm just not very knowledgeable about electrical systems..

Get_Zwole

iTrader: (34)

so your battery is staying charged? I was going to say get the alternator checked but if the batery is full i dont know man. sorry.

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

...it's not staying charged. It lasted ~15-20 min after a jumpstart last night, and same with the jumpstart today.

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

Update: I believe I found the fuse that blew.

I'm using a multimeter, and the only fuse that doesn't have continuity is the red fuse, labeled METER, 10A, under IGN on the driver's side fuse box.

So, does this tell me where to look for shorts? I obviously need to replace the fuse, but I also need to figure out why the thing blew in the first place..

adamtaylorpcb

iTrader: (7)

replace it and see if its good, may have been a careless mistake when installing... happens to everyone from time to time

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

I'm worried - I went into an auto shop to get fuses, and explained the situation. Someone there said it sounds like a huge problem, and that I should take it into a shop.. but the guy who said it didn't work there. He also said the remote wire causes shorts like this often.

I figure I'll go now and put a new fuse in, without the amp or HU in, and see if everything works fine. I've looked over the harness cables/connections quite a bit, so now I'll take the center console off again - I'm thinking maybe the remote wire got pinched/cut when I put the console on..
If I can't find anything, I suppose I'll plug the amp in first, and see if the fuse blows then. If not, I'll add the HU in too..

Any more suggestions?

Just had a thought. I've disconnected the harness completely from the car, along with the amp power cable from the battery, so the remote wire from the amp (which I thought might be cut under the center console somehow) couldn't be shorting anything anymore. So how is my battery still draining when I jump start the car?? Would a blown fuse really cause this, or is something seriously wrong with my car?

Spike100

^^ It's probably a faulty ground that is continuously drawing current that drains your battery.

That could be difficult to locate. The most common fault I see with this is a screw (maybe for securing a component or whatever) that touches a hot line and goes to ground. That quickly drains your battery.

--Spike

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

Wooooooo

Put the new fuse in and left the HU and amp disconnected, and the car is healthy again.

Left it idling for a while, everything is good.

I reconnected the amp, waited five minutes with the car on - everything okay.

Reconnected the HU, same. Everything is fine.

Took it for a drive... backed into a tractor (DAMMIT).. aside from that, it seems all is well.

I've been accelerating, blasting music, nothing seems to blow the fuse. I'm not sure what shorted it... I just don't know what to do at this point. I guess I'll install the speakers and bluetooth now..

Thanks everyone by the way. I was having a meltdown for a while there.

Gibbs

iTrader: (6)

Well what you need to do is get that bumper fixed, lol.

dingobiatch

iTrader: (3)

I know. Pretty depressing..

adamtaylorpcb

iTrader: (7)

told ya.... i **** a brick when it happened to me but it was just a fuse... i had mine towed to the dealership and was all worried and thought my baby was dead