First off, let me start by saying I am incredibly "smart." This has been the worst week in a long time, I'm surprised I can even tie my shoes in the morning (time to switch to velcro 'roos).

Anyway, I had my entire system ready... amp was just mounted... power and ground cables managed to fall down together and there was a spark. (YES! I forgot to remove the neg. terminal on the battery... like I said "smart")

Now, I checked out all of my fuses, and everything in the car works, even the power outlet where I am running my remote lead from. I initially thought that I blew the 30A fuse on the power... but that was visibly fine.

I even tried another power cable and that didn't seem to work. The amp was not anywhere near the cables when they sparked (wasn't even in the car). I've boiled the options down to the ground cable.

Is there a possiblity that the ground cable got messed up when it touched the power? I'm not sure why the fuse didn't blow. I'd be able to look at it and tell right? If the metal was charred or broken inside.

Sorry for the book here. Long story short, power and ground touched, now my amp won't turn on. The car starts, all the accessories in the car work. Any ideas?

Thanks! I'm going on a road trip tomorrow... of course I had to forget the neg. terminal.

HELP!

 

When you say System is down, do you mean just the amp or headunit as well?

Before we get too deep, replace that 30amp fuse with a new one. I've seen plenty of fuses break close to the caps where you can't see the damage. Or, if you have a DMM, measure the resistance of the fuse.

I'll be on-line for awhile.

 

it is very possible that the fuse is blown and you just cant tell. try changing that first like rplink said.

 

Sorry for the confusion... head unit works. Everything but the amp. I'll try replacing the fuse, i'll be back with my findings

thanks!

 

If the amp is to drive your sub-woofer, be sure to adjust your LOW PASS button.

 

Replaced the 30A fuse.... still nothing. Everything but the amp is working in the car (electrically).

Like I said, the remote power (rear power outlet) is working, the glove box light is working... but no power to the amp. That leaves the power cable and/or ground, no?

Of course, it's pouring outside and I can't work on the car.

Should I try moving the ground?

 

pburg,

Here is what I'm assuming....

You've run the amp power wire directly from the battery through a in-line fuse to the amp installed in the factory bose sub location.

No stiffening cap is installed

You've grounded the amp directly from the amp to somewhere in the factory bose subwoofer location.

You're using the power outlet on the rear hump to supply the remote turn on to the amp.

What amp or you using....does it have a power indicator LED? If so, is it illuminated when you turn the ignition switch on? If it's on, then we've got power just missing either remote turn on or signal from the headunit. (Or a bad amp, let's hope it's not that)

Do you have access to a DMM?

Now it's entirely possible that your ground is in fact bad, but probably not from the dropping of the cables together. Make sure that your ground point is a metal point (chassis ground) and that all the paint is removed from the ground point.

All we need to do is eliminate each of the following possibilites to find the problem:

1. Power available
2. Good ground
3. Remote turnon signal present
4. Audio Signal present
5. Amp wired properly
6. Amp switches set properly
7. Speakers wired properly

Let me know.

 

Success! It turned out to be a crappy ground. The cables touching was just a bad coincidence I guess.

thanks for the tips!

 

Cool.

Enjoy