Stereo & Electronics - Car amps won't turn on with car/headunit

Got in my car today to go somewhere, started up like normal and music played. Went to leave the place I was at, and no music. Restarted stereo, nothing. When I got home, I turn the car off/on, etc. Nothing. Neither my sub nor mid/high amp was turning on. Tested voltage, 12v going to the rear. All fuses good. Tried the amp a few minutes after testing everything, worked fine. Went to leave for class, worked fine. Back from class, fire it up, turns on. Start to give it gas to pull out, shuts off and no music. Turned car on/off again, nothing.

What is the source of this? Not sure what else I can do as I know they are getting battery power and I know that they are working (as well as the speakers).

Sounds like a ground issue or trigger wire issue...what amps and deck?

It was the remote wire AFAIK, making "sure" it was attached seemed to fix it.

Seemed to fix it...didn't. Happened again and again...other day started, drove for 25 mins (30 minute or so drive to work) and magically popped on for the last 5 minutes. Started up this morning, turned on, hit a small bump and turned it off. This is what seems to trigger it going off, but not necessarily coming back on. I've traced the remote wire all the way back and it is securely connected to the amps, headunit, and plugs and there is no kink/cramp/split in it anywhere. Same with the power wire(s). Not sure what to do here.

Kenwood KIV-BT901 HU
Polk PA660 and PA880 Amps

check your fuse/fuse holder, could be high resistance connection. also check ground

The amp ground is good, I checked all fuses (and reset all, including headunit), nothing.

There has to be a loose connection somewhere...
I would start at the battery make sure big power wires are good..make sure the ground is a really good ground..double check the remote turn on wire(thin one off headunit) to make sure nothing is pinched.. have a buddy turn the ign as your in the back checking.. if everything is perfect.... it could be inside the head unit itself....

does a separate bass nob if it does unplugg it and see if that fixes it

I think is might be the power wire loose in the emgime bay/on the battery... Once again seemed to be fixed once I jostled it...then tried to move the it around amd wouldnt cut out... We'll see.

Try running a temporary activation wire directly from the HU to the amp, just lay it over the seats, and eliminate that as a possible fault.

Well, I went ahead and ordered another power wire. I'm pretty sure that is it...probably doesn't help it got burned on the headers a while ago.

So you know, thinking it would fix it and all, I ordered some power wire (25ft). Hooked it up, worked fine the first time. Put everything back together....nothing. Tried again, nothing. What the hell.

Pic of old power wire that got burnt on headers:

http://i39.tinypic.com/jz6wlf.jpg

Try running a temporary activation wire directly from the HU to the amp, just lay it over the seats, and eliminate that as a possible fault.

I'm going to try this later today.

Note on how it is setup: I have a 4g wire running from the battery to the back to a splitter that splits it into two 8g wires going to each amp.

So you know, thinking it would fix it and all, I ordered some power wire (25ft). Hooked it up, worked fine the first time. Put everything back together....nothing. Tried again, nothing. What the hell.

Pic of old power wire that got burnt on headers:

http://i39.tinypic.com/jz6wlf.jpg

I'm going to try this later today.

Note on how it is setup: I have a 4g wire running from the battery to the back to a splitter that splits it into two 8g wires going to each amp.

That right there (the burnt cable) should've blown the inline fuse in the amp power cable. Where are your amps grounded at, with the radio on take the ground loose from the body and play with it, just because its down tight doesn't guarantee you have a good connection.

and an easy way to determine if its the remote lead or headunit remote output is to disconnect that and run a temporary jumper wire from the positive power on the amp to the remote in on the amp, if it turns on and stays on then its a remote issue but with a cable burn like that, that power cable would've grounded out on the motor something fierce who knows what kind of damage that might have caused.

It did blow the fuse twice actually (before I realized what the problem was). I took both grounds loose and played with them and nothing. I ran a temp wire from remote to the power, and as soon as I did the antenna started to come up and I'm assuming the amp came on...took it off right after, and tried again with nothing.

I tried running a cable from the headunit power wire to the amp(s) directly, and it didn't turn them on.

http://i39.tinypic.com/jz6wlf.jpg

wowzers batman!! Good thing you caught that

It did blow the fuse twice actually (before I realized what the problem was). I took both grounds loose and played with them and nothing. I ran a temp wire from remote to the power, and as soon as I did the antenna started to come up and I'm assuming the amp came on...took it off right after, and tried again with nothing.

I tried running a cable from the headunit power wire to the amp(s) directly, and it didn't turn them on.

when doing the jumper between positive at amp and remote at amp remove any existing remote wire at the amp, but it sounds like your using the same lead as the power antenna for the remote turn on, which you don't want to do the power antenna is more of a pulse trigger where remote leads are constant power check your headunit settings some allow you to switch the single blue wire between the 2 types.

when doing the jumper between positive at amp and remote at amp remove any existing remote wire at the amp, but it sounds like your using the same lead as the power antenna for the remote turn on, which you don't want to do the power antenna is more of a pulse trigger where remote leads are constant power check your headunit settings some allow you to switch the single blue wire between the 2 types.

Took out the existing remote wire, took apart the crimp holding antenna, wire from headunit, and power wires apart. Hooked just the one heading to the amp up to just the headunit, nothing. Hooked it up to the other amp, nothing. (Also pulled fuses on amp, both good). Put antenna power to headunit, instantly goes up. So I know the problem is not the wire to the headunit now.

Took out the existing remote wire, took apart the crimp holding antenna, wire from headunit, and power wires apart. Hooked just the one heading to the amp up to just the headunit, nothing. Hooked it up to the other amp, nothing. (Also pulled fuses on amp, both good). Put antenna power to headunit, instantly goes up. So I know the problem is not the wire to the headunit now.

Lets for the sake of a test pretend there is no headunit or remote wire run, so DISCONNECT the remote wire from the AMP, now with the car OFF take a piece of wire and temporally do a "jump" from the Positive at the first amp to the remote in at the first amp, if your power wire connections and the amp are good the amp should power on, if that works then turn the radio on and repeat the "jump" (still leaving the blue remote wire disconnected from the amp) you should hear music if you do not let me know.

These are quick tests that will help me diagnose where your problem may be at.

when doing the jumper between positive at amp and remote at amp remove any existing remote wire at the amp, but it sounds like your using the same lead as the power antenna for the remote turn on, which you don't want to do the power antenna is more of a pulse trigger where remote leads are constant power check your headunit settings some allow you to switch the single blue wire between the 2 types.Actually, the power antenna control wire works almost identically to an amp's remote turn on. It is not pulsed - the antenna goes up and stays up as long as there is power then goes down when the power turns off. The disadvantage to using an antenna control wire for amp control is that several aftermarket head units lower the antenna (turn off the antenna control power) when not using radio as the audio source which would make the amp turn off as well.

Lets for the sake of a test pretend there is no headunit or remote wire run, so DISCONNECT the remote wire from the AMP, now with the car OFF take a piece of wire and temporally do a "jump" from the Positive at the first amp to the remote in at the first amp, if your power wire connections and the amp are good the amp should power on, if that works then turn the radio on and repeat the "jump" (still leaving the blue remote wire disconnected from the amp) you should hear music if you do not let me know.

These are quick tests that will help me diagnose where your problem may be at.

Sorry, did that. Both amps worked that way. So I got to thinking, a little bit, and there is a screw in the little "splitter" that holds the power wires. So I was thinking...could that be grounding it? I know hooking them up I've accidentally sparked there before (note, I didn't install this system), so I figured what the hell. Since the other thing worked, might as well. Took it out, reconnected power wires, and they worked. Reconnected headunit power wire to amps and they worked. Put it all back together, worked one last time. I've got to go to work, so that'll let me know if it goes in and out or gets disconnected or whatever. We'll see.

Thanks for the help so far!

if it stops playing again, before shutting the radio or car off look and see if the amps are kicking into a protection mode (typically a red light on the side of the amp).

If it was grounding out at the "splitter" screw it would be blowing the power line fuse (not the amp fuses) still, but since you replaced the power cable you may not have had a solid enough connection there before you pulled it apart to remove that screw which would explain why it seems to work now.

It has started happening again...don't know why. First it was just running down the highway, randomly on and off, now it isn't turning on at all.

Anybody got anymore suggestions? There are no lights on the amp, they just don't seem to be getting power at all. I'm lost.

I think it is the fuse holder...screwed around with it today and it turned back on. When it was grounded to my headers, the fuses got burnt as well as the holder itself, I think messing with the block and it moved two small pieces of metal...I think these are conflicting/breaking the connection.

Where can I get another one? The fuses I am using for it are:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fierce-Audio-100-Amp-Maxi-Fuse-2-Pack-BRAND-NEW-/300597438340?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fd00e784

I'd get an ANL type in-line fuse holder, weather-proof, that you can anchor to the fender well. Knuconceptz has some nice ones, Stinger too. $20 or so, not a big deal.

I'd get an ANL type in-line fuse holder, weather-proof, that you can anchor to the fender well. Knuconceptz has some nice ones, Stinger too. $20 or so, not a big deal.

Mind linking me to a good one?

What gauge is your main power cable? What size fuse do you need? If in doubt, add up all the fuses/breakers values on all your amps.

4 gauge. I have a 100A fuse. I believe both fuses on amps are 25 each (so 100 should be right).

PM'd you a couple a non-sponsor links. AGU fuses will be fine for your application, too. Doesn't really matter.