Question about System Install
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From: San Jose, NorCal
Question about System Install Alright.. So i just finished installing two amps to my car. Everything went smoothly; I used a 1400watt 4-channel Rockford amp and a Mono 900watt Rockford amp. I also used a .5 farad capacitor between the power cable and the mono amp.
OK.. so my problem is... my 4 channel amp is not working. No sound for my speakers at all! The little led glows but farely. The Mono amp however glows brightly like it should, however when I plug in an MTX sub 12'' for testing, it didnt bump the way I'd expect. Anyhow, I'm very much wondering what the hell is going on. I checked all 3 fuses, one before the batt, and 2 in the distributor block that cuts the 4 gauge power cable into two 8 gauges going into the amps. I can't figure what went wrong. All grounds are connected and all the wiring seems fine.
Also, you know how there's only one wire for Remote from the deck to the amp right? well... I ended up cutting that one wire and splicing two wires so that it could go to both amps. Does this affect anything? This would explain why one is working, somewhat properly, and why another isn't at all.
This pisses me off cause I've been running in a tuneless car for 3 days now and it's killin me. I'd be fucken pissed if something was broken. Shouldn't be though, cuase I'm just adding the mono amp to my system. The 4-channel worked great before I added it. Thanks guys
OK.. so my problem is... my 4 channel amp is not working. No sound for my speakers at all! The little led glows but farely. The Mono amp however glows brightly like it should, however when I plug in an MTX sub 12'' for testing, it didnt bump the way I'd expect. Anyhow, I'm very much wondering what the hell is going on. I checked all 3 fuses, one before the batt, and 2 in the distributor block that cuts the 4 gauge power cable into two 8 gauges going into the amps. I can't figure what went wrong. All grounds are connected and all the wiring seems fine.
Also, you know how there's only one wire for Remote from the deck to the amp right? well... I ended up cutting that one wire and splicing two wires so that it could go to both amps. Does this affect anything? This would explain why one is working, somewhat properly, and why another isn't at all.
This pisses me off cause I've been running in a tuneless car for 3 days now and it's killin me. I'd be fucken pissed if something was broken. Shouldn't be though, cuase I'm just adding the mono amp to my system. The 4-channel worked great before I added it. Thanks guys
post your problem on www.fbodyaudio.com. some of the guys from there float around here too, but they really know there stuff. they helped me with alot of stuff and they dont give you half-*** answers.
Yeah, check your ground. I learned the hard way. Blew pass side Focals due to a bad ground. Thought I had it fixed, and shortly after fried my amp. Not sure if the amp frying was due to a bad ground, but wouldn't surprise me.
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Joined: May 2004
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From: San Jose, NorCal
Aw crap.. fry the amp? I don't know, I check my grounds and it seems pretty damn tight. But yeah It seems like it's underpowered. You know how Rockford amps have those LED displays to show that power is running through? Well.. on my 4 channel, the led display is very dim or fairly lit up the way it should be. While as the one working, well shines brightly. Anyhow, I'm thinking it's cuase there's some how lacking power? Could it be that I need a higher wattage amp kit? I'm not sure, but damn. Does it deal with anything about Fuses? I bought 2 RF Platinum Competition fuses from bestbuy, they both read 5AG 60. Before, I used 5AG 30 on my just my 4-channel when it used to work. I thought that it might be the fuses but when i put back my old fuse, it still lacked life.
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Staging Lane
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From: Medford NY
What size wires are you running? also you sould have a 1 farad cap per 1000watts. so you should be running 1 farad in the line before you split the wires for the amp. If you want to keep the .5 farad cap between the distribution block and the mono that would be fine. Make sure all your rca's are tight, make sure none of them got crimped when you covered them up. what size fuses are you running in line and in the blocks? did you split the rca's, run seperates from the deck, or ran one into a crossover? Could be loosing signal? you should be running at least a 4ga power wire into each amp after the distirbution block. with a 4 ga ground from each. With that much wattage I would be running a 2ga power wire from the battery terminal to the distribution block with at least a 80 fuse in line. I would also upgrade the factory ground wire from the battery to a larger gauge. Are you hooked up directly to the battery or are you using the aux terminal under the hood? just a few things that came to the top of my head. good luck
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From: Coppell,TX
in my old bonneville with my old system i had the same problem. rockford amps take alot of current from the remote wire. look into getting a relay and hooking it up just make sure that u get a diode between the power and switched. It may be that ur decks circuit breaker is goin off/on. Do this turn on ur headunit under cd, and see if it works. It may work because the power antennea is usually fused with the remote. Believe me all u need is 4g, if that. Some people might say its dangerous but its not everyone gets wire info from a website owned by a cable distributor so what do they say bigger is better for profits. And just to prove how right i am. I RAN 4800 watts in my 1995 bonneville with a 4g power and ground.
cool rockford amp trick: take a 10g wire and connect the neg and pos on the amp after taking it out of ur car. they have big caps in them.
cool rockford amp trick: take a 10g wire and connect the neg and pos on the amp after taking it out of ur car. they have big caps in them.
Last edited by Spenser309; Jan 22, 2005 at 12:56 AM.
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From: San Jose, NorCal
Spense309: I havn't had the chance to check the remote today(sats) but I was also wondering that too. Cuase before, I ran only one remote wire to one single amp ( the 4-channel amp I was using for my components ) but when I placed in the mono amp.. what I did was split the single remote wire coming from the HU and twisted two extending wires to run into two seperate amps. What I was thinking that made the problem was that one amp was getting more signal to "turn on" than the other. Just a small theory I still need to check up on.
Also, I went by best buy's the other day and asked about fuses. ****, you know what? I think I might've blown my amp. Cuase the thing is, it used to use a 30amp fuse,when it worked. When I went to buy another fuse for the 2nd amp, I bought 2 60 amp fuses for both amps. I had no idea what the hell 30 and 60 meant for any difference. The guy now tells me that I was putting in way too much power into that small amp and now I coudl've fried that sucker. But the thing is, while I was working on the amp, I smelt no burn or anything? Plus, the light is still shown through the amp. Although faint, but still shown. I'll be hella pissed if I now have to replace that damn amp. Of course I replaced the changed fuses back into 5AG 30amp in the distributor block and running a 50Amp fuse in the power line between the battery.
Also, I went by best buy's the other day and asked about fuses. ****, you know what? I think I might've blown my amp. Cuase the thing is, it used to use a 30amp fuse,when it worked. When I went to buy another fuse for the 2nd amp, I bought 2 60 amp fuses for both amps. I had no idea what the hell 30 and 60 meant for any difference. The guy now tells me that I was putting in way too much power into that small amp and now I coudl've fried that sucker. But the thing is, while I was working on the amp, I smelt no burn or anything? Plus, the light is still shown through the amp. Although faint, but still shown. I'll be hella pissed if I now have to replace that damn amp. Of course I replaced the changed fuses back into 5AG 30amp in the distributor block and running a 50Amp fuse in the power line between the battery.
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From: San Jose, NorCal
Originally Posted by Silver98camss
What size wires are you running? also you sould have a 1 farad cap per 1000watts. so you should be running 1 farad in the line before you split the wires for the amp. If you want to keep the .5 farad cap between the distribution block and the mono that would be fine. Make sure all your rca's are tight, make sure none of them got crimped when you covered them up. what size fuses are you running in line and in the blocks? did you split the rca's, run seperates from the deck, or ran one into a crossover? Could be loosing signal? you should be running at least a 4ga power wire into each amp after the distirbution block. with a 4 ga ground from each. With that much wattage I would be running a 2ga power wire from the battery terminal to the distribution block with at least a 80 fuse in line. I would also upgrade the factory ground wire from the battery to a larger gauge. Are you hooked up directly to the battery or are you using the aux terminal under the hood? just a few things that came to the top of my head. good luck
For my power line I'm running a 4ga. and ground's are 8 ga for both the amps and the capictor. I checked the RCA, none of them and crimped or disconnected, so it can't really be signal loss. I would want to run 4ga into each amp after the block, but the sockets in the amp only fit 8. Nothing bigger could fit inside the amp. I am hooked up directly to the battery and not the Aux terminal. I'm using a 50 fuse in line, but should I consider changing it into 80? Yeah I guess I should change the factory ground into say a larger gauge such as 4. But yeah, any more ideas man? Thanks though
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From: San Jose, NorCal
Alright guys. So I found out the problem. I went down to good guys today and the car audio installer looked at my ****. I told him what I did and my problem. and he assured me that I blew my amp. I'm pissed, what a damn waste too. Anyhow, the reason I broke it was cuase of the fuses. I placed a 60amp fuse when it should've been a 30. Pretty dumb *** way to learn a lesson like that huh? Anyhow, on the bright side, one of the guys who works there offered me a 20% off a JL amp, the model was 300/4. It's better than the RF punch amp I had anyhow.
Thanks to everyone who helped me out. I really appreciate it. I'll post some pics of my set up, on how it looked when it came out. Sadly... I won't be able to hear anything for the next month, saving up for a new amp.
Thanks to everyone who helped me out. I really appreciate it. I'll post some pics of my set up, on how it looked when it came out. Sadly... I won't be able to hear anything for the next month, saving up for a new amp.
