Ugh...Amp install problems
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Ugh...Amp install problems So I just got finished installing a Kenwood Excellon 1000 amp in my Formula and when I had everything hooked up and started the car, the dash wouldn't light up. I checked the dimmer fuse, and sure enough it had blown so I replaced. Well, the second I put a new fuse in and restarted the car, it blew it again. What's the deal? A bad ground somewhere? If so, how can I fix it? Also, I'm having trouble with the rear passenger speaker. See, my head unit did not have sub-outs so I had to make my own "step down" sorta deal out of some AV cables. I tapped the AV cables into the speaker wire running to the rear speakers (which is all new, btw, nothing is stock) and now that speaker crackles and is incredibly quiet. I tried checking the connections and nothin. Any help on with either issue would be great 
Thanks alot guys
Thanks alot guys 
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
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From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Put down the wire cutters and step away from the car! 
A bad ground will never cause a fuse to blow. Fuses are on the power side of the circuit and are designed to blow when too much current flows through them. A bad ground will cause no current (or limited current) to flow so the fuse would be fine. What you have is a short circuit somewhere. Somehow a power wire is flowing too much current because it is shorting to ground - perhaps it's misconnected or maybe the insulation is damaged and it's touching a metal surface.
You can't just connect RCA pre-amp cables to speaker wires and use that for input to an amp. The cables are different for a reason - they carry different kinds of signal. The amp expects unamplified, low-level input signal. Speaker wires carry amplified, high-level signal. You should get yourself a line-out convertor (LOC) for about $15 from an audio shop or even Wal-Mart. It connects to the speaker wires and converts the signal to the proper level for an amp.
A bad ground will never cause a fuse to blow. Fuses are on the power side of the circuit and are designed to blow when too much current flows through them. A bad ground will cause no current (or limited current) to flow so the fuse would be fine. What you have is a short circuit somewhere. Somehow a power wire is flowing too much current because it is shorting to ground - perhaps it's misconnected or maybe the insulation is damaged and it's touching a metal surface.
You can't just connect RCA pre-amp cables to speaker wires and use that for input to an amp. The cables are different for a reason - they carry different kinds of signal. The amp expects unamplified, low-level input signal. Speaker wires carry amplified, high-level signal. You should get yourself a line-out convertor (LOC) for about $15 from an audio shop or even Wal-Mart. It connects to the speaker wires and converts the signal to the proper level for an amp.
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Joined: Nov 2006
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its something in the wiring behind the headunit did you hook up a dimmer or illumination wire wrong. id unhook both dimmer and illumination tape em off and then see what happens. does your headunit have rear or front rca outs you can use those.. this tapping speaker wire isnt how it works
So I just got finished installing a Kenwood Excellon 1000 amp in my Formula and when I had everything hooked up and started the car, the dash wouldn't light up. I checked the dimmer fuse, and sure enough it had blown so I replaced. Well, the second I put a new fuse in and restarted the car, it blew it again. What's the deal? A bad ground somewhere? If so, how can I fix it? Also, I'm having trouble with the rear passenger speaker. See, my head unit did not have sub-outs so I had to make my own "step down" sorta deal out of some AV cables. I tapped the AV cables into the speaker wire running to the rear speakers (which is all new, btw, nothing is stock) and now that speaker crackles and is incredibly quiet. I tried checking the connections and nothin. Any help on with either issue would be great Thanks alot guys
Thanks alot guysDoes the amp work at all? Did you splice the amp remote to the illumination wires or the remote out of the HU into the illumination? You have a short somewhere. I would look at all the connections you have made to see if something is shorting to ground.
Not sure what hackjob you did with the AV cable, it doesn't make sense. 99% of all after market decks made in the last 20 years have low rca outputs for amps. Worst case scenario as mentioned above you can get a high level (speaker wire) output converter for the amps. You're lucky you didn't burn your car to a crisp.
Lol LOL!!!! Dude don't ruin your car! LOL! Where on earth did you get the idea to splice RCAs into the speaker wire. Just buy a high-low adapter for 10-20 bucks and do it right. Well sorry it's your car do it any way you wish. If you are unsure next time take it somewhere. You can't just cut and splice everything.
