QuestionScott,
I tried to go into as much detail as possible so you can get the overall picture of the install and where or what I might have done wrong to cause the problems below.
Recently installed in 03 SR5 Toyota Tacoma:
- Kenwood CD/MP3 player (already installed)with 3" preamp (F-L&R/R-L&R)output RCA wires coming from inside/out of HU
- Kicker (RS56.2)5 1/4" (360/180watts) Component Speaker/Tweeter System [Front/Doors]
- Kicker (08KS600) 6 1/2"(195/65watts) 2-Way Speaker [Rear/Side Panels]
- Kicker (08ZX1500.1) Mono Sub Amp (750watts RMS x 1ch @ 4 ohms)
- Kicker (08ZX850.4) 4-Channel Amplifier (175watts x 4ch @ 4 ohms)
- Kicker (03KX3) Electronic Crossover
- Kicker (08VS12L74) 12" (1500 Max/750 RMS) 4-ohm Solo-Baric Subwoofer Enclosure
- Sound Quest (CAP2M) 2-Farad Digital Capacitor
- (2ea) Stinger Ground Loop Isolator w/brwn ground wire (didn’t use grnd wires)
- Kicker (05SI43) 9.9 ft 4-Channel RCA Cable [used to cnct F-L&R/R-L&R coming from crossover to 4-chan amp]
- Kicker (05SI23) 9.9 ft 2-Channel RCA Cable [used to cnct HU F-L&R/R-L&R to crossover]
- Kicker (05PKD1) Dual Amp 1/0 Gauge Pwr Install Kit (Max 3000watts)
- Kicker (09XW1220) 20ft 12 AWG X-Series Speaker Wire [for frnt 5 1/4" spkrs to 4-chan amp]
- Bosche Relay [cnct from HU's constant 12volt & remote lead wire]
So I initially began with the bare (down to metal frame) interior/front doors.
- ran the 1/0 awg main pwr wire from trk battery (spliced pwr wire less than 8” from battery to install 300 Amp ANL Fuse) through engine firewall, under steering column and down the Rt side of middle consult until reaching the Rt Rear (where capacitor is mounted).
- selected the rear seatbelt bolt on floor as grounding point for cap. I did use my Dremmel to grind paint to shinny metal on all of my grounds. However, not sure if all of my grounds were well selected. Will get to that issue later.
- connected the pwr wire & ground wire to cap. Then I secured (with metal screws) cap down.
- connected my cnstnt 12vlt wire & remote wire to relay; grounded relay to metal bracket of console and ran remote 16 awg wire along Rt side of middle consult next to main 1/0 awg pwr wire until reaching the Rt rear.
- ran my X-Series spkr wires into the doors through the door jam boot (black ribbed grommet) and connected them to the component 5.25” & tweets. I continued running LF &RF spkr wires (inside 3/4” blk loom) along door jam with main wire harness until they reached the rear bed panel.
-ran X-Series spk wires from L & R Rear 6.5” spks along rear bed panel to where the wires connect to 4-chan amp.
- mounted my components to the rear plastic middle panel and carpeted/wood bottom top panel.
- ran a smaller 4/0 awg pwr wire (1/0 awg wire to big for fitting in Kicker pwr distributor block) from cap + to my pwr distributor block (where my 4-chan amp 4/0 awg pwr wire is cnct).
- From first pwr block, I have ran another 4/0 awg pwr wire to second pwr distr block (where sub amp 4/0 awg pwr wire and crossover 16awg pwr wire is cnct). I couldn’t fit all pwr connections to one Kicker pwr distributor block.
- ran the remote 16awg wire to 4-chan amp (spliced off main remote wire to connect to amp) and continued to crossover (again splicing off main remote wire cnct to crossover) and then stopping at mono sub amp.
- ran 4-chan amp grnd to same grnd point as cap and ran crossover 16awg ground wire to same grnd point as my grnd point (bolt mount on top of rear cab bed liner) above mono sub amp. This is where I think I may have a bad ground, but may go more than 18” to get a floor ground. What to do??
- ran rear spkr wires to Amp 2 (non bridged) on 4-chan amp.
- ran the front (LF spk/tweet & RF spk/tweet) wires to Amp 1 (non bridged) on 4-chan amp.
- cnct one set of 2-chan RCA to Front L & R and ran them (in 1/4” blk loom) opposite side of pwr wire down left side of middle console to the crossover Front L & R Input.
- cnct other set 2-chan RCA to Rear L&R running them (in same blk loom above) to crossover Rear L&R Input.
- ran the 4-chan RCA cable (using first two chan for crossover Front L&R Output and plugged them into 4-chan amp “Amp 1” Input and second two for crossover Rear L&R Output and plugged them into 4-chan amp “Amp 2” Input).
- ran the (2ea) 1-chan sub RCA cables from crossover L&R Sub Output to the mono sub amp L&R Input.
- ran sub + & - spkr wire from subwoofer to + & - terminals on mono sub amp.
- unhook 4/0 awg pwr wire to charge cap.
- connect trk battery and charge cap till it reads 14 volts.
- reconnect 4/0 awg pwr wire back on cap.
So everything is hooked up and wired. I turn the key to start vehicle and HU comes on and all components come on in relay (so far so good). Then I turn up the sound and spkrs a little low (all gain/hrtz/bass on low settings on crossover and amps). I then turn up gains for Front spkrs and then I hear engine noise. So I turn gain down gains, but still can hear it. I then adjust rear spkr gains/hertz and they sound great. Same for the subwoofer as the bass hits great! Although, my sub box isn’t mounted to rear yet and sitting on passenger side floor (seat still removed). So a couple of weeks went by fine, and I noticed problem #1.
Problem # 1: Cap LED blinks (loosing volts) every time I start up trk, turn signals, brights, turn up volume to HU. Also when no additional power is required from cap it has no volt reading showing (just blank) Is this normal for 2 Farad cap trying to maintain 14 volts?
Can a bad ground cause my cap to loose a charge to quickly? Is it possible I might not have a strong enough alternator to keep up with power demand?
Problem # 2: Engine noise in front spks. So I installed the ground loop isolator on Front L & R RCA. Fixed front spkrs, but now I hear engine noise coming from rear spkrs. So put the other ground loop isolator on Rear L & R RCA. That fixed the rear spkrs. Do I need a ground wire coming from HU to chasis to possibly alleviate this issue?
Just recently, I finally was able to clean up the loose (spegetti)awg pwr/remote/spkr wires by making them look “installed clean” by putting them in blk loom; as well as mounted my sub enclosure and reconnecting sub RCA cables.
After this was done, some additional problems arose once I hooked up battery and turned on HU.
Problem # 3: My subwoofer will only play a continuous in/out low bass wave and will not adjust to volume increase except for bass boost knob, but only a louder low wavering bass in/out?? What is causing that??
Problem # 4: Music sounds like through a microphone. Had to set my HU to “Left Front/Rear” Position for the music to sound normal?? What is causing that effect??
Problem # 4: I have started noticing now my RT side frnt & rear spks will go in and out sometimes like a flutter sound once in awhile. What is causing that? Now I just installed new wire, but I wonder if the factory wiring in the doors (that I cut) might have a short or grounding somewhere causing the Rt Front/Rear channel to do that? Is that a possibility??
So you can see that I definitely need some guidance on figuring out these problems. Anything you can do to assist me would greatly be appreciated!
Thanks!
AnswerDerrik, Truly detailed. It looks like you took much care in the installation, and it must be a little frustrating for something to be going wrong. To your questions, your guesses are totally possible on all questions.
Question #1: You can double check and be sure the ground wire is securely attached to the ground point. If so, then I would say the alternator is not putting out enough amps to keep the capacitor charged. An upgraded alternator is in order. If it is not replaced, it will go bad soon and the battery may soon go bad as well.
Question #2: You are correct about shortening your ground wires. The shorter ground wire should fix the engine noise problem, but I do not guarantee that. I have had very short grounds hooked up and still had engine noise, and the only thing I could find to eliminate the problem was ground loop isolators. Most times the shorter grounds do the trick.
Question #3: It sounds like the sub amp is getting shorted. If the amp is screwed down, then the case is grounded. If there is an RCA plug or another wire touching the case, they will be grounded and cause the continuous buzz that you are describing. It is definitely a short. Double check all wires and be sure everything is connected securely and no bare wires are showing.
Question #4: I would definitely check the door connections and be sure they are tight and not exposed. It sounds more like a ground problem with the amplifier. Double check your amplifier ground connection. If you can't find any exposed or loose wires, the amp may have an internal issue, and may need to be repaired. Sometimes a little bouncing around will cause the connections inside the amp to become loose.
With your knowledge and attention to detail, I think you will find the problems fairly easily and be able to get them repaired. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Hope this helps, Scott
