QuestionQUESTION: Hi, i have a 98 toyota camry. i just tried installing a pioneer amp and sony
subs. i previously had amps and subs in my car, installed by me and my
friend and worked fine. now it doesnt wanna work. i have the power cord (1
gauge) from battery thru the firewall all the way to the amp. I have the
ground in the trunk. i made a drill hole in the trunk, and put a metal screw in
it and used that as the ground...i dont know if that would work?
the remote wire from the amp i have hooked up to the deck. the subs are
plugged in fine with the amp. and the pre-amp rca wires are wired to the
back of the deck. i dont know what could be wrong. please let me know if
there are anythings i could try to do, or if you know what the problem might
be. let me know if anymore details are needed.
thanks
ANSWER: Hi Nemo,
What exactly is the problem? Is the amplifier's power light coming on, and you're just getting no sound; or do you have no power at all?
Your grounding method should work fine, as long as the amp's ground wire is securely attached to body metal. The connection can't be loose, however; it has to be tightly fastened.
To do any real troubleshooting, you'll need to use a digital multimeter. If you don't have one, I'd urge you to purchase one. It doesn't need to be expensive: you shouldn't need to pay more than about $20-$30 at a hardware or electronics store. If you have a multimeter available, and can follow up with the exact problem you're having, then I can try to guide you through some troubleshooting steps.
Also, if you have the model numbers of the amplifier and the subwoofers, that may also be helpful.
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: hi, thanks for the quick response. um, there is no light on the amp, but the amp
is brand new. the amp is a pioneer gm-5400t.....and the sub is 12" sony
xplode. i know its a pretty weak set up, but i just wanted to see if the system
would work. there is no sound from the sub, and no kinda activity from the amp.
the sub used to work, and when i did use it, it was rarely.
ANSWER: Nemo,
The good news is that power problems like this one are fairly easy to pin down, if you have a multimeter. (Without a multimeter, you're limited to guesswork).
Put your key in the accessory position and turn the CD player on. You don't have to turn the volume up.
Set your multimeter to DC volts; if it's not autoranging, set it for the 20v setting. Place the black probe on the amplifier's ground terminal, and the red probe on the amplifier's main power terminal. You should get a reading of at least 12 volts. Next, put the red probe on the "system control" terminal. Here, you should get a reading of at least 10 volts or more.
If the power terminal reading is low, but the system control terminal is good, then there's a problem with the main power supply. The most likely source of the problem is the connection at the battery, or the fuse and fuse holder near the battery. Take your multimeter up to the battery. Put the black probe on the negative battery terminal, and test the input side and output side of the fuse holder with the red probe. If you see 12 volts on the input, and low voltage on the output, change the fuse (even if it doesn't look blown). If you see low voltage on the input and the output of the fuse holder, check the power wire's connection at the battery terminal. If you find 12 volts on both sides of the fuse holder, and there's still low voltage at the amplifier's power terminal, then the wire must be broken somewhere between the fuse holder and the amplifier (this is unlikely, unless you have a distribution block installed on the power wire, or the wire has been cut and spliced back together at some point).
If the system control terminal has low voltage, but the power terminal is good, then there's a problem with your remote wire from the head unit. Pull out the head unit, and make sure the remote wire is attached to the blue/white wire at the back. (If you don't have a blue/white, the remote wire should be attached to a blue wire). If it's connected correctly, go ahead and disconnect it. Touch the black probe to the head unit's chassis, and test the output of the blue/white wire without the remote wire connected. Make sure the head unit is turned on. If you don't get any voltage, then the head unit has a defective remote output. If you do get voltage, then it's likely that your remote wire has gotten pinched or shorted between the head unit and the amplifier. You'll have to follow the wire along its path, find out where it's shorted, and repair it (or just run a new wire).
If you get a low voltage reading on the power terminal AND the system control terminal, then it's likely that your ground wire is the problem. Double-check the ground wire connection, and make sure it's clean and tight both at the amplifier terminal and the body connection. You might have to move it to a different grounding point.
If you get good voltage readings on the power terminal and the system control terminal, but no power light on the amp, you'll need to pull the two 30-amp fuses from the amplifier and inspect them to make sure they're not blown. I'd suggest replacing them, whether they're blown or not. If this doesn't fix the problem, then there must be an internal defect in the amplifier.
If the amplifier's fuses are blown, then the most likely cause is improper connection of the subwoofers. With a 2-channel amp and 4-ohm subs like yours, the only way to wire it is in two-channel mode: one subwoofer connected to each channel. You can't use the amp in bridged mode with two 4-ohm subs, because you'll end up with a 2-ohm load at the amplifier, and your amp can't handle that when bridged. This commonly causes blown fuses.
If none of this gets your amp working again, then get back to me with your testing results and we'll try some other troubleshooting steps.
Hope this helps!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: hey, yeah i figured out what was wrong....the DECK! I bought the multimeter
and everything was perfect....and i was puzzled....so i was like screw it, let
me try a new deck. it was solved!
now another problem occured....i dont know what i did, but now the speakers
dont work. speakers were fine, then i did something stupid with the amp and
speakers, now the door and back speakers dont work. sub still does. and
deck does. anything i can do??
AnswerNemo,
If I'm understanding the system correctly, then the front and rear speakers are still being driven by the head unit, correct?
Usually, if you have a head unit that powers up and shows a display, but doesn't produce any sound (except for the RCA outputs), then it can be caused by one of two things: either there's a factory amplifier in the vehicle that needs to be activated or bypassed, or you have a shorted or grounded speaker wire (or a speaker with a shorted voice coil).
In your Camry, I doubt you have a factory amp (or, if it's present, it's probably already been bypassed). That means a shorted speaker wire is the most likely cause. You can use the multimeter to test for this problem.
Unplug the head unit, and set the multimeter for the continuity test function. Connect the black probe to a chassis ground point (one of the screw holes, where the radio mounts to the metal sub-dash, would be fine). Test each of the speaker wires with the red probe. There should be no continuity between any of the speaker wires and chassis ground; if you find a continuity reading on any of the wires, check that speaker to see if one of the wire terminals has slipped off and come into contact with body metal, or if the speaker wire may have gotten pinched at some point.
If you don't find continuity to chassis ground on any of the speaker wires, switch the meter to DC resistance. Test the resistance between the positive and negative wire of each speaker pair: for example, to test the left front speaker, place the red probe on the white wire and the black probe on the white/black wire. You shouldn't get a reading below 3 ohms for any of the speaker pairs. If a speaker tests with a lower rating, it may have a shorted voice coil.
Hope this helps!
Brian
