QuestionHey, well i tried to connect the pos to teh amp, a neg to the amp, and the pos to neg, and that didnt work, which was the option you suggested. i tried the other one, and it works, all terminals are in use, and my subs are blasting nicely. Thank you! On one of my subs, i do have a slight problem. The terminal for the neg or pos broke off, i glued it back on before with apoxi, but i broke it off again, lol. do you have any suggestions for this?
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You hit the nail right on the head. Those are my subs and amp. What way should i wire them? There are 2 positive and 2 negative terminals on the subwoofers, as of now, i connected one positive wire and one neg wire to each, thus there are 2 empty terminals on each sub, is that right? if not how should i wire them.
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yeah the radio does not turn off when the key isn’t turned on, so its all good. This is just a quick solution so I do not have to buy anything or wait for ebay stuff to get to my house, etc.
My amp is a Pioneer MOSFET model# GM-X944. My two 10” subs are Pioneer 500watt peak and 120 rms. It is 4 Independence. However I wired them as a mono config I’m guessing? Since there are 2 positive and 2 negative tabs, I put one wire to a positive, and one to a negative. Idk if this did any harm, I’ve been using my subs for a good couple of months, and when I fist connected them, they were booming, so I was like. WOO! I'm done. When I was looking up how to set up my subs, I was never sure how bridged worked, or if it gave me more power. Should my subs be wired like this? http://www.lalena.com/Audio/FAQ/Wiring/bridge.gif
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Due to teh fact that i have no money and need to get a job (im in high school :-p) i came up with an idea to fix my radio, and it worked so far. I cut the power wire connecting radio to the harness. I then spliced an inline fuse to the wire, and put a 20 amp fuse in it. I spliced this wire with a longer wire, and put a blade connector on the end of the wire. I connected this blade to an empty slot in my fuse box. Success, i drove arround and the fuse did not pop. I reconnected my subs, however the same problem still persists. If i have the two subs plugged in, the sound is 10% of the original sound that used to come pumping out of my subs. If i unplug one sub from my amp, the sub that is plugged in, plays at normal volume. Do you think this could be my amp? Both subs work fine because i can unplug opposite subs and they each play at the same loudness.
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I tested the cig lighter, when the key was on the on mode and when the car was running, it works both times. I have extra 8 guage wire, can this be used? im pretty sure i have everything required already. is the "20 amp fuse and fuse holder for the 10 guage wire" an inline fuse where you cut a wire and splice the inline fuse inbetween. what exactly is an automotive relay? i dont understand the purpose of the harness with the relay. Couldnt i just run another wire from teh battery to my head unit and just use an 8 guage wire with an inline fuse and the proper power connector?
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Ok, so the fuse does not blow if im driving arround with the lights on (regular lights, and passenger lights). I did not test the cigarette lighter, however if i unplug it from teh back (the power wire) will it free up some amps? If you wouldnt mind please get me the list. I will write back tomorrow stating the situtation with the cig lighter.
Thank you.
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Hello,
Ok so i disconnected the amp, taped up the ends of the wires, so now nothing connects to the amp except the speaker wires for the subs. i also unplugged the RCA from the head unit, and disconnected the power cable from the battery. I replaced the fuse with the standard 20 watt, and drove around listening to the stock front speakers and my new rear 6x9 speakers, it popped. I then replaced it with a 15 watt fuse, and it popped within the next minute. Any ideas on what to do next? thank you for all your help so far.
Mike
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Hey,
I'm sorry, spell check was working against me, its the courtesy lights fuse. The lights that are mounted on my side panels on my car. This fuse also controls the head unit. So if this fuse blows, the radio stops working (no power is sent to the head unit) and I lose the courtesy lights floor lights, and power locks, along with the hood light and trunk light. Any ideas?
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Hello,
I have an 88 Monte Carlo, with two 10' subs each peaking at 500 watts, with a 1000 watt amp. I've had this system longer than six months. I have a 2 gauge power cable, connecting the amp to the battery, with a 100A inline fuse. I have an 8 gauge ground cable, blah blah. So just recently I have been in ruins with this system. I would be playing music, at about 90 like always, and all of a sudden, click. The curtsy light fuse blew. This happened about 2 times before, both very spread out in time, like a couple of months apart. However this time would be the final time, because now i have a major problem. So the fuse keeps blowing, not the main power for the amp inline fuse, the 20 curtsy fuse. I can assure my subs did not blow, and are working perfectly, because if i turn on my subs, and unplug one, it plays at regular volume, and i tested each sub, and they work fine. Now when ever i turn on my subs, they do not play at, or close to full power like before, especially if both are plugged into the amp. If i plug one into the amp, the one sub plays pretty nicely, loud enough to tell it works fine, which both do. I thought it was the amp at first, however i drove around with my amp shut off (through a setting on the head unit), and the fuse popped. I replaced it, and was playing some music at normal level, when i decided to throw caution to the wind. i stopped dead, put my car in first and floored it, the curtsy fuse blew again (what can i say, i was a bit angry). I checked all the wires, power, ground, speaker, and remote control wire (amp to head unit), and they are all intact, and not making contact with metal, therefore they aren't being grounded out. I am in a real bit of trouble here, please help me.
Thank You,
Mike
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sorry to hear of your frustration. I'd be happy to help but please dont take this the wrong way but what the heck is a curtsy fuse?!!!!
In all my years in the biz I have no Idea what youre refering to.
Also your power and ground wires NEED to be the same gauge so get rid of that 8 guage ground and get a 2 gauge. not that this is causing your problem right now but it's just a bad idea to mix the gauges.
please explain this fuse's location in the wiring and job it's suppose to do.
Im sure we can figure this out.
Thanks!
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Ok, I had a feeling it was courtesy. Somehow I missed where you said light, I though you just said curtsy fuse so anwyay.
I'm kinda confused on this too. I think the place to start is to actually unhook the amplifier for a while. Take the 100 amp fuse out, disconnect the RCA cables and tape them off so they dont touch anything, and remove the remote wire goign to the amp as well and tape that off. you can leave the ground and the subs hooked up.
If you can drive around and blast the door speakers as much as you want and that fuse never pops then what I would sugest is opening the hood and trunk with the music cranked as well to see if the extra load makes the fuse pop.
What I'm thinking here is that the 20 amp courtesy fuse has close to 20 amps on it when the cd player is cranking and the interior lights are on. when the subs are slammin away they cause a voltage drop in the car. so with the subs off the stuff on the 20 amp fuse may be running like 13.8 volts @ 19 amps but when the subs put the load on the system the voltage drops to like 12 volts which makes the cd player try to compensate by pulling more amps and then the fuse pops. the other test you can do is, again with the amplifier disconnected, change the 20 amp fues out for a 15 and see if the cd player can still crank. if the fuse pops easier or right away, then the lights are consuming most of the 15 amps and the cd player just pushes it over the limit. we would either run a new line for the cd player or you could try a 25 amp fuse but this is sometimes risky.
Try what I recomended and let me know what happens, We'll work on it from there ok?
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ok, so now we've pretty much figured out that the subs and amp have nothing to do with the fuse blowing agree?
If you drive around now with the cd player off does the fuse ever blow?
It sounds to me like the fuse has all it can do to run the lights and the additional draw of the head unit just makes it pop.
Do me a favor, see if your cigarret lighter works only when the key is in the "on" and "run" positions but NOT when the key is out. if so, that's at least a 10 -15 amp line and especially if you dont use the cig lighter would be a great sorce to power the cd player.
we can also use a trick where we run a new line from the battery and get an automotive relay to trigger the cd player to turn on. that way all the circuit that runs the courtesty lights has to handle is the 1/10 amp to run the relay, then the relay can power the cd player with a separate 30 amp circuit!
Check the cig lighter first or if you want to try the relay option let me know, I'll try to get a parts list togheter for you. Its not expensive at all and is garunteed to fix the problem, so long as there isnt just somethign wrong with the courtesty light system to begin with.
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no, unpluging it wont free up amps since:
A. i'ts probably on a different circuit
B. its not even using any amps unless its on.
Here's what you need if we're going to run our own power and have it be triggerd to turn on just like it doesn now but not rely on the courtesy fuse's power. I'd go to walmart and get a small spool (12 feet is probably all you'll need) of 10 guage wire (12 gauge will do if that's all they have)try to get red. get a few crimp style butt connectors for 10-12 gauge wire (yellow tube like things, 6 or so will do) get a 20 amp fuse and fuse holder for the 10 guage wire (preferably one thats made to crimp onto or fit 10-12 gauge wire, If you have to get the larger fuse holder that's only made for 8 guage, that's ok too, just make sure the fuse is 20 amps, you may need to get the 20 amp fuse separate from the holder. get a ring terminal to crimp onto the 10 gauge that you'll attach to the car battery. and get an automotive relay. you may have to go to an auto shop for the relay. they're usually a little 1 inch cube rated at 30 amps and make sure you get the wiring harness with it too. I just got a 10 pack on ebay for $25, relays and harnesses together, and they are available on ebay by the piece so if the auto shop wants like $20 for it or they dont have them, check out ebay.
That should be all you need, write back when you have it.
This is a very simple opperation even though it sounds complicated so dont worry about it.
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8 gauge is major overkill and will be harder to splice to the relay but yes you can use it.
The relay is completly nessesary, the relay will be hooked to the existing wire that keeps blowing the fuse. so when you turn the key to where the stereo turns on, instead of that small fuse runining the stereo which could draw 10 amps, it will only be running the relay which will draw like .1 amps AND THE RELAY will run the stereo.
If you just run a line from your battery to the radio that wont help, since thats a constant hot, it needs to be switched on and off with the key and thats what the relay will do.
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right, well, the relay thing was at tops, a $5 part, but anyway, make sure the radio turns off with the key though so your battery doesnt go dead.
I realized that you had 2 separate problems, I was dealing with the first one and was going to get to the subwoofer problem once we got the 1st fixed.
can you tell me the exact make and model of the amp and subs. I'd like to see if the ohms are matched. if the ohms are too low that would cause this problem. Also let me know how you wired them (series, or parallel) and if the amp is runing in stereo or bridged mode.
Thanks!
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ok, well I do see one problem now, you've got a 4 channel amp acording to the model number you gave me, 4 channel amps arent really made for subs. is this your model:
http://www.servicecentertexel.nl/p1000.html
since it has 4 channels, when you bridge it, you get 2 channels. there is no "mono" option on this amp. if the pioneer subs only have 1 voice coil then there a decent match for the amp you have. you just wire the left sub to the left bridged output on the amp and the right sub to the right bridged output on the amp. so they are wired separately you know what i mean? I think these are your subs here:
http://www.autotoys.com/x/cust/product.php?productid=2709
if so they should be fine wired this way. if you have them wired any other way or you think maybe they are dual voicecoil subs, then let me know.
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OK THERES YOUR PROBLEM!!! you have dual coil subs!! if there are 8 terminals in all (4 on one sub, 4 on the other) then that's the problem. that's wierd cuz I couldn't find these in dual, I only saw single. but oh well. this is what you need to do. Here's a link of how you wire one of these, just do the same with the other ok?
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/subwoofers_wiring.html?subs
Go by the 2nd drawing down
follow this exactly, you wire the posative of one side over to the farthest negative on the other side with 1 piece of wire (see how its shown jumping over the other wire NOT connecting there) then the unused negative on th sub goes to the bridged negative on your amp, and the unused posative of the sub goes to the bridged posative of the amp.
Wire each sub independantly this way, to each bridged section of the amp.
THAT SHOULD DO IT!!
Answeryou're welcome!!! hope I get a good rating for all this!!!! (just being silly)
anyway, I'm not exactly sure what you ment by "it didnt work" and then you tried another one and that worked?????
not sure what you mean by that cuz the drawing I sent you should work. (just want to make sure that even though it's loud and working, that it's right)
as for the connection coming off, I'm not sure where exaclty you're talking about, 2 part epox should be great for that if it's where I'm thinking. I like the 2 part 5 minute stuff available at home depot. its in a yellow wide tube. try that and see if that helps, if the stuff you used is still on there, scrape it off first before puting this on.
Good luck once more!
