This Ones Got Me Stumped... No Power To Amps

[sweefu]

Hey all,
my problem is: my amps have no power. This is an intermittent problem, sometimes the amps will get power sometimes they will not.. which i find to be really weird, because they work sometimes all things have to be working.. but only sometimes.
I have pulled everything apart and checked RCA's, Remote, power and earth. So all cables and fuses are good.
Does anyone have any idea what could be causing the amps to have/not have power at any time?

Please help me!
Thanks.

[azkwazere]

Few things:

1. Your amp could be faulty.
2. Your H/U could be faulty.
3. Your amps could be overheating and going into protect
3. Your leads may be paritaly loose

When does it not work? is it totally random?

aZk.

[Jesterarts]

What are you earthing to? In my experience 9 times out of 10, a bad earthing is the main cause of amp power issues.

Did you run the remote wire seperate from the power cable? THe high voltage could be causing interferance?

[holdenboy]

I agree with above, check or re-do your earths......is each amp earthed to the same spot or different spots?

[sweefu]

Thanks for the help here guys. the amplifiers are earthed to 3 different spots.. they are earthed to each bolt that holds the back seat in and also a spot under the parcel shelf. could the factory earth be not strong enough? Everything has been working well for ages, it just stopped all of a sudden when i was driving one day, then after that it has worked on and off.

[sweefu]

sorry, more info is fairly random however it cannot be overheating as it can do it in the morning when the car has been off for twelve hours, also i ran my remote seperate from power cables, power cables are by them selfs.
Cheers.

[Maxxiz]

I had same problem, was earth. Definately sounds like earth to me. Is your earthing cable rated correctly? Also are the earthing surfaces clean?

[holdenboy]

Tough one......best to get a multimeter on the amps terminals and make sure its not a connection problem somewhere along the line. Could be the remote turn on too, have you got it split 3 ways for the 3 amps? if so maybe not a good idea, better to use a relay to turn the amps on. Thats a long shot though.

Dont think it would be the factory earth, the car would have trouble starting otherwise.

[cewing]

get a ohm meter and get a reading between your earth terminal on the amp, and where you're earthing to

[sweefu]

Cheers for the help here. all the earths spots are clean and rubbed back to bare metal, i have used only gold plated connectors so should be all good. i'll hook up a multimetre when i can get one.
I have one trigger wire going to my big amp then a wire going from that amp to the other one

My car is in bits on the driveway haha hope to sort it out tomorrow

[sweefu]

Sorry for double post again.
just was thinking, why would my earths suddenly stop being good? What would cause this?
I've done many earth points on the chassis and they are connect, has been good so far.
Have checked and they are all still good

[scozz76]

Start from the battery and work your way back. Only when the amps aren't working.

1. Check the fuse on your +12v (make sure the fuse itself isn't faulty)
2. Check for volts on the main power line at the amps - Measure this using the chassis for GND, and then the GND connection on your amps. If you get readings on both, then the GND connection is ok. If you don't get readings fromBOTH , check continuity of the +V line and continuity from battery GND to chassis.
3. Measure between the remote connection and GND - you should get 12v with the h/u on. if not, measure the remote line back at the h/u.

[VesperZ]

I'd take the amps out and test them individually on a seperate power source just to verify whether your amps are playing up or not.

[Bobski]

I've only briefly read over it, but you have 2 amps? Well if both of them aren't working then it's not an internal thing with the first amp, because even if that did spike and go into protect, the 2nd amp would still work.

Buy another main fuse, they're like a dollar, throw that in and try that. You said your earth's were good. but have you tried earthing to another point? Trace your remote wire, see if it's been stripped anywhere. That' could be dropping signal here and there.

Do you have your front speakers amped? Do they drop out too?

[holdenboy]

Hes running 3 amps AFAIK, and there all earthed at different locations, so its almost certainly not an earthing problem as far as the amps go.
He's also running several power cables to these amps, so this pretty much rules out a fuse problem (as all amps are doing this i believe).

I would try running a small length of wire between the + terminal and the REM terminals on the amps, this will turn the amps on all the time, so remember to disconnect this wire when you turn the car off for a while etc, but it will take the remote trigger out of the equation.

[Stolky]

i had same prob with my amp and it turned out that the wire wasnt heavy enough. any one know where to run 4guage through the fire wall?

[Bobski]

The same place as you run 8awg?

[sweefu]

thanks for the help here people.
Holdenboy i'll try that tomorrow, hopefully eliminate the trigger wire. i would be very happy if its the remote with a bit of luck it will be..

[Stolky]

yeah spose it will work lol now sounds like stupid question. any idea on where a 600 watt kenwood amp and a 1800 watt kenwood mono block will fit?

[Bobski]

Under ya seats? Or is there room behind the passenger seat?
Where you have the sub?

[Stolky]

I have one slim 12 inch behind driver seat I'm not sure if amp will stay cool enough behind or under seats and I don't think they fit under seats

[holdenboy]

So.....this been fixed yet sweefu?

[sweefu]

Yeah mate
New battery terminals.. old ones were cracked (most likely not part of the problem, but still were replaced in the process of elimination haha)
re wired x overs..
tightened up all the screws for earths
left the car for 2 days then all good...

still got no idea but at least its all working now

Thanks for all the help mate

[holdenboy]

Oh, ok......the main thing is its fixed i suppose

[sweefu]

Sorry to dig up this old thread again, but the problem is back with a vengence!

It will cut out when just driving along for no good reason now.

I should have mentioned the amps are mounted on the under side of the parcel shelf where one of my earthing points are, could this be the whole problem?

Thanks again, sorry to be a pain.