Thread: no power to headunit or amp??

my friend and i switched out my rear speakers because i blew them out. after we did that we decided to run my power wire for the amp along the driver side because it was previously on the passenger and along the RCA cables. We ran the power wire hooked it all up and bam, nothing. no power to the amp or headunit. the only screws that couldve possibly hit the wire are the 3 that go into the door sill piece that go along the carpet, idk if those were hit because i didnt put those screws in my friend did. he thinks its a fuse tho because he said id still have power to my headunit. so can it be that the wire was hit or is it indeed a fuse and if so which one should i be looking for?

did you change your remote wire at all? If not check/replace fuse or see if the screws did hit.

So, when run down the pass. side everything worked? Then you run the power down the drivers side and nothing works? Sounds like you need to take the sill plate back off and look at the wiring. Since you didn't do the install you have no way of knowing it was done w/o hitting the wires.

And yes, you prob. popped a fuse or 2 as well. As far as which fuse to check, how about the one marked "radio"

Since this sounds like an aftermarket deck there may be a 10A fuse in the back of the headunit as well. Check that too.

...ground? Sure those RCA's are plugged in at both ends?

If you grounded out the main power line, the radio will still work, it will just blow the power lines fuse (that you should have installed)....sounds like you may have grounded the remote line and popped your "radio" fuse under the driver side dash.

Edit: Was thinking about a different vehicle...the fuse is on the right hand side of the glove box, just pull out the pocket thats there and you'll see them.

i already did check the fuse labeled "fuse" in the fuse box in the engine, im not that dumb lol that fuse was fine as were the 2 in the amp and the fuse in the power wire for the amp.

i did not change the remote wire, just basically moved the power wire from the pass to the driver. it worked before but i could hear alternator noise and only lpf worked and my friend said it'd sound better on hpf, (there was a high pitched beeeeeeeep sound on hpf and whatever the middle selection is called for the x-over setting) he said the noise (both alternator and beep) was proably there from having the power wire and rca cables run along eachother, thats why we switched them.

rca cables are plugged into the amp, i double checked that. i cant say for sure they are plugged into the headunit cause i didnt see it for myself but theres no reason why they shouldnt be as we didnt pull on the wire or anything to cause it to pull out.

if i take off the driver side kick plate will i find the radio fuse under the driver side dash your talking about?

i've said it before and i'll say it again how dose a 0hz note effect a rca when you can't play it? the noises from alt whine are from poor grounds not the power wire running next to it.
the fuse they are talking about is to the right of the glove box that and the engine bay are the two big fuse panels in grand prix. did you cover the old wiring going to the speakers so they aren't grounding out causing the HU to go into safety mode or blow a fuse, remember the HU sends out the variable power(only when hu is on). also if nothing else just switch them back as a last resort DC current power wire and Rcas won't have interference or feedback.

side note take a multimeter and see if the power wire dose have power do the same for the constant 12v for the radio

so heres the update

the fuse that was blown was the radio one inside the glove box.
i put a new one in blew instantly.
i checked the power wire where the screws are and it was not hit.
i re did the ground for the amp, also restripped the remote wire and re attatched that to the amp.
i pulled out the head unit and that fuse was fine, also rca cables were in properly as well as all other wires from what i could tell (most have electrical tape around them where the connections are made)
tried another fuse and blew again instantly.

on a side note the fuse in the power line for the amp is right after where it gets its power from, not near the amp itself, although i dont see how it should matter...

anyways im stumped. i have no clue why its blowing the fuse but for whatever reason it is. any ideas?

Originally Posted by mezzoni

on a side note the fuse in the power line for the amp is right after where it gets its power from, not near the amp itself, although i dont see how it should matter...

Matters BIG time....You want that fuse as close to the battery as possible. ( You put that fuse by the amp and your running a huge fire risk) But that has nothing to do with your radio fuse blowing. Nor do the RCA's. Take the radio out and disconnect the remote line to the amp. Throw another fuse in there and see if it pops. And when you say "blew instantly", is this with the key off? If so, you got problems on your constant (yellow) wire.

sounds like its grounding out somewhere if it was rubbing on something it might have warn though

the fuse in the power line is really close to the battery, i thought it was supposed to be by the amp.. well thats good then lol anyway. also when it blew instantly, the key was in the off position, inserted the new fuse, turned the key to the on position so all the electrical stuff had power and thats when it blew. i will do the remote wire with the headunit tonight

also the 10 amp fuse in the back of the radio was checked and good. the wire im using is 8 guage and been installed for only about 3 or 4 months tops and when we re-wired the power wire to the other side it looked perfectly fine

Originally Posted by mezzoni

also the 10 amp fuse in the back of the radio was checked and good. the wire im using is 8 guage and been installed for only about 3 or 4 months tops and when we re-wired the power wire to the other side it looked perfectly fine

The 8 gauge is your amp power wire, if it had a short in it, it would be popping the fuse by the battery, not the radio fuse. Did you use a wire harness when you installed the radio? If so, I'd completely remove the harness. Put in a new fuse and turn the key. If it doesnt pop, then your problem is the wiring from the Head unit to the wire harness.

i'm talking about the wire to the radio something going to/from the radio is grounding out check all your wires also looking at speakers for coil rott wouldn't be bad also

What amperage is the fuse you keep blowing?

the amperage of the fuse will(should) have no bearing if the power wire is shorted to ground. You say that all connections have tape wrapped around them, my question would be what type of connection are you using then? Proper connection should be soldered and heat shrink, Tape just has a habit of removing itself after time. I would recheck each and every connection to verify its validity.

the fuse i keep blowing is 10 amp, its the one in the glove compartment. my friends said try a 15amp one but im worried ill fry my radio and all that stuff but they said they head unit and amp all have their individual fuses, but that still seems like more work than necessary cause then id just have to replace those..

the connections i believe are just the copper wire wrapped around eachother with the electrical tape around it to hold it together.

as for a wiring harness im not positive i know what you mean. i have a adapter type thing that has the big black plastic piece on one end with all the little prongs inside that you have another piece plug into and on the other end of it are like 10 different wires coming out. specific for GM vehicles bla bla bla all that stuff. is that what your refering to?

Yes, that is your wire harness. And damn, your wires are just twisted and taped?! You need a solder gun or at very least some butt connectors. Remove the harness ( the thing that your radio is twisted and taped to) and put another fuse in. Turn the key and see if the fuse pops again. Then go get something to secure those wires.

i disconnected the wiring harness and tried it and the fuse didnt blow. it still doesnt make sense to me as to why that would be the problem because when we redid everything we didnt touch the dash or head unit or anything. im gonna re-do everything with the butt connectors because i dont have a soldering iron.

atta boy