power terminal is ground on amp?

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=113386
Printed Date: May 14, 2025 at 7:18 AM

Topic: power terminal is ground on amp?

Posted By: cutlass013
Subject: power terminal is ground on amp?
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 1:08 PM

I have been working a while on a system and I finally get to hook everything up. After a while of not working I plan to troubleshoot the problem..

When going to hook the amplifier up I had remote in and ground then go to insert the power wire and it nearly killed me...maybe not but my inline fuse did begin to glow and lots of sparks ...with a test light from the power wire to the power terminal it creates a circuit is this correct? I never knew if it did that before on my amps but I wouldnt think the light would come on by connecting the POWER wire to the POWER Terminal... Out of the ordeal I got the effect of crossing my power and groud over with sparks and what not. Any one have any ideas? i have 2 kicker 1000.1 just rebuilt from kicker after i have had them for a while working in the same vehicle same spot.... ALL help and ideas are appreciated

Replies:

Posted By: the_one369
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 5:35 PM

well the first thing is always connect ground last. ground is the first to come off and then the last to go on (to avoid those sparks that nearly killed you posted_image

) With the test light issue most test lights that i know of are for looking for ground. If you have 12volts going into the remote to turn on your amp and then you use your test light from power wire to power terminal i would think that it would be a complete circuit and that is causing your test light to turn on. try it without your remote giving power to the amp

Posted By: t&t tech
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 6:09 PM

the_one369 wrote:

well the first thing is always connect ground last. ground is the first to come off and then the last to go on (to avoid those sparks that nearly killed you )

first things first, remove the battery negative terminal before connecting anything, period, and that way you can connect wires in any order and avoid the "sparks that nearly killed you"

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Posted By: the_one369
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 6:39 PM

T&T is correct you should always disconnect the battery before doing any electrical work

Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 6:49 PM

The capacitors in the amp should have made a small spark when they charged. If you have glowing fuses and major sparks, you have a broken amplifier.

Posted By: icearrow6
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 6:57 PM

i am an idiot wrote:

The capacitors in the amp should have made a small spark when they charged. If you have glowing fuses and major sparks, you have a broken amplifier.

I agree... this is beyond which order the wires were put on the amp.

Posted By: cutlass013
Date Posted: April 25, 2009 at 10:49 AM

Yes I also dissconnected the battery and and the in line fuse.. When re introduced to each other the in-line fuse looked like it wanted to weld itself to the line glowing and i had to pry the fuse off the connecting post?? so what give these are supposedly rebuilt for me and now my warranty is out.... Maybe I will just give them a shout monday and see what their tech lady has to say?