Printer Friendly Forum Posts - amp ground wire shows power

The amp will not come on at all, and it has power. When I turn on the HU the ground wire to the amp shows that it is powered, when the HU is switched off it goes back to ground. The amp has been working fine until this week.

Thanks,

Ted

Its prolly the amp. Amps like to fry from heat where power and ground connect. if it had a powere or ground issue?

Like not enough power or bad ground. remote wire pinched???

So the amp gets hot and melts the terms together inside or outside the amp.

Prolly inside the solder melted together.

tbyrd200 wrote:

The amp will not come on at all, and it has power. When I turn on the HU the ground wire to the amp shows that it is powered, when the HU is switched off it goes back to ground. The amp has been working fine until this week.

Thanks,

Ted

You probably didn't melt any solder or you'd (probably) notice melted connections, burn wire, etc. Something has shorted inside the amp in the power supply.

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You talking to me???

P9 Combo
ID CD1-Pros
Focal Utopia Midbass
10" Brahma
Clarion APX amps

mike swanson wrote:

Its prolly the amp. Amps like to fry from heat where power and ground connect. if it had a powere or ground issue?

Like not enough power or bad ground. remote wire pinched???

So the amp gets hot and melts the terms together inside or outside the amp.

Prolly inside the solder melted together.

I like this answer, I have seen alot of this and fixed alot of amps that had this problem. Most of the time is it is the plastic that melts and makes the connections hit. All you got to do is take the cover off the amp and see it the bottom or top of the amp is burn or melted. If so let us know and I or someone can lead you through it on how to fix it if you don't know how too.

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Can't be loud then don't have it.

(power acoustik system)
Head unit- TID-896 7" TOUCHSCREEN
ovn1-5500d 09 and another one coming soon
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2 batterys, 1 power

You have a bad connection where your ground wire is connected to the chassis of the vehicle. The ground is connected well enough to show a ground when there is no current being pulled through it. When you turn the amp on, it tries to pull a little current and it can not provide the current. That is why it is showing power. Check to make sure the ground connection is tight at the amp and at the connection point of the vehicle.

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Let's Go Brandon Brown. Congratulations on your first Xfinity Series Win. LGBFJB

vibrationcustum wrote:

mike swanson wrote:

Its prolly the amp. Amps like to fry from heat where power and ground connect. if it had a powere or ground issue?

Like not enough power or bad ground. remote wire pinched???

So the amp gets hot and melts the terms together inside or outside the amp.

Prolly inside the solder melted together.

I like this answer, I have seen alot of this and fixed alot of amps that had this problem. Most of the time is it is the plastic that melts and makes the connections hit. All you got to do is take the cover off the amp and see it the bottom or top of the amp is burn or melted. If so let us know and I or someone can lead you through it on how to fix it if you don't know how too.

Huh? I used to repair amps and I've never seen solder melt inside them or burn up plastic inside an amp. In general there isn't much plastic to burn up inside the amp.

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You talking to me???

P9 Combo
ID CD1-Pros
Focal Utopia Midbass
10" Brahma
Clarion APX amps

i am an idiot wrote:

You have a bad connection where your ground wire is connected to the chassis of the vehicle. The ground is connected well enough to show a ground when there is no current being pulled through it. When you turn the amp on, it tries to pull a little current and it can not provide the current. That is why it is showing power. Check to make sure the ground connection is tight at the amp and at the connection point of the vehicle.

That was my first thought as well - I would check the ground and make sure it is making a solid connection.

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Kevin Pierson

I experienced the same problem Yesterday after replacing my ground wires to 4 gauge. I also distributed the ground wires to one point, could this be the reason? I did it before with the 8 gauge but it works great with little noise.

I found out the ground shows power because everytime I turn on the headunit, my fuse would blow! forgot to mention, I'm new here and in need of help! I want to make sure I could still use the amp before I buy another one! Thanks and sorry for Thread jacking!

Get yourself another amplifier. Wire it up and see if it replicates the issue. If it does, you kow there is something wrong with your insatall; if not, you have a faulty amp.

hungry_eye wrote:

Get yourself another amplifier. Wire it up and see if it replicates the issue. If it does, you kow there is something wrong with your insatall; if not, you have a faulty amp.

Good idea, I'm worried it might fry that one tho!! I might try the amp on another car to see what happens. I'm just hoping I don't have to buy another amp! Thanks.

A DMM is much cheaper than trial and error. I agree with i am an idiot, most likely a grounding issue. Did you smell smoke when your amp stopped working? Was it hot? Which fuse keeps blowing?

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custombass wrote:

A DMM is much cheaper than trial and error. I agree with i am an idiot, most likely a grounding issue. Did you smell smoke when your amp stopped working? Was it hot? Which fuse keeps blowing?

Yes, I used it and it shows 9v on the ground. I don't think it was hot. The main fuse connected to the battery keeps blowing. Hmm maybe it is the ground. I wonder if I show try each amp with its' on grounding point? What length should it be? Actually my friend who is MCEP Certified installed it, but people make mistakes!

The shorter the ground wire, the better.

You amps should all be grounded at the same point. Your fuse keeps blowing because of a short circuit somewhere IMO. Check all connections, starting from the battery, toward the rear of the vehicle. Check your wiring to ensure that there is no cuts or gashes in the insulation. I personally believe that this is a result of an installation error.

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custombass wrote:

You amps should all be grounded at the same point. Your fuse keeps blowing because of a short circuit somewhere IMO. Check all connections, starting from the battery, toward the rear of the vehicle. Check your wiring to ensure that there is no cuts or gashes in the insulation. I personally believe that this is a result of an installation error.

Thanks, I'll have him check it. What's weird is the 4 ch works perfectly! They share the same power line! So maybe the power to the mono block?

Have your installer check his math to make sure you aren't overloading that fuse. Make sure ALL connections are tight, and ensure there is no short anywhere. Did he use connectors for ALL connections, or did he cheat and use only the stripped wire? posted_image

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custombass wrote:

Have your installer check his math to make sure you aren't overloading that fuse. Make sure ALL connections are tight, and ensure there is no short anywhere. Did he use connectors for ALL connections, or did he cheat and use only the stripped wire?

When I was using 8gauge wires, it was compeletly fine. Then all of sudden this happens! He used connectors on the battery side then it go to a distribution block and to the amp. The amp's terminals don't have a spot where the connectors go, I don't think.

I wonder if the amp works on other car? I need to ask a friend to see if I could hook it up. My friend did my system at least 4-5 times with two different cars. This is the first time there's an issue! :(

Is the fuse on the amp itself good? How often does your in-line fuse blow? I still believe that there is a short circuit somewhere.

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custombass wrote:

Is the fuse on the amp itself good? How often does your in-line fuse blow? I still believe that there is a short circuit somewhere.

Yea it's still good. We blew at least 3-4 fuses. The funny thing is, it was working flawlessly intil the wires got changed. Old setup was 4 gauge split into 2 8 gauges because I ran out of wires! lol So I decide to finally change them and now this happens! How does a short circuit happen? I wonder if the wires somehow got cut? The old setup was "homemade" too. It was a fuse holder that split the power and ground. I can't wait til this weekend to mess around with it some more.

heedless619 wrote:

custombass wrote:

Is the fuse on the amp itself good? How often does your in-line fuse blow? I still believe that there is a short circuit somewhere.

Yea it's still good. We blew at least 3-4 fuses. The funny thing is, it was working flawlessly intil the wires got changed. Old setup was 4 gauge split into 2 8 gauges because I ran out of wires! lol So I decide to finally change them and now this happens! How does a short circuit happen? I wonder if the wires somehow got cut? The old setup was "homemade" too. It was a fuse holder that split the power and ground. I can't wait til this weekend to mess around with it some more.

I meant the inline fuse blew 3-4 times during the installation of the new wires. Before it never blew!!

A short circuit occurs when a circuit path is created between the positive and negative poles of a battery, power supply, or circuit. A short circuit will bypass any resistance in a circuit and cause it not to operate. Somewhere in your wiring I believe that has occurred. A good example is positive and negative touching somewhere. That's why I asked if your insulation had any gashes or cuts, also why I asked if connectors were used or if it was simply stripped wire wound around a bolt...maybe ground issue there as well.

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custombass wrote:

A short circuit occurs when a circuit path is created between the positive and negative poles of a battery, power supply, or circuit. A short circuit will bypass any resistance in a circuit and cause it not to operate. Somewhere in your wiring I believe that has occurred. A good example is positive and negative touching somewhere. That's why I asked if your insulation had any gashes or cuts, also why I asked if connectors were used or if it was simply stripped wire wound around a bolt...maybe ground issue there as well.

The only thing he took off was the rear seat(1999 Honda Prelude). It was working fine before so I'm not sure if any cuts can occur. I'll check for cuts on the power and ground. I really hope I get this fixed! Thanks again!

One thing, If it's the ground or the wiring, Why does the 4ch amp still function?? There's E noise but it still works and they share the same ground and power??

Thats a good question, have you checked to see that your remote wire has enough amperage to turn both of your amps on? If its not the wiring, check that out. Might have to use a relay for your remote turn on's. Remember, be patient. Troubleshooting is a process of elimination. Check the current from the remote wire from the HU. Then check to see how much it requires to turn on your amps in combination, if there is more current needed than what your HU is capable of, a relay might be your solution. Also try first disconnecting your four channel and running only your sub amp. Please post your findings.

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custombass wrote:

Thats a good question, have you checked to see that your remote wire has enough amperage to turn both of your amps on? If its not the wiring, check that out. Might have to use a relay for your remote turn on's. Remember, be patient. Troubleshooting is a process of elimination. Check the current from the remote wire from the HU. Then check to see how much it requires to turn on your amps in combination, if there is more current needed than what your HU is capable of, a relay might be your solution. Also try first disconnecting your four channel and running only your sub amp. Please post your findings.

Thanks, I really appreciate it. Will do this weekend.

If you are showing positive 9 volts on your ground terminal of your amp, There is no other way to explain that situation other than having a bad connection on the ground wire where it is connected to the vehicle, or where the vehicle's chassis is connected to the battery's negative terminal. There is no way a remote wire or an RCA jack, nor a low coolant reservoir can cause this.

i am an idiot wrote:

If you are showing positive 9 volts on your ground terminal of your amp, There is no other way to explain that situation other than having a bad connection on the ground wire where it is connected to the vehicle, or where the vehicle's chassis is connected to the battery's negative terminal. There is no way a remote wire or an RCA jack, nor a low coolant reservoir can cause this.

What if the other amp is working properly and it shares the same grounding point from a distribution block.

There is a bad connection where the amp in question is connected to the distribution block, or at the connection at the terminal of the amp. Check the voltage of the wire between the amp and distribution block. You will need to pierce the insulation of the wire to do this. If the voltage is 9 there, the bad connection is at the distribution block. If the voltage is 0 on the wire, the bad connection is at the amplifier's ground terminal.

i am an idiot wrote:

There is a bad connection where the amp in question is connected to the distribution block.

I'll check that, Thanks!

Okay, I think I found out the problem ,it's my amp! I installed another amp and work perfectly! I wonder how my amp went bad? Just moments before changing the wires, it was working perfectly?! I wonder if it got shorted or something. Probably bad terminals?! I guess I can't really blame my friend, because I don't have proof. He did my system many times and he did it for free. I need to find a place to fix it or just buy a new amp!

Just got a call from the tech, he said it was bad outputs?? I think he's trying to pull a fast one! He said it's going to cost $145 to fix! How could bad outputs make it completely shut off and blow a fuse? I hope they don't do more damage to my amp! I guess I have to buy a new amp! Maybe a MB quart, TMA, or infinity!