Smoked Remote Wire
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=83301
Printed Date: July 03, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Topic: Smoked Remote Wire
Posted By: cloak559
Subject: Smoked Remote Wire
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 5:55 PM
Last night my power control wire for my monoblock melted. From the connector near the headunit all the way to the amp it started smoking and melted within seconds. First my sub started clicking in and out and then my headunit starting turning on and off. At that point I looked back and realized smoke was pouring out from under my carpet...
This boggles my mind. There was nowhere that wire could have grounded itself. And even if it did, would that make it fry? And why would the headunit power flicker? Is there any other reason anyone knows of why this would happen? Im about to run a new remote wire and I just wanted to get some input before I hook it up. Hopefully I dont smoke another one. *crosses fingers* ...
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'89 Mercedes-Benz 300E
Pioneer DEH-5900UB
(2)RE Audio SX 10"s
(1)US Amps MD3D
3ft^3 @ 37Hz
Blowing up in a car accident doesnt worry me, as long as I'm putting out some major dB's when I die...
Replies:
Posted By: ferretvw
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 6:04 PM
A wire will burn or melt when it is attempting to pass more current than it is meant to carry resulting in heat which in turn burns the wire up. Generally on a remote wire the only way this will happen is if it is grounded somehow or touching bare metal etc. this would also be why the deck flickered because it was trying to pass too much current through the wire. However, it is also possible that there is a problem in the amp itself causing the wire to ground out but I would check out the former first.
Posted By: sparkie
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 6:23 PM
It may be a good idea to install an inline fuse of about 1 amp near the radio. It will prevent this from occuring.
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sparky
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 6:59 PM
When a wire smokes, there is a reason. Most likely either your amp is defective or, like was said, the wire itself shorted to ground. Plus, you may have just fried the power supply in your head unit. Don't just hook it back up without figuring out what went wrong! ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: sprawl85
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 7:25 PM
Yeah, or the wire was way too small. I know this may not seem like an option, but back in the day (i was 13 and doin my first or second install) I used a 24-32 gauge wire (about the size of one of the wires in a telephone cord) for a remote turnon wire and the same thing happened to me. I have used 18 gauge or higher ever since. Of course the plastic on the outside of this wire was so thin it could have grounded out somewhere too. Really what everyone has said is the only two options though and I am willing to bet it grounded out somewhere and it isn't the amp.
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fiberglass reminds me of peanut brittle... but fiberglass tastes better!
Posted By: cloak559
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 10:05 PM
Yeah, I think it was way to small of a cable, I didnt put it in there, a local shop did a long time ago. It looks like a stereo cable from the 50's...I put in a 16 gauge wire this time and its working fine. But for some reason now I get the notorious "Thump" at turn on...wierd thing is it happens everytime I switch tracks too. So I think my headunit took a beating during this little fiasco...time to shell out some cash for a new one...great...
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'89 Mercedes-Benz 300E
Pioneer DEH-5900UB
(2)RE Audio SX 10"s
(1)US Amps MD3D
3ft^3 @ 37Hz
Blowing up in a car accident doesnt worry me, as long as I'm putting out some major dB's when I die...
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