power, 1996 escort, head unit

Hey, i have just been installing my head unit into my 1996 escort when i came to it the wires were already cut so i tested for my permanent 12v, switched 12v, ground and when i plugged in my head unit smoke started coming out and its now broken, so i have been out and bought a new one, retested my wires with the aid of one of the wiring info pages on here.  now i know which is definatley which although colours didnt match the ones on the site,  so ive wired it all up and plugged it in, low and behold..... no smoke, but my ignition 12v isnt switchin on with the ignition. is it fired off a relay or does it just switched from the ignition? is there a quick fix for it or have a screwed it good and proper, i know i am definatley using the correct wires, i checked the ground for continuity with another earthed part of the car and obviously the permanent

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Lp.

sorry....

12v would be easy to find but there are like 4 wires with a permanent 12v whish is where i went wrong last time but i checked on here and it put me straight (i think). i have checked all my fuses and they seem fine. i just cant figure out why the ignition 12v isnt switching

thanks

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Lp.

How did you check the fuses? If you just looked at them, then you still could have a bad one. Either use a multimeter or a continuity tester for best results.

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nah i tested them with a meter

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Lp.

i read on here that i can take a feed from the cigarrette lighter which would work but im not sure how electrically sound that is, but id rather identify the fault and fix it properly if anybody can help

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Lp.

i checked out my cigarette lighter and it seems to have voltage even when the car is off, obviously not drawing any current unless its switched, does anybody know anything else i can use, ive traced the wire back to the fuse box and tested it from there giving the same results which i find bizarre with the ignition off i get 1.29v and when i turn it into either of the on positions i get 0.70v.

i tried wiring my meter up to check the voltages and pulling out each one of the relays on the top of my fuse box to see if any of them are damaged but as i take them out and replace them there is no change ive gone over all my car to check fuses and all are intact. im really lost on this one.

thanks

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Lp.

Have you tested to make sure that the radio is working by connecting both power wires from the radio to the good power wire that you have in the car? I have had problems in the past where a problem with the radio was causing the power to not read correctly. You can attach the ignition wire from the radio to the main accy wire for the car (fused please) if you can't figure out why thewire for the radio is not working. Just for kicks, did you switch out the fuse at the problem spot?

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hey i managed to get it working now i just pulled a new ignition wire in Sorted!, not quite ive connected my amp up for my sub and its not working properly the red and yellow lights are on and there is no output voltage across the speaker terminals, i know all this kit works cause i just took it out of my last car and it worked no problem. i checked the voltage in to my amp and ive got 12.4v i across the + and - amp terminals.  i have 2 rca leads which so i tested both and there was still no sound.

I have another amp which i use for my 6x9's so i thought id see if that worked connected it all up and that worked but was really quiet and very distorted with both rca leads. does anybody have any suggestions?

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Lp.

Do you also have 12 out of the remote turn on? What kind of radio?

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yeah ive got 12v on the turn on lead, its a mutant mt200 only cheap on a budget since i found im im gonna be a dad soon, been hard tryin to position the sub in the back to leave enough space for a pram and im still gutted i had to get rid of my 205. anyway...

ive been messin round this mornin and the amp im powering my sub on will work with just the yellow light on untill i turn up the volume on my head unit or at the amp and it goes into protect mode. so i tried to power my 6x9's off the amp i use for my sub and it works fine no problems at all so im lead to believe that there is a problem with my sub now i tested across the sub terminals and im gettin 0.8 ohms im not sure if thats right, should there be continuity through a sub? any clues on how to test my sub?

Thanks

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Lp.

If your sub reads 0.8 ohms the voice coil could be burnt. It had gotten over heated and shorted out to itself in a different spot other then the ends of the coil being the contact points. That is why ohms are not at 4.0 ohm resistance. test sub to see if voice coil is burnt. put sub on a work bench or table with the magnet side down. gently push cone down and release to see if you hear a scratchy noise or not. If you do the coil is bad.

there is a slight scratching noise but only if i push quite hard, ive just tested my sub again on the table and its reading 4.0 ohms, this is really doing my nut in. when i tested from the speaker wire coming out of my sub i got 0.8 and i have checked for a short but i cant see anything ive tested with my meter and that is showing everything being ok.

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Lp.

A slight scratch is still a scratch, and is probably an indication of a major scratch in your near future.

Congrats on the pending baby!

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Cheers mate, frighteningly excited or something along those lines

this is never right mate, i got my sub out and tested for scratchin then like i said when i metered it after pushing the cone in the resistance went to 4 ohms so i thought id stick it back in see if it worked, low n behold ive got bass, it works fine ive been out in the car and it was runnin sound but i hit a bump and it cut out and kept coming in and goin out as i was drivin its just annoying tho because everytime i pull over to check it seems to be working fine. ive tightend up all the connections and hopefully it will be alright, if it doesnt ill just throw it, ill need the boot space in the coming months anyway, probably just get some 10" subs and stick em out of the way.

thanks for all the help

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Lp.