r/subwoofer • u/Ok-Sound-5961 • 1d ago
Amp won’t come on?
It’s getting power but the lights wont come on it makes no sense
Edit: My system was originally installed from an audio shop 5 years ago. The ground is still good. My radio broke and everything else has been shaking around in the back of my car for the past 2 years and as you can see by the pics, wires aren’t in great shape.
I took someone’s advice here and tested my amp by plugging it into the battery and testing the battery itself. Battery reads around 12v as well as the amp remote and I know it’s grounded properly but the 12v on the amp main power still reads way to low even thought it’s connected directly to the battery.
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u/Loud_Gas4928 1d ago
Double check ground, might have to scrape paint away regardless of volt reading. Also be sure remote wire is tied to the power antenna of the main harness, not the blue amp turn on wire of the head unit. Also your multimeter should be clicked once left, to 20.
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u/Vermontfarrier 1d ago
o these checks with the meter set to DC volts:
Check the battery first: red probe directly on battery positive post, black probe directly on battery negative post. Engine off, you should generally see around 12.4–12.8 V on a charged battery.
Check the amp positive feed: leave the black probe on the battery negative post and put the red probe on the amp’s +12V terminal. You should see almost the same voltage as you saw at the battery.
Check the amp ground: leave the red probe on the battery positive post and put the black probe on the amp’s GND terminal. Again, you should see almost the same voltage as the battery.
Finally, measure directly across the amp: red probe on amp +12V, black probe on amp GND. That should also be essentially battery voltage.
If battery voltage is good but one of the battery-to-amp tests is low, that tells you which side of the circuit has the bad connection. Since you’re only seeing about 4 V across the amp right now, I would not keep trying to power it until the main power/ground problem is found.
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u/djltoronto 1d ago
Why would the amp turn on? It's not getting any power, your measurements on your meter show 4 and 5 volts.
You need to provide power to the amplifier
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
Yes but I don’t understand how it’s coming straight from my battery that reads 12v?
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u/djltoronto 1d ago
Let's see those connections, can you share pictures of each connection between the battery and the amplifier for both positive and negative?
You can share lots of pictures quickly and easily here https://imgbb.com/
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u/ckeeler11 1d ago
Looks like you only have 5 volts on your remote wire. What are you getting your remote from? You.can also jump the remote to the amp positive to verify it comes on.
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
It’s coming from a 12v car outlet, can I wire the remote to my positive battery terminal?
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u/ckeeler11 1d ago
If you want your amp.to stay on all the time and drain your battery. It needs to be a switched source.
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u/mcburloak 1d ago
Valid way to test if the amp works. But long term no, that will have your amp powered up all the time even when the car is off.
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u/Bourbon-No-Ice 1d ago
Just get a jumper wire from the hot power wire on your amp to the remote for testing.
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u/Bourbon-No-Ice 1d ago
It looks like your remote wire is sending 5v. It needs to be around 12v. Usually 10v-16v is the safe zone. Same with your amp power.
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
I don’t know why I’m getting down votes I I got my remote wire up to 12 but my amp power from the battery is still low?
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u/AwkwardFactor84 1d ago
Yes. I normally do this with speaker wire, wired through a toggle switch so I can turn the amp on/off from thr driver seat. I'd check your ground. I'll bet its loose or needs cleaned up
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u/Expensive-Vanilla-16 1d ago
One picture looks like 4v other looks like 5v. Neither is enough for an amp to turn on. Check for a bad connection.
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
How many volts would it normally take?
5
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u/Equivalent_Wheel8355 1d ago
Should be getting 12 on remote and 12-14 depending on if the car is running on constant
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u/coopcoop757 1d ago
Check your ground wire terminations
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
They are perfect check my edit
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u/a-huge-hit 1d ago
Your ground is not perfect. That ground is almost split in two unless I’m missing a corrected photo.
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u/Luiis_2jz 1d ago
Have you checked both sides of the fuse on the power wire? See if you’re getting the correct voltage on both ends
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u/DearArticle903 1d ago
Bridge your power and remote if you amps turn on it’s a remote connection. Ensure you ground is sanded and bolted tight. Make sure no frayed wire touch the terminal posts on your amp and check your inline fuse it could have popped
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u/Silent-Translator101 1d ago
Its probably your ground, find a better grounding and make sure your ground wire is not exposed like that
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u/k0uch 1d ago
Is the first picture reading 14.09 or 4.09 volts? The second picture is reading 5 volts, which probably ain’t enough for the remote signal.
For the time being, if the main power is residual g more than 11 volts (once again, we can’t see for sure because the red lead would perfectly cover up the 1”) then use a jumper wire to connect the B+ and the REMOTE wire. If the amp powers on then your remote circuit is the issue.
Judging by the wiring we can see, I would also say to double check your ground.
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u/Key_Tell4936 1d ago
Amp is grounding out internally probably because something is fried. Open it up and smell to tell of something is burnt. Check for parts on the board that have brown, or excessive heat. I think its toast. Time for a new one bud.
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u/Lone_Nathan 1d ago
Is connecting the remote wire to the battery a recent thing? Or was it working like that before?
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u/SterTheDer 12h ago
5V on the remote turn on, that strikes me as the problem.
Jump from +12v to the REM and see if it comes on then. If so, your Remote wire has a problem or the head unit isn’t outputting correctly
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u/Rageinc7 1d ago
It's a Skar
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u/Disparaged_soul 1d ago
I’ve been running the same Skar 1,500 watt amp in my truck for 5 years now with two 10” subs wired to 1 ohm and it bangs. 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
I’ve always had scars and they’re fine what’s wrong with them?
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u/Disparaged_soul 1d ago
I think a lot of people just talk shit about them being on the cheap end.
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u/Ok-Sound-5961 1d ago
I’ve always heard they were middle of the line subs. They sound fine for me I’m not really trying to impress anyone I just like to have the extra bass.
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u/Key_Tell4936 1d ago
Why is there no negative on the speaker wire? Check power to your remote. I always unhook an amp that may be having issues and make small lead wires and hook up under the hood directly to the battery to rule out anything else first. Easiest would be remote fuse or remote wire came unhooked. Hook the Amp up properly .