924Board.org

maireeka · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 299 Location: North Alabama

I've got an xplod 200w head unit and an xplod 444w 4 channel amp. I'm hooking 2 6x9's and 2 12" subs up to the amp, and no speakers to the head unit at the moment. Everything is wired up, but it seems that there is no power to the amp! I checked and rechecked my blue wire and the rca cables, and it all looks good.

Here's my question: I've got a power wire hooked up to the battery on the car, with a fuse. It's going straight to the amp. HOWEVER, I cut a small part of the insulation off of it and ran a smaller gauge wire to my head unit off of the main power wire. I checked the DC volts to the amp with my multimeter, and it shows 12v just like it should. Could the split power wire still be the reason the amp won't turn on? If not, then what else could it be?
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1977 Porsche 924 red and READY!

Jazzerpet · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Posts: 186 Location: Omaha, NE.

Ok if I remember correctly (I am old now so amps don’t interest me as much anymore) you should have a power wire to the amp, such as the one you have from the battery. There should be a switching wire for the amp as well. This turns the amp off with the stereo so it doesn’t run the battery down. That wire should be connected to the power antenna wire coming from the head unit. That wire is usually blue. If I understand you correctly that is the wire you checked and rechecked. The RCA cables bring the low output from the head unit to the amp. Does your amp have a power LED? If so does it illuminate when you turn on the head unit? You did not mention the ground. I assume it is connected.
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1980 931
1985 ½ 944
Member of the “Omaha Crew”

maireeka · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 299 Location: North Alabama

it does not illuminate

The ground I checked with a multimeter. I checked ohms, it was 0. I also checked the voltage on the power cable using the groudn terminal. It showed 12v. That means it is a good ground, but I'm going to try again anyways, hoping that it might just be a ground.
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1977 Porsche 924 red and READY!

RobE · Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 96 Location: Honolulu HI

Does the Head unit light up? Even though that is not the conventional way of connecting the head unit, I don't believe it would cause the problem you describe. check the fuse the splice may have caused it to blow. Check the ground, the remote wire and ensure you don't need a "memory" wire such as the one for the head unit (usually yellow), some of the new amps are run by a small computer circuit and need constant power. The amp should have came with a wiring diagram in the user manual, if not you should be able to do a such on sony's web site and get the install guide.
Hope you get it up, I just installed 2 kicker 5.25'' midrange/tweeters in my car, I hope to add a 10'' sub and an amp once I save up the money.
Rob
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Rob E.
Sold '79 White 924 NA
Very sadly missed!! On the lookout for a new baby.

maireeka · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 299 Location: North Alabama

head unit works just fine. I had the 6x9's hooked up to it at the very beginning, to make sure it worked. played cd's and radio well. I'm going to replace ground to amp, see what happens. If that doesn't fix, I'm going to install a separate power for each item. If that doesn't fix it, I'm going to set the car on fire.
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1977 Porsche 924 red and READY!

Jazzerpet · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Posts: 186 Location: Omaha, NE.

Before you turn the car into a bonfire.

Check the voltage, at the amp, of the switching circuit (blue wire) to ground. The head unit must be on to get voltage on that wire. If no voltage is present, tap into a known good source. Your problem sounds like it is in the switching circuit.

Don’t rule out bad components. Has everything been tested on a working system?
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1980 931
1985 ½ 944
Member of the “Omaha Crew”

maireeka · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 299 Location: North Alabama

fixed it! don't laugh, but it was due to the blue wire being hooked up wrong. I assumed that the blue wire from the harness with nothing hooked up to it was the one I wanted. WRONG! The one I needed was connected, along with one other blue colored wire, to a plastic contact that, until just now, I had no idea what to do with. I ran out of ideas, tried that, and it worked. It's all hooked up now, all I have to do is hide all the wires and figure out how to fit my sub box into the rear hatch

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1977 Porsche 924 red and READY!