Remote Wire Help ASAP

[Elbow]

Hey,

Ok yesterday we hooked up a 400watt amp to my 12in lightning audio sub. It all worked perfect. I drove all day with it on, came home, shut the car off, moved the amp, and now the amp wont go on. I took the power wire out, and put a new one in, put a new wire from the harness behind the back of the cd player for the remote, and cleaned ground. Now I took a GTECH pro and tore the ends off so I had a + and a - and touched the + to the power screw on the amp when it was screwed down and the ground to the ground, it came on. Any ideas? I have tested another amp too a 500watt xplode, I am lost :( Any help appreciated

[chuck]

...the remote wire should send a +12V when the ignition is switched on, if its not doing this then something is wrong with the wire or the head unit...use a volt meter to check the power from the head unit on your remote wire...if its not putting out any power then its the head unit...if its putting out power then its the wire, just run a new wire if that's the case...

[Elbow]

If it is the head unit I can make a switch right? Thanks for the info.

Simon

[chuck]

if you are sure its your head unit then it'd really be easier to bypass the headunit run a new wire like you'd hook up a turbo timer...with some cars you can also do this with the 12V cigarette lighter if it turns off and on with the car...its not really text-book procedure but it'd be much more conveinent than having to deal with a switch all the time

[tluve69]

I would not rec. doing that. especially if it is a newer car. most cars run 98% by electronics and if you hook into the wrong wire you could cause major problems. a co-worker hooked his air fuel gauge up a few months ago, and out of the blue 3 days ago it stopped working and the tranny was all out of wack. I tracked it down to the upstream wire was at fault and sending false voltage to the pc, and tranny. so we disconnected it and problem solved. I would just grab another cd player and "do it by the books" a switch is an option but after a while you will forget to turn it off and drain the battery. if you dont wanna buy a new cd player take that one out and goto an electronic repair shop and spend 20-50bux and have it fixed.
just a piece of mind

[chuck]

...the ignition wire i mentioned hooking it to first is the same ignition wire that goes to the head unit to turn it on...but instead of it going to only the headunit you could run another wire that would bypass the HU and take it straight to the amp...but i honestly don't think the remote wire is your problem simon...i'd make sure you really looked over everything else before you did that, if you aren't sure then just take it somewhere...certianlly don't want to catch your car on fire trying to be cheap...but i don't know how familiar you are with what you're working with and all...

[tluve69]

I agree chuck, I wasnt disagreeing. I was just taking the infor he provided and it truely sounded as if he is a little lost, so I am trying to keep him from burning it to the ground. but as you said I too dont think it is your remote. I have installed stereos in my personal cars, and for customers (I had a shop in Boston) and in all the years I have been around it was pretty rare the remote wire from the head unit going bad, it usually was the wire from the HU to the amp had a cut somewhere causing it to ground and blowing a fuse somewhere or just not working at all. The cheapest thing to do is pull the headunit out and run a brand new wire from there to the amp as a test if it works the run it under the carpet ect....

[Elbow]

Well I hooked up a switch and it all works perfect. I have a switch for my cooling fan so I wont forget to switch them all off. It is a 88 CRX by the way.