Need help installing car amp.

[jsbush]

Hey,

I bought a Kenwood KAC-7201 amp, but I can't get it to work.

Heres how I hooked it up.

10gauge red wire to battery
10gauge ground wire to frame (in trunk)
Blue wire to remote control wire on my head unit.
RCA wires from the amp to the back of the head unit.

Theres a little fan on the amp, and when I turn the key, the fan never turns and no sound ever comes out. As if theres no power. Also the rear speakers do a pop sound when the RCA wires are connected to the amp.

Any ideas on what to do?

Thanks

 

[Ladies Man]

Blue wire to remote control wire on my head unit.

Is remote control wire the same as the Power On wire???
I doubt it.... I think you have this wire messed up... You want the wire that gives the headunit juice once the car starts up or you turn the key back

 

[minendo]

Try a different ground. Check any inline fuses. Do the RCAs and Remote wire run down the opposite side of the car of the power wire?

Blue wire to remote control wire on my head unit.

Not sure what the remote control wire is, but the remote wire should be plugged into the remote wire of the deck. The remote wire on the deck is generally blue.

 

[godmare]

Right, try a different ground.
To test the blue power-on connection, you can jumper ito the hot line at the amp. It will stay on all the time that way if everything else is correct.

 

[jsbush]

The wire on my head unit I hooked it up to is called "remote control unit" it's also the wire used for the power antenna (I don't have one). In the book for my HU it says to hook up the amps power control terminal wire to that, or to an ACC wire. I tried hooking that wire up to the postive terminal (+) where my headunit gets its power from, but no luck.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: jsbush
The wire on my head unit I hooked it up to is called "remote control unit" it's also the wire used for the power antenna (I don't have one). In the book for my HU it says to hook up the amps power control terminal wire to that, or to an ACC wire. I tried hooking that wire up to the postive terminal (+) where my headunit gets its power from, but no luck.

Definitely check your ground next, then, as minendo said, check your in-line fuses.
Aside from that, I assume your connected to the proper battery terminal (not meant to be read as a smart ass remark.)

 

[jsbush]

Whats an Inline fuse? The fuse on the red power wire going to the batt?

I'll double check the terminals from the battery, but I'm positive its not that.


damn I wish I could find my tester!!


Does it have anything to do with the RCA ground wire? Because it says to put a wire from the HU to the rca ground on the amp. but that is the same ground as the power ground, so wouldn't that be a no no?

 

[Ladies Man]

Now try a different ground.... Make sure it's bare metal and no paint... I had to scratch away paint in my hatchback to get it down to bare metal so the amp would work.

 

[jsbush]

Thanks guys. It works now. It was a ground problem

 

[jsbush]

Fuse in the 10 gauge power wire broke twice within an hour any ideas of what it could be?

Aswell, where do I mount my amp? Can I put it on the back seat or do I need to put a peice of plie wood inbetween?

 

[DrumminBoy]

heres a crappy diagram of how it should be set up (besides the sub of course)

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: jsbush
Fuse in the 10 gauge power wire broke twice within an hour any ideas of what it could be?

Aswell, where do I mount my amp? Can I put it on the back seat or do I need to put a peice of plie wood inbetween?

Both of my Rockford Fosgate amps are mounted directly to my back seats.

What size fuse is it?

 

[jsbush]

30 amp fuse.

I don't have a ground wire going from the amp to the head unit. Only a ground going to the frame. Where do I connect the ground on the Head unit?

thanks.

 

[rudeguy]

willing to bet its still a ground issue...if the fuse is popping like that....either that or a bad amp...no offense to kenwood, but they have a bad habit of sending out defective amps

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: minendo
Try a different ground. Check any inline fuses. Do the RCAs and Remote wire run down the opposite side of the car of the power wire?

Blue wire to remote control wire on my head unit.

Not sure what the remote control wire is, but the remote wire should be plugged into the remote wire of the deck. The remote wire on the deck is generally blue.

About running the RCAs and remote wire on the opposite side of the power wire: What is the reason for this? I've seen this stated before but never understood the reason. My friend has them all running together if I'm not mistaken and his sub and amp work fine. Actually, we recently installed a sub and amp in my car and I asked my friend about running them opposide, he said you can run all the lines together. So we ended up running all of them together (along the driver's side of the car underneath some trimming) and everything works fine. Maybe I'm just lucky?

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: americangigolo

Originally posted by: minendo
Try a different ground. Check any inline fuses. Do the RCAs and Remote wire run down the opposite side of the car of the power wire?

Blue wire to remote control wire on my head unit.

Not sure what the remote control wire is, but the remote wire should be plugged into the remote wire of the deck. The remote wire on the deck is generally blue.

About running the RCAs and remote wire on the opposite side of the power wire: What is the reason for this? I've seen this stated before but never understood the reason. My friend has them all running together if I'm not mistaken and his sub and amp work fine. Actually, we recently installed a sub and amp in my car and I asked my friend about running them opposide, he said you can run all the lines together. So we ended up running all of them together (along the driver's side of the car underneath some trimming) and everything works fine. Maybe I'm just lucky?

Prevent interferance.