In need of help. Amp wont turn on.

[beej336]

hi. a buddy and i were attempting to hook up an amp and two 12" subs into my car. we got the wiring for the positive and negative hooked up and got the RCA's and Remote wire routed.
i have the subwoofer that is mounted in the spare tire, too. (just a piece of info because we left it hooked up)
the remote wire is what we are having problems with.
we looked up on here for what color it'll be (found out it was the blue and white stripe)
and we tested it. we touched the remote and blue/white wires together, turned the car on, and the amp powered up. we could see the power light go on. so we plugged the blue/white wire back into the wiring harness, cut it, and joined the remote wire and blue/white together BEFORE the wiring harness.
and of course, now the amp doesnt turn on.

now i have noticed that after the wiring harness, the color changes to white with a blue stripe. could this be an issue? could it be the wrong wire?
or, is it, that because we kept the previous spare tire sub connected that maybe there isnt enough voltage going through the remote wire for the amp to register it?


i have this aftermarket head unit:
<a href="http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/2009_Car_Entertainment/KDC-MP242">Kenwood</a>

with this amp:
<a href="http://www.drdetailshop.com/d300-2.htm">Directed</a>

and these subs:
<a href="http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_949_+--+CLOSEOUT+--+Rockford+Fosgate+RFZ3412+12-+Punch+Z.html">Rockford Fosgate</a>

also, attached is a picture in case im not making any sense.
we had to add an extra wire to be able to connect everything, that's why there is an extra connector on the remote wire.

so to sum it up, remote and amp work before permanent connection, and we've tried everything we can to fix it (short of buying a new amp) and have come up with nothing.

help is much appreciated.
TIA.

 

[goldenboy88]

Is that an aftermarket wiring harness that you have to switch it off the stock harness? If so you shouldn't need to have the wire going to it, only need from amp to hu. Worst come to worse though, run the remote to a fuse that is only getting power when the car's on, not a weak fuse though and not anything important (crank fuse=bad idea) since if you hook the remote to a fuse and have a surge it'll blow the fuse. But for keeping it that way I'd say check the other end of where the remote is going into the harness, if there's nothing, lose that wire. Anytime I've run a harness I just run the remote straight through to the amp.

 

[beej336]

Is that an aftermarket wiring harness that you have to switch it off the stock harness?

right well to get to the wire after the harness i would have had to unravel some electrical tape and tap that wire. and we felt like it was too much work so we just went for the wires near the HU.

 

[beej336]

okay so update. when i pull the pin out of the wiring harness the amp works just fine, but when the pin is put back in (and connected to the white with blue stripe wire) the amp turns off. everything seems to work okay...so i guess i will look up the wiring diagram and make sure that it doesnt effect anything if i leave it disconnected.

 

[goldenboy88]

Doubt it will, stock setup won't have a remote wire unless maybe running a stock amp. The reason it won't work when going into the harness is because it's drawing out the currrent needed to tell your amp that the decks on and it's time to play.

 

[WhiteKnight]

Doubt it will, stock setup won't have a remote wire unless maybe running a stock amp. The reason it won't work when going into the harness is because it's drawing out the currrent needed to tell your amp that the decks on and it's time to play.

Exactly what he said. The remote wire from your deck can't provide enough current for both to turn on. Now as long as the stock amp just runs the stock sub you'll be fine leaving it off. If you want both to power up you can use a relay to boost that remote turn on signal. If you're interested in doing that I can provide a diagram for you.

 

[beej336]

i got them both to turn on. the stock sub was running off of a different wire...a yellow one i believe. the other blue/white wire i have hooked to the new subs. it was connected to the dimmer wire, which is basically a ground, so the amp wasnt getting any power. so i swapped the hole the pin goes in (so now its not connected to anything other then the remote wire to the amp). and its running great!

 

[goldenboy88]

Heh first post was tldr, just clued in you're running a stock sub.