I appreciate any and all advice:

So, I got an amp kit off of e-bay, got a cheap sub/amp used locally. Anyways, I went to hook it up today, ran the ground to the body, sanded off the paint... Ran the positive form the + batt through the firewall to the amp... At first I couldn't get power, but eventually the light came on after that, I tried switching around the RCA's and the speaker wires to no avail, the sub never moved.

Then, since it's a crappy e-bay kit, the CONNECTORS kept coming off... so my power one came out and in grabbing it, it brushed against one of the speaker wire connectors that wasn't being used... I hear a small blip and now I can't get power.

Did I blow the damn thing? Also, what am I missing connection wise?

 

did you run a remote wire from the deck to the amp? didnt list it so i thought i would ask?
Do you have a way for test voltage at the amp? Do you have 11.3 or more?
Is the sub toast?
Do you have a cordless drill? Take the battery off the drill and touch it to the speaker wires going into the box(dont hold it long)
Does the sub move?

Did you plug the rcas into the right spot on the deck?not a input?

Dannie

 

if you didant do the remote wire, thats your problem i garuntee it. if you have done it check the inline fuse on the power cord, and on the back of the amp

 

o and i dont know that i would do it with a cordless drill batterie, you will know if the sub is blown cause it will still try to move, youll just hear a lot of rattling and it wont have very good responce

 

Didn't do the remoe wire b/c I'm an idiot. lol... I still need to figure out where/how to splice it... I suck at /hate electronics.

I believe the sub is fine, just the amp is toast.

 

Ok, I officially hate amps.

I spliced in with the system remote wire...

Went out and bought a new (used/ open box) amp from Best Buy.... and of course, it uses different connections... the ones with just a hole and a hex screw on top to keep the wire in place. So, I put in the ground, power, remote, and speakers in.... Doesn't work. FINALLY, I figure out that my wire had seperated from my connection on th ground!

YES, I thought.... Put a new connection on it....nothing. RCA's are hooked up right, remote wire has now been spliced TWICE, and I know the power wire is live (sparks

So wtf is going on? Did a buy a fried amp?or am I just doing something stupid?

 

Lol welcome to the trails and tribulations of car audio from what i have read ie sparks that is never a good thing lol if you arent getting power to the amp ie the light is not turning on then you may have blown a fuse under the dash or under the hood does your head unit still turn on?
another possibility is what type of head unit do you have some like my alpine have the ability to turn off the amp at your will through the settings check to see if other things like the cigarrette lighter works and do your best not to make sparks put some tape on the live wires if they arent being used at the moment or disconnect the negative on the battery you will be ripping your hair out if you keep toasting fuses i swear a different one goes every time. another possibility is your ground may not be very strong that can definately keep an amp from turning on. one last thing that might help in the confusion of all the wires the only 3 wires you need to have connected to have the amp turn on is the power, ground and remote the rcas and the speaker outs dont have to be connected so you can just take those three wires and concentrate solely on them trace them all the way back and forth run over them at both ends with a test light and make sure u have the best ground ever let me know if this helps

 

Thanks all... Dan04Cobra helped me out.

Yep, it was a bad ground...not sure if the other amp was toast or not.... But all my fuses were fine. Went out and bought a new amp.

 

you can bypass the remote turn on to see if it is bad by disconnecting it from where ever you spliced it and the jump the connection form the + input. As long as your power wire is still good the amp will turn on but you will need to remove the jumper to get the amp to turn off.

 

yea ... well it sounds like your problem is that you left the power wire connected to the battery and then tried to connect the amp ... if you leave the power wire connected to the positive on the battery when you connect the amp the amp will spark, and when the amp sparks it means you just blew your amp ... hope everything works out for you, if you ever need any help with car audio pm me, i know most everything about that kind of stuff

Zach