ICE Help - Amp/Sub

[The Hoff]

Lo folks,

Just been out and bought a JBL CS60.2 amp to power my 2 Genesis P69's. The car has already been prewired professionally as the previous owner had some Boston comp's put in the front with a Phoenix Gold amp under the passenger seat.

Anyway, I sorted my stealth shelf out tonight, installed the speakers and the amp underneath it, and wired it up how I thought correctly - however it's not working.

Front amp/comps are still working fine, but the JBL and the Genesis aren't powered, as I don't know anything about ICE installs I was wondering if someone could help, or possibly talk me through possible checks.

Wires that are in my boot:

1x powerlead (red+thick)
1x thin blue cable (assumed it was the REM?)
2x phono/rca leads

So I took the red cable, to the +12v on the amp. The blue cable to the REM on the amp. Fixed a ground to the rear strut. Plugged phono to Input.

That's as far as I've gotten, but the LED's on the amp aren't on...meaning no power, and I don't have a voltmeter to check if there's power too it, any other means of testing it?

Manual for the amp (CS60.2):
http://manuals.harman.com/JBL/CAR/Owner's Manual/CS Amp OM rev7_26_05.pdf

 

[rob192]

If you did it to the strut top that won't ground it iirc (talking from my own experiences, grounded my first amp by putting the ring over the top of the strut and it didn't work). Sounds like a grounding or a fuse problem, no other reason it wouldn't be turning on if the remote cable's wired up correctly.

Try tapping into the ground from the rear light cluster, or drill a hole in the boot floor, scrape all the paint off and bolt through it.

 

[Jay_clio]

look in the boot and to both side, you should have these clips bolted on with a 10mm or 11mm bolt, remove 1 ov them and put earth around the bolt and bolt in tghtly, that will work as a Earth

 

[fizzy_drink]

If you did it to the strut top that won't ground it iirc (talking from my own experiences, grounded my first amp by putting the ring over the top of the strut and it didn't work). Sounds like a grounding or a fuse problem, no other reason it wouldn't be turning on if the remote cable's wired up correctly.

Try tapping into the ground from the rear light cluster, or drill a hole in the boot floor, scrape all the paint off and bolt through it.

What he said!

Under the rear seats, you'll find various protruding pieces of metal.

Either ground from one of those (sand the paint off), or ground off one of the rear seatbelt clip bots (again, sand the paint off).

 

[The Hoff]

Hmm I may have underestimated the need for a good ground then. I'm not very experienced with this ICE malarky so I was just trying to logically work through it.

Looked under the bonnet and checked the wiring on the + of the battery, there are two cables, guessing one for the front amp, the other is wired to the rear. So messed with them removing one then the other, predictably one of them stopped my front amp from working so I then tried the other by itself but it didn't come on. I then tried swapping the fuses (under the bonnet) but again only the front one worked.

To save me fking around sanding paint and drilling holes, I'm assuming a volt meter on the cable in the boot would tell me if there's any current making it's way to the boot?

Also would a lack of ground/earth stop the amp from turning on completely?

Cheers for the help...been tearing my fking hair out tonight.

 

[rob192]

Yes, no ground means the amp won't turn on. A Voltmeter also needs to be grounded does it not?

You don't need to do a great deal, a place I successfully grounded was where the light's are bolted in, just scrape the paint of with a screwdriver (doesn't need to be pretty nobody's going to see it) and then just put the loop on the ground wire over the light bolt. Doesn't seem to hinder the light being bolted on securely. Give that a try.

 

[The Hoff]

Ack...scraping the paint off my baked bean sounds harsh!

So you mean, take out the cluster and earth it behind the cluster itself, or you mean in the boot where the little thumbscrews are to remove the cluster?

Also sounds a bit amateur, but I just used some speaker cable for the earth I naturally assume it will do the job fine?

<----Newb.

 

[rob192]

I assume that will ground it yeah, I'm no expert on the gauges of wiring but I don't see why not, it all conducts.

I mean just in the car behind the thumb screw yeah, you can't really get to the cluster side.

It's either scrape some paint somewhere or do a dirty scotchlock onto the light ground wiring lol. If it's under a seat or some carpet does it really matter that much?

 

[The Hoff]

Nopes, I'll go out and attack it with some emery paper in a few minutes...if it doesn't work I'll scream some more!

Cheers for your help fella.

 

[rob192]

No problem dude. Good luck.

 

[Clio_Ally]

iv ehad this exact prob with mine, best option is to move the earth to a diff location. If that fails you might really need to (if possible) put your amp in a mates car and make sure it works corectly? Hope this helps

 

[The Hoff]

Ally after finding a better earthing point did your problem miraculously disappear?

 

[rctempire]

Could i suggest you use the earth already built into the rear seat buckle? Undo it slightly and push the opened "O" ring into the slot and tighten up, then try the amp. I should switch on.

Amp should then have 1 GND wire, 1 12V and 1 RMT wire to power it.
Amp should have 1/2/3/4 wires depending on sub, going from + and - of the speaker polarity into the sub.

 

[The Hoff]

Most helpful rct, I seem to have it wired correctly with exception of the ground.

Could you go into a little more detail about the seat buckle, not quite sure where you mean tbh - probably being very dumb.

 

[The Hoff]

Right undid the middle seatbelt mount on the leftside of the boot behind the carpet, filed down the paint and attached the earth (I just used decent grade speaker wire that was left over) and it now fires up.

For those with similar problems, I'd advise doing the same.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[fizzy_drink]

.

 

[fizzy_drink]

Right undid the middle seatbelt mount on the leftside of the boot behind the carpet, filed down the paint and attached the earth (I just used decent grade speaker wire that was left over) and it now fires up.

For those with similar problems, I'd advise doing the same.

Thanks all for the help.

Excellent work.

I'd use a better cable if I were you...

...electrons actually move backwards (negative to positive) in a current, and I believe a nice chunky earth cable (of similar gauge to the power cable) is required (to get the full current flowing with minimal resistance).

Keep a sharp nose in meantime.

If you look here, in one of the photos you'll see that my earth and power cables are of the same gauge (image 4767). You'll also get ideas for mounting points.

http://www.forumphoto.co.uk/gallery/C2Code/C2Audio1/index.htm

 

[The Hoff]

Ah I see.

Well it's actually sub-wire so it's pretty thick, I'll keep an eye on it and if it starts going tits up I'll check the gauge.

BTW for those doing the same, get your wire and crimp it with either an O-ring (I didn't have one big enough) or a fork adapter - I simply bent the fork with some pliers to make a shape suitable to go around the bolt.

 

[Dink]

i'd change the earth cable asap as the wire for your sub isn't really designed to be part of the power circuit.

 

[fizzy_drink]

i'd change the earth cable asap as the wire for your sub isn't really designed to be part of the power circuit.

Yup - the copper strands used to weave the wire will be of different thickness on a proper power cable AFAIK.

 

[testolad]

Have you checked if there is a fuse near the battery?

 

[The Hoff]

There are two fuses near the battery mate.

But this problem was resolved, reason the amp wasn't powering was because I was using a bad earth.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Lagerlout]

Using as short an earth cable as possible, ideally the same size as the power cable, is always good practice too.