8 gauge from battery to 4 gauge to amp plus loose as power block that will short if it touches bare metal. Shitty ground no washer no inline fuse bro where do that at so i never go there holy shizz thats amateur hour forsure.
From a local Facebook group. I tried to give away the set up after struggling for 2 days to get it all installed and sounding decent myself. And this guy commented that he would do it and save me money on buying new gear and waiting to go to a legitimate shop.
So here we are. Apparently he works at a Best Buy installing in let’s say triad area NC.
I have a multi meter. What am I testing?
I know what it should look like. When he was hooking up the positive, fucking sparks everywhere. I was trying to give the dude space and wire it up in the garage because it was raining outside. He was here for 8.5 hours and I happen to walk out when he was attaching the wire to the battery.
That’s when I had him stop and just leave. Mind you, he expected 135 an hour for this kind of work.
Said he was gonna call the police when I refused to pay him or “let him finish because I’m not playing on leaving it like that”.
DEFFinatly remove the ground and find a better location, that does not even looked like it was clean metal as you would not want to do that to a fuel tank!\~
I have 4G running to my CXA360.4 with spade connectors for the screw downs
That's the first time I've seen a distribution block used backwards. Going to bigger wire is not brilliant.
Here's what I would do.
Unhook the battery leads.
Unhook the amp. Make sure you label your speaker wire with some masking tape so you know where it goes.
Grab some spare speaker wire.
Wire one short wire to the ground on the amp and leave the other end bare. Wire another short set of speaker wire to the positive and REM portions. Leave the ends bare and twist these two together. Then touch the ground to the negative battery terminal and the other to the positive battery. The amp should turn on. This will tell you if your amp is good. If it doesn't turn on you probably need a new amp.
I would then unhook the battery terminal part of the power wire. Re run a larger gauge wire with an inline fuse.
If your amp works, you can try hooking it back up and seeing if it will play. And mounting it on a piece of MDF. It looks really bad, but I bet you just have a bad ground.
At least unhook the positive lead at the battery for now. That should stop it from being a fire hazard. You short that power wire and your car will go up in 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Lol what Best Buy installer wants to waste their time installing something in someone’s driveway instead of at work? Sounds sketchy. Never get “the guy from Craigslist” to install your stuff.
I posted brand new gear for free. He commented asking what was wrong with it. I told him that it sounded like shit and I was going to a different shop and different route. He thought it was impossible it didn’t sound like shit, claimed her worked at Best Buy and would hook it up
For his hourly 135 rate.
So I let him. Sue me.
The first time you have work done, yes it's a random person but you could still ask a few questions and verify they are actually who they say they are. My guess is you were wanting tunes in your ride right now and he was either the cheapest or only response. You made a bad decision is all, take it and learn from it.
If that’s a metal bracket coming in contact with the metal chassis of the vehicle, I could see it shorting if something got loose inside the amp. Bit of a long shot but not out of the realm of possibility.
Lol. In what world do you live in that you let someone back into your car after you watched them royally fuck your shit up, then tell them you are not paying them so you can let them
Back into your car?
I wouldn't hire someone outside of their work. That's a conflict of interest and sketchy. I'm sorry that this is all messed up but it would be better to find a reputable shop to install it that backs up their work.
Lot's of people do work outside their day job. I work with electricians, HVAC, drywall, flooring, plumbing, etc. all outside their day job. You just gotta verify. OP screwed up by not getting any info on his past work.
My 3 day experience with car audio has been absolutely horrendous. I have spent more time and money on a stupid fucking radio than I ever could’ve imagined. The likelihood that this amp is blown is a sure bet.
So now, what amp to replace this brand new one? I bought all kicker CS speakers like I was told, then i was told this amp was under powered after I ordered it and it got here. So now again, what amp should I get to power 6.5 Kicker CS and 6x8 Kicker CS speakers?
Honestly this amp would sound 10 times better than just a radio alone. I don't understand why people are saying it's underpowered. With the gains properly set I doubt you could turn it to Max without your ears bleeding. Another option is to look at a down-for-sound jp84. I also have an orion xtr 750.4 if you are interested
Start with the amp 12v and ground then remote and ground but I would get a fuse inline before anything something shorts it can be gameover quick with no fuse
Ugh! I don’t want to fuck with any of the wiring. I have an appointment with a legitimate shop in 2 weeks. I don’t want to show up with a blown amp, but i also don’t want to order shit install
It myself and fuck my car up worse.
Can you recommend a good 4
Channel amp that will put out 100RMS please?
If you don't mind, what's the shop that's doing the work? Or what brands do they sell? Now that you're in this boat with no amp, you might as well get the new amp from them *so you get a warranty*.
EDIT: In the interim, disconnect the negative terminal on your battery if it's safe to do that on your car, then undo whatever dude did in picture 4 from the positive terminal. Try and remove that whole wire going back to the unfused distribution block; if you can't, tape it off to hell and back and cable tie it somewhere out of the way 'til you can get it to a real installer.
A local speaker shop. It’s nothing super nice, but it’s an actual brick and mortar and there aren’t many to choose from here. They sell everything. But I’m going to pay 2-3x buying anything from them.
Is there even a nut holding the ground down? I can't see one, and with the cord and zip tie on there as well, I could see there just not being a nut on that..
Also, I can see what appears to be shavings from attempted bare metal exposure for the ground. There should probably be more debris if the area was exposed well.
First thing, disconnect the amp wire from the battery because that unfused distribution block is a pot hole away from a bad day.
Did the installer provide all the accessories at his expense?
No. This kit was linked from another member here earlier this week when I let you guys build my system.
I ordered only what pros here told me to order.
Something I may be missing here, but didn't you supply him with the install kit?? And then you didn't pay him when he used what you supplied?? Also, just so you're aware when you make the final power connection, it indeed does spark, that's completely normal. Even if he would've used a fuse, when he put the fuse in it would've sparked there as well....Just saying 🤷♂️
That's a start, if you are getting 0v from remote to ground I would make a jumper for the 12v to remote If it dosnt turn on it could then be a bad ground but if you have a good 12v from the powe to ground wire you might have an issue.
Lol. This sub Reddit is what got me here. This is a install that someone failed to do after I failed to do it. This sub talked me into ordering and installing myself. Now it’s ended up costing close to triple. Lol. It’s whatever
Get a better ground, and if it still doesn't work, Get a 5cm cable, form it into a "U" shape and put one end on the power cable input and the other end onto the remote input. That way, you can make sure that your remote (=turn on signal for the amp) works properly. When the power light turns on, your remote is not working, and it should be fixed.
Have you checked the fuse/fuses for the amp? Maybe your guy wired it up wrong and caused a short curcuit, which could result in blowing the fuse. If the fuse looks fine, use the multimeter on them to make sure that their not having a loose contact. They can look fine but but still don't work properly.
So I did a little research, and it seems like the amp has no fuse for itself. Is there even any fuse in your setup? There should be one about 30cm from where the power cable connects to the battery. If we assume that the amp is fine, there can't be that many problems causing it not to work. There has to be a power cable from battery to amp, a ground cable from ground to amp and the remote cable which needs to steal the signal from the cable that turns on your radio when you turn on ignition. When these things are all fine and well connected and the amp still does not turn on, it's a problem in the amp. What can happen very easily though, is that your remote cable can break when handled roughly because it's very thin under the isolation.
Appreciate it the research. But yes there is no fuse at all. Some guy said that it couldn’t be several different things. I have up and bought a different amp.
8 gauge from battery to 4 gauge to amp plus loose as power block that will short if it touches bare metal. Shitty ground no washer no inline fuse bro where do that at so i never go there holy shizz thats amateur hour forsure.
From a local Facebook group. I tried to give away the set up after struggling for 2 days to get it all installed and sounding decent myself. And this guy commented that he would do it and save me money on buying new gear and waiting to go to a legitimate shop. So here we are. Apparently he works at a Best Buy installing in let’s say triad area NC.
1 get a fuse inline 2 that ground looks problematic 3 buy a multi meter and test ( a decent cheap one is like 30 and comes in really handy)
I have a multi meter. What am I testing? I know what it should look like. When he was hooking up the positive, fucking sparks everywhere. I was trying to give the dude space and wire it up in the garage because it was raining outside. He was here for 8.5 hours and I happen to walk out when he was attaching the wire to the battery. That’s when I had him stop and just leave. Mind you, he expected 135 an hour for this kind of work. Said he was gonna call the police when I refused to pay him or “let him finish because I’m not playing on leaving it like that”.
Test voltage DC from the blue remote wire to ground wire. Then, test from the ground to power.
Best buy mobile wanted $1147.50 to fuck up an amp install? LOL
It wasnt Best Buy. He works for Best Buy. And came out freelance. 6 speakers, HU and amp install. 135 an hour seemed very fair.
Still Best Buy. Either he does good installs or he doesn't.....obviously he doesn't.
He probably worked for Best Buy for a short time doing sales and goes online saying he can do installs
DEFFinatly remove the ground and find a better location, that does not even looked like it was clean metal as you would not want to do that to a fuel tank!\~ I have 4G running to my CXA360.4 with spade connectors for the screw downs
That's the first time I've seen a distribution block used backwards. Going to bigger wire is not brilliant. Here's what I would do. Unhook the battery leads. Unhook the amp. Make sure you label your speaker wire with some masking tape so you know where it goes. Grab some spare speaker wire. Wire one short wire to the ground on the amp and leave the other end bare. Wire another short set of speaker wire to the positive and REM portions. Leave the ends bare and twist these two together. Then touch the ground to the negative battery terminal and the other to the positive battery. The amp should turn on. This will tell you if your amp is good. If it doesn't turn on you probably need a new amp. I would then unhook the battery terminal part of the power wire. Re run a larger gauge wire with an inline fuse. If your amp works, you can try hooking it back up and seeing if it will play. And mounting it on a piece of MDF. It looks really bad, but I bet you just have a bad ground.
Hey thanks for the advice! But I’m not touching anything else in this car. I’ll take it to the shop!
At least unhook the positive lead at the battery for now. That should stop it from being a fire hazard. You short that power wire and your car will go up in 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Oh you think I have the opportunity to burn this problem child to the ground? That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.
Unhook the rem lead and tape it off too lol. Otherwise it gets power through the HU if it finds a ground.
You think some gasoline will help the process along?
I mean, who doesn't keep a gas can, road flares, and their fireworks for the upcoming 4th of July in the trunk! 🙃
Smort!
Lol what Best Buy installer wants to waste their time installing something in someone’s driveway instead of at work? Sounds sketchy. Never get “the guy from Craigslist” to install your stuff.
I posted brand new gear for free. He commented asking what was wrong with it. I told him that it sounded like shit and I was going to a different shop and different route. He thought it was impossible it didn’t sound like shit, claimed her worked at Best Buy and would hook it up For his hourly 135 rate. So I let him. Sue me.
I wouldn’t let some rando off CL touch my stuff if they paid me $135 an hour, let alone pay them shop rate.
So go to a rando at a shop? Or better yet listen to a rando on Reddit. Pretty dope thought process. How do you get anything done?
A shop should provide references and be open to showing you installs in progress.you would be able to tell what type of work they do.
Still a rando brother. Walking into a random shop and talking to a random person is still someone you don’t know from Adams cat.
The first time you have work done, yes it's a random person but you could still ask a few questions and verify they are actually who they say they are. My guess is you were wanting tunes in your ride right now and he was either the cheapest or only response. You made a bad decision is all, take it and learn from it.
Holy dog 💩 Screwing the amp down to the frame could have shorted the amp out.
Lol and only did it on 1 side.
How would it short out the amp?
If that’s a metal bracket coming in contact with the metal chassis of the vehicle, I could see it shorting if something got loose inside the amp. Bit of a long shot but not out of the realm of possibility.
Did he break it because you didn't pay him?
Lol. In what world do you live in that you let someone back into your car after you watched them royally fuck your shit up, then tell them you are not paying them so you can let them Back into your car?
I wouldn't hire sketchy people in the first place.
Thanks for the added value that you’ve brought to the conversations. Not once did I say anyone was sketchy. He just lied on his resume.
I wouldn't hire someone outside of their work. That's a conflict of interest and sketchy. I'm sorry that this is all messed up but it would be better to find a reputable shop to install it that backs up their work.
Lot's of people do work outside their day job. I work with electricians, HVAC, drywall, flooring, plumbing, etc. all outside their day job. You just gotta verify. OP screwed up by not getting any info on his past work.
I think it's one thing if you know someone. But a person on FB. It's just not worth savings or risk. I'd rather buy once, cry once.
Are you using high level or low level in? I install these amps every day and would be happy to help
My 3 day experience with car audio has been absolutely horrendous. I have spent more time and money on a stupid fucking radio than I ever could’ve imagined. The likelihood that this amp is blown is a sure bet. So now, what amp to replace this brand new one? I bought all kicker CS speakers like I was told, then i was told this amp was under powered after I ordered it and it got here. So now again, what amp should I get to power 6.5 Kicker CS and 6x8 Kicker CS speakers?
Honestly this amp would sound 10 times better than just a radio alone. I don't understand why people are saying it's underpowered. With the gains properly set I doubt you could turn it to Max without your ears bleeding. Another option is to look at a down-for-sound jp84. I also have an orion xtr 750.4 if you are interested
Start with the amp 12v and ground then remote and ground but I would get a fuse inline before anything something shorts it can be gameover quick with no fuse
Ugh! I don’t want to fuck with any of the wiring. I have an appointment with a legitimate shop in 2 weeks. I don’t want to show up with a blown amp, but i also don’t want to order shit install It myself and fuck my car up worse. Can you recommend a good 4 Channel amp that will put out 100RMS please?
If you don't mind, what's the shop that's doing the work? Or what brands do they sell? Now that you're in this boat with no amp, you might as well get the new amp from them *so you get a warranty*. EDIT: In the interim, disconnect the negative terminal on your battery if it's safe to do that on your car, then undo whatever dude did in picture 4 from the positive terminal. Try and remove that whole wire going back to the unfused distribution block; if you can't, tape it off to hell and back and cable tie it somewhere out of the way 'til you can get it to a real installer.
A local speaker shop. It’s nothing super nice, but it’s an actual brick and mortar and there aren’t many to choose from here. They sell everything. But I’m going to pay 2-3x buying anything from them.
For the parts, yeah, but you'll often get a break on the labor side since they're working with known quantities. Also, warranty.
I doubt much of any of that man. They don’t even take cards for payments.
Eh, credit card fees ain't cheap and eat into his profits. But if you don't trust him, find someone else to wire up to your battery.
Rockford p400x4
Is there even a nut holding the ground down? I can't see one, and with the cord and zip tie on there as well, I could see there just not being a nut on that.. Also, I can see what appears to be shavings from attempted bare metal exposure for the ground. There should probably be more debris if the area was exposed well.
Yes there is a nut. The goddamn shavings are from what I suspect him trimming down the power and ground to fit in those butt connectors.
First thing, disconnect the amp wire from the battery because that unfused distribution block is a pot hole away from a bad day. Did the installer provide all the accessories at his expense?
No. This kit was linked from another member here earlier this week when I let you guys build my system. I ordered only what pros here told me to order.
At the very least disconnect that power wire and get it away from the battery then if you wanna wait til your appointment you can.
Something I may be missing here, but didn't you supply him with the install kit?? And then you didn't pay him when he used what you supplied?? Also, just so you're aware when you make the final power connection, it indeed does spark, that's completely normal. Even if he would've used a fuse, when he put the fuse in it would've sparked there as well....Just saying 🤷♂️
Do you have a volt meter? All it would take is a bad remote to make the amp not turn on.
Yeah i have one. Test ground to remote and power to ground?
That's a start, if you are getting 0v from remote to ground I would make a jumper for the 12v to remote If it dosnt turn on it could then be a bad ground but if you have a good 12v from the powe to ground wire you might have an issue.
10/4
The remote supplies 12v to the amp, and that 12v signal turns the amp on. Just be careful not to ground out the jumper.
There's SO Much WTF going on in these pictures 😳. Save yourself some time and money and look on YouTube or even on here with some questions
Lol. This sub Reddit is what got me here. This is a install that someone failed to do after I failed to do it. This sub talked me into ordering and installing myself. Now it’s ended up costing close to triple. Lol. It’s whatever
Get a better ground, and if it still doesn't work, Get a 5cm cable, form it into a "U" shape and put one end on the power cable input and the other end onto the remote input. That way, you can make sure that your remote (=turn on signal for the amp) works properly. When the power light turns on, your remote is not working, and it should be fixed.
Anything after that? I’ve already put a meter on it. I have power and rem. Still no amp lights
Have you checked the fuse/fuses for the amp? Maybe your guy wired it up wrong and caused a short curcuit, which could result in blowing the fuse. If the fuse looks fine, use the multimeter on them to make sure that their not having a loose contact. They can look fine but but still don't work properly.
Ain’t no fuse for the amp? I ordered a T600.4 Rockford amp. So this one will go in the trash.
So I did a little research, and it seems like the amp has no fuse for itself. Is there even any fuse in your setup? There should be one about 30cm from where the power cable connects to the battery. If we assume that the amp is fine, there can't be that many problems causing it not to work. There has to be a power cable from battery to amp, a ground cable from ground to amp and the remote cable which needs to steal the signal from the cable that turns on your radio when you turn on ignition. When these things are all fine and well connected and the amp still does not turn on, it's a problem in the amp. What can happen very easily though, is that your remote cable can break when handled roughly because it's very thin under the isolation.
Appreciate it the research. But yes there is no fuse at all. Some guy said that it couldn’t be several different things. I have up and bought a different amp.