Amp wiring?

todd5854

New Member
So I bought this 8 gauge wiring for an amp I previously thought was broken. I plugged it in, got it to light up green, but the sub sounded like poo was being thrown through the speaker.

would that be a bad ground? because it was actually running the same way without any ground at all... (NO idea how.)

where is the best ground? someone told me to bolt it to the strut tower, since its unpainted (between that washer?)
 

TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
Not sure what your problem may be, you gotta be more specific and clear. May be a bad amp, or a damaged RCA cord, or something else....:what:

I use a strut tower bolt as my ground, but I did grind away the paint for better bare metal contact.



Or you can use the single 10mm bolt holding down the bottom of the rear seat. It's in a very convenient area for an amp ground, in the middle of the car within reach of many potential amp mounting areas. You'd wanna grind (dremel) or sand away the paint underneath that too though. I was using that until I broke off the head of the bolt overtightening it. You don't really need that bolt to hold the rear seat.

You want your ground wire to be the same size as the power wire.
 

BeatBox

Real Good!
def need a ground lol

could be that ur sub is not wired at the right ohm load

double check that the rca's arent touching metal behind the deck
 

jcrabb13

Registered Abuser
BeatBox said:
def need a ground lol

could be that ur sub is not wired at the right ohm load

double check that the rca's arent touching metal behind the deck
Click to expand...
x2 and...

if your sub has a shield, take it off and make sure the sub aint blown.

definitely need someone to be more specific on this one!
 


TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
Sound isn't going to come out of a speaker distorted because the ohm load is too high or low for the amp running it.
 

todd5854

New Member
Sub is definitely fine, it works PERFECTLY on my house receiver.

125 watts RMS, plugged into an amp that has 200 watts. apparently only 50 rms. but it DID produce sound. Very crappy sound. The wires are good, ive used an amp back there before, for auxilary, to test the sound quality / pass filter on my head unit (which is off because the amp has an LPF built in.)

I'll wire it to the strut tower and see what happens. i get a nice sized spark whenever it makes contact so it seems like it wants to work.
 

Chi-Town-DC4

Specialist
Make sure your power wire isn't running next to the rca wires the emf from the power will be picked up and transmitted through the subs.. Get a good ground and make sure the amp is tuned right for your speakers and music you listen to
 


todd5854

New Member
Chi-Town-DC4 said:
Make sure your power wire isn't running next to the rca wires the emf from the power will be picked up and transmitted through the subs.. Get a good ground and make sure the amp is tuned right for your speakers and music you listen to
Click to expand...
Thanks man. actually i just figured out my amp is done with. =/

also 8 gauge apparently isn't enough for a 200 watt amp? 200 divided by 12 volts = amps right? maybe thats too much current for 8 gauge anyway.

The amp I have has a "protection" breaker and if there's even the slightest of problems, it won't go off. at first i thought it was my ground, but then i hooked it up to the engine ground and even that wasn't good enough. Oh well, guess I gotta police best buy for clearance crap again =/
 

crash.1340

Member
todd5854 said:
Thanks man. actually i just figured out my amp is done with. =/

also 8 gauge apparently isn't enough for a 200 watt amp? 200 divided by 12 volts = amps right? maybe thats too much current for 8 gauge anyway.

The amp I have has a "protection" breaker and if there's even the slightest of problems, it won't go off. at first i thought it was my ground, but then i hooked it up to the engine ground and even that wasn't good enough. Oh well, guess I gotta police best buy for clearance crap again =/
Click to expand...
I have a 400 RMS/800 Peak amplifier running off a single 8 gauge wire in my DC2. works fine, the amp is fused at 30A (amps) and the wire is fused at 50A. i had the exact same setup in my perevious car with a 4AWG wire (totally overkill).
 

todd5854

New Member
Ahahahah im done with pepboys. except some of their LEDs and whatever. stupid crap lol.


i'll try craigslist too. thanks guys
 
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