I just put a 12"Alpine Type R and Zapco AG350 into my friends 2000 Dodge Neon, but the sub is barely moving at all. I took my Multimeter to see how much power the amp was getting and at the battery the multimeter read 25(dont know what unit of measurment) and at the amp it was only 7. The Deck is an Eclipse cd3000, is there any sort of sub stteing on the deck? Could it be the lenght of the power wire? I need some help here because I really dont know whats going on.

 

there r lots of things all loaded into this question! first u need to look to see if the rca's going to the amp r hooked up to the nonfadding preouts(may be called sub out). now set your multimeter to voltage dc and if it also requires a range setting then find the setting that is about the 12 area and mesure using bolth probes the voltage at the battery and at the amp. this should be similar. after u have done this then we will look at what is going on again. oh and if that head unit doesn't have the preouts we talked about then u will need to go to the rear out puts and do all of your adjustments from the amp like gain and frequency controls etc...

 

is you amp set to low pass?

 

I will have to check everything on wednesday. I dont have the car here to look at and I work tomorrow. I know that the RCA's are hooked up to the non fader output. Ill check the voltage and low pass then.

 

The voltage at the end of the wires is 11.6 whenthe car is not running. When it is hooked up to the amp though, the voltage is only 4.something.

 

it reads 4.6 at the amp when it is hooked up. The amp doesnt turn on though, and there is 0 output to the sub. Does anyone know if the eclipse cd3000 has a sub turn on option?

 

it reads 4.6 at the amp when it is hooked up. The amp doesnt turn on though, and there is 0 output to the sub. Does anyone know if the eclipse cd3000 has a sub turn on option?

what wire (main power/r-power from deck)



Most head units have an output to turn on amplifiers, etc. These outputs are designed to turn on a small number of devices, so they provide very little current.

On high-end systems, when many devices (amplifiers, crossovers, equalizers, processors, fans, etc) have to be connected to this turn-on wire the current output might not be enough. If the circuit is overloaded, it can blow a fuse or even damage the head unit.

There is an easy way around this problem: Add a relay.

How many devices are too many? Depends on how much current each device draws and how much current the head unit provides. Check the specifications section of the manuals to see. Typically, pieces of equipment such as amplifiers, crossovers and equalizers draw very little current, since their turn-on switches are either solid state or small relays. If you are hooking other devices that draw more current such as neon lights, fans, actuators, motors, etc, then you definitely need to add a relay. An easy way to tell how much current devices are drawing is to check with a current meter.

The diagram to the left shows the connections required to get the turn-on output. The relay can be located either behind the radio, trunk, or elsewhere in the car. Usually, it is easier behind the radio because wires going to the relay are shorter.

Terminal 87 goes to constant power (+12v). It can be obtained from the same wire where the radio's memory backup is connected.

Terminal 86 goes to ground (negative wire going to the head unit or to a metal part that is connected to the chassis of the vehicle).

Terminal 85 is connected to the remote turn-on wire output at the head unit.

Lastly, terminal 30 is run to all the components that need to be turned on.

 

bad ground. everythings good.