Amp power problem during install

[YoungManNihilist]

I'm new to the forum, and relatively new to car audio in general, so I came here since I'm having a problem with a DIY install of an amp.

I've had aftermarket speakers for about 6 years, but powered them with the kenwood HU I had because at the time, I didn't have additional money
(or time for that matter) to buy an amp. Now I have more money, so I decided to get an amp.

My strategy was to pick up some on-sale Jensen P.O.S. amp from a CC or BB just to get my feet wet with the whole installation process, and then
maybe upgrade to something nicer in the future.

The problem I'm having is that after I hook up everything, I get no sound from the speakers whatsoever. No pop, no hiss, no crackle, even when I
turn the volume up to max.

So, I'm fairly sure it isn't a speaker problem, since its pretty unlikely that all speakers would fail at once. I don't think it's the +12v power
source, because after hooking up to the + terminal on the battery and grounding to a bolt in the trunk of the chassis, I used a voltmeter on the
+ and GND terminals on the amp while everything was plugged in and I got about 12.5 to 13V. So it's not a ground problem right?

Then I noticed something funny. When I have the remote-on wire hooked up and I start the car, the neon lights on the logo of the amp
and whatnot will flash on for about a tenth of a second, and then shut off. The green Power LED light will remain on though, but still no sound. So I
removed the remote on wire, and then just took a spare piece of wire and touched it to the +12V terminal on the amp (while the power source was still plugged in) and then to the remote-on terminal. When doing this, I get the same result of all the lights flashing on, then immediately turning off, with the green LED remaining lit. There is a red "problem" led on the amp, but throughout this whole process it does not come on. I checked the in-line fuse on my power cable coming from the battery and its good. Both fuses on the amp are good too.

What in the hell is going on here? Any help someone can provide would be greatly appreciated, as this is driving me crazy.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I thought the amp could've been F'ed up, so I took it back and exchanged it for another one. Same model, and then the same exact problem when I hooked it up again.

[dave92cherokee]

Welcome to AF. Try unplugging all speakers and the RCA cables going to the amp so it's only power, remote, and ground. Check to see what it's doing, if it's coming on and staying on then hook up the RCA's and speakers one at a time to see what's causing the problem. Where are you running the power from? Is it coming directly from the battery or are you tapping into a fuse under the dash?

[PaulD]

sounds like you have tripped the protection circuitry. You probably have a short on one of the speaker wires.

The remote on wire is the "switch" for the amp, that's why the lights on the amp only come on when that wire is connected.

[YoungManNihilist]

Alright, so I disconnected everything from the amp: RCAs and all speaker wires. The only cables going to and from the amp are the +12V, GND, and remote-on. I start up the car, and the same thing happens. I again disconnected the remote-on, and used a wire to short the +12V right to the remote-on terminal, and again, same thing happens with all the lights coming on and immediately going off.

Although this time when I took the power right from the +12V cable, I noticed the power LED turned bright green, and then faded back to being off (or very very dimly lit, I couldn't really tell) within a span of about 1-2 seconds of touching the wire to the remote-on terminal. Is it possible that this model of amp is just a piece of junk (jensen powerplus 840), and that TWO different models suffer the same problem? I'd like to think that, and assume that I'm not the problem . I'm still getting +12V across the power and GND terminals on the amp, so that's still ok.

What gives!?

[sickcallawayc12]

Check your speaker wiring. What are the RMS ratings for your speakers? Also are you using all 4 channels or is it bridged?

[YoungManNihilist]

Front speakers are Polk 6 1/2" rated at 60 RMS, and the rear are Pioneer 6x9 rated at 80 RMS. But yeah, like I said before, I'm getting the same problem regardless of whether or not the speakers are wired up.

[YoungManNihilist]

Just to close this one out, it was a ground problem. Drilled my own (which I should've done right off the bat), bolted it down and it fired right up. No problem.

[PaulD]

yea, NEVER use the black "ground" wire from the harness - always make your own ground wire.