Remote Wire

[Drewet88]

I just got a new system and had it installed by a friend while I was at work. Now I got a parasitic drain on my battery and I'm guessing its from the capacitor that he installed (didn't buy it it was free with the system). While searching for the drain with my car off I got a voltage reading on all my electronics.

The only thing that I found weird is my remote wire was always putting out a constant 6v. Even when the cars on it only put out 6v and I thought it was supposed to put out 12v. My amps still turn on and everything sounds fine except for a small speaker whine from the tweeters that weren't there before.

So I guess my questions are how do I get rid of the speaker whine (I already doubled checked all of his connections) and why am I only getting 6v to my remote wire.

O and PS he split the remote wire to go to my two amps and the capacitor. Is there something I can buy to make that part of the install more clean. He kinda made my trunk look like spaghetti.


Any help is appreciated
~Drew~

[PaulD]

oh no, tell me knucklehead didn't tie the turn-on wire to the +12V constant wire from the battery.

[Drewet88]

Looking at it he used electrical tape for all the connections which really pissed me off because I gave him a ton of krimpers that he never returned or used. I think if I recheck the wiring and just do it myself everything should be fine. Thats the goal for tomorrow.

Do you have any idea why my remote wire would only pull out 6v?
Or was I wrong about the remote needing 12?

[PaulD]

look and see if the turn on wire is attached to the same point as the power wire from the battery. If it is, unattach the turn on wire that goes to the cap IMMEDIATELY.

[new2mitsu]

the remote shoul PULL 12V and about 0.3 amps. and i think paul is right
excuse the incorrect terminology.

[PaulD]

the problem is, the remote from the cd player is a PUSH .... not a pull. If you push 12V INTO this lead, you are mostly likely gonna blow it up.

[Drewet88]

I found the drain he used a few different wires and taped the together to use as my remote wire. I guess he didnt have a long enough wire, well one of his connections was grounding itself out. I changed it and bam no more parasitic drain.

Now heres the deal with the remote wire, he has it going off of one 16gauge (or whatever the stock wire size is) wire and split into three different places, 1 to the cap and 2 to two different amps. The first amp gets they are all only getting 6v when I read them with my multimeter but the main wire right before the split is trying to put out 12v.

I hope thats understandable.

Do you think upgrading the size remote wire will fix this? To like 12 gauge?

[Drewet88]

I also think the Hifonics amp he gave me is crap. If I have my music turned up past 7 for longer then 10-15 minutes it gives up on me. And I have tried tuning the amp down to just a little before min on all gains. And the gains on my HU are zero'd out.

This is also the amp thats only getting 6v. Could it possibly be an amp issue?


EDIT: Also my power wire is currently 4gauge but he ran it through the door jamb. Could this be the cause of my front speaker whine? Even though the power wire is ran down my passenger side and the whine is only coming from my drivers side tweeter?

P.S. I'm drilling a hole for my power wire to get it out of the door jamb because if I remember correctly that can be a fire hazard.

Another Edit: I'm looking for a good deck that has an aux input in the front any suggestions?

AND Another Edit: Is it better to just crimp the connection or should I try and squeeze some solder in there?

[Drewet88]

What a day. Redid ost of the install cleaned all grounds and reconnected all wiring. Still have that annoying speaker whine and I also have a speaker pop when I first turn on my system.

I've been told it can be from improper grounding of the headunit and that I shouldn't use the original ground in the factory harness. I shall try and move that ground to the chassis also to see if that makes a difference.

[PaulD]

dang, you have been busy of late.

[Drewet88]

Yea this is my first real system that I actually like. Now I just have to learn how to properly set gains and such.

Now I'm about to go redo all of the grounds. Wish me luck.

[dbfreak147.5]

you dont have to run a remote wire to the capacitor
as soon as the amp takes the charge it has it comes on

[PaulD]

some caps have a bunch of useless crap on the top that may need a turn-on wire.

[Drewet88]

I'm thinking I'm going to ditch the cap and just save for a H/O Alt like I've been doing. I finally got everything figured out on the wiring. A lot of just plain bad and lazy wiring. I dont mind electrical tape if its done right or if its just temporary but this was supposed to be a clean install that I didnt have to worry about.

Ehh you get what you pay for so in this case I lost $20 but leaned a little more about wiring. Now I just have to learn how to tune properly right now I'm just setting stuff and seeing if I think it sounds good but I know if I knew how to do it properly I would be able to sound a lot better.

O and I need a real box not the normal just throw your subs in and go box that you get from most stereo stores. I know how to build boxes if I have specs but I dont know how to make specs. Stereo is a lot harder than it sounds but very fun.

[PaulD]

$20 is nothing for an install .... you definitely got what you paid for. And now you are REALLY learning some things, having to fix your buddies install mistakes.