Dumb question...BUT I NEED HELP!

[Pheonixx77]

frustratred as all hell.....


the amp or subs in my truck do not work. the amp (pioneer GMX862) 760W
has a red led on top, indicating power. I have searched pioneer's website, called their "24 hour tech support" (which is closed)

the problem is the light is now flashing....The manual says nothing helpful, nor does it even contain troubleshooting. The website was a joke and well tech support is closed (they claim open 24 hours on the website...)

what does it mean when the light is flashing?

 

[ATLExplosion]

Check all your wires (power, ground, remote) again and make sure all connections are secure. You aren't giving anyone much to go off buddy...

 

[Pheonixx77]

well i allready checked the wires. LIke i said This pioneer Amp has a red light on top indicating when the power is on. it usually stays solid red. now it is flashing. the manual was useless and so was pioneers website.
Incase you did not see it in the first post the model number is GM-X862.
Here is a link to pioneers website showing the amp.that one is the 962 version. the only diff is the color.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4055_37769,00.html

if it was just a fuse or something i would not be posting this..

 

[410Fortune]

Sounds like yuo got a bad amp, it does happen
Things that can kill it besides just being a POS is if you have the speakers crossed phase, or the wrong OHM output, or the power supply is weak or grounding out.

Just MO, I have had alot of faulty Pioneer audio equipment in my days.
You can grab a amp from a friend and try it in place to narrow it down, or take tne amp in and have it checked out.

I have found int he last couple years MTX makes an excellent amplifier for the $$$$..... I am not sure why as I know there are alot of good Pioneer things, but I have never had good luck with them, especially amps.......


How old is the sucker?

 

[410Fortune]

built in selecatable crossover,

This is jsut a 2 channel amp, what are you powering with it, how is it hooked up?
I would say this issue is withthe power supplpy so you need to make sure your + and - feeds are good and your remote is good. How many things are you running off the single remote wire fromt he head unit? How long is your ground cable and where is it grounded? How long did the amp work before this happened? Does it smell like burt electrical circuit?
Have you tried taking the case off and looking inside?

 

[expo5.0]

i'm betting its in protection.

if the wires are all good, you are trying to run too low of an ohm load with it. try checking the wiring on the subs.

 

[RayLCC]

Where are your speaker /input wires running? I had a similar thing happen to me and it turned out when my buddy was helping me run the wires he put the speaker wire under the plastic door jam cover and ran a screw through it. It did basically the same thing, the unit would turn on but acted funny and no sound.

 

[Pheonixx77]

It is powering 2 12's. I am using the remote wite only to signal the amp. The amp is bridged to power the subs. In all the time i have had this amp (4 months) it has never even gotten what i would call warm to the touch.

RAY: the wires are run under the carpet, they run between the seats and up behind the dash. the power runs from the battery into the cab behind the glove box and down under the carpet between the seats. the ground is about 2 feet long and is attached to the body. I sanded off a large area and drilled a hole then screwed the ground to the body using a ring connector.

 

[tmh6202]

It is powering 2 12's. I am using the remote wite only to signal the amp. The amp is bridged to power the subs. In all the time i have had this amp (4 months) it has never even gotten what i would call warm to the touch.

RAY: the wires are run under the carpet, they run between the seats and up behind the dash. the power runs from the battery into the cab behind the glove box and down under the carpet between the seats. the ground is about 2 feet long and is attached to the body. I sanded off a large area and drilled a hole then screwed the ground to the body using a ring connector.

Are the subs wired correctly? From the left (+) to the right (-)? If you have them wired in a stereo mode it will cause the amp to go into protect mode.

 

[expo5.0]

ah, you hadn;t mentioned it had worked before.

if the problem jsut started i would look for shorts in the speaker wires.

and of course check power and ground again.

do you have a dmm?

 

[Pheonixx77]

yeah i have a multimeter. real nice purty yellow one. I am starting to think about how i have the power connected and i think a ring connector would be a good idea....
I have it connected in one of those 24K battery terminals that has screws to hold down the wires.

I checked the terminals, no corrosion. I checked the ground no corrosion and still holding tightly. all the wires on the amp are fine. perhaps this could be Bad wires from the amp to the subs?

 

[TJM623]

Check your power fuse, and amp fuses. I checked my power fuse and it looked fine, took it back to where i bought it they gave me one to test and see if it was broken, worked right when i put the new one in, the guy said the power fuse had a cold solder and so even though it hadn't busted, it was still no good. fuses are like 3$ no biggie to test. and if that's not it at least you got a spare fuse just in case!

 

[expo5.0]

use the dmm- check the wires at the amp.

if you have greater than 12 volts difference from the power to ground and remote on to ground your problem is dowstream in the wires going to the speakers (which is what i've been trying to say the whole time)

usually if the amp is lighting up at all it means that the wires to it are good, and the others are bad...

i'm almost certain your wires to yours subs are crossed/crimped/grounded just generally messed up. i haven't had a pioneer amp around here for a long long time, but that sounds like its in protection almost for sure.

 

[Pheonixx77]

well i just got back from work and something is definatley F.U.B.A.R. I get bass but only intermittently. Its like the song starts, the bass hits decent and then no bass at all and then a while later i get one or two bass hits then nothing again. I'll try the Multi tester tomorrow and let ya know what i get.

thanks

 

[ToneDawg]

Sounds to me like you have a loose connection at the amp...like, the wires are loosely connected to the amp and that when you hit a bump or hit a turn it makes a good connection and then it becomes loose again. That is just my opinion though...I would check all of the wires at the Amp itself by unhooking them and then hooking them back up. Just my opinion though.

 

[TJM623]

I'd try a new ground. I grounded mine to the bracket that the stock amp is held on by, there's a bolt and i undid it slipped the ring terminal underneath and screwed it back on.

 

[Explorerpimpin1]

If youve checked out every other possibilty (Ground, power, remote) open up the sub box and make sure that no wires on the inside of that box are loose and could be touching. I had the same problem on my JL WO. I thought my amp was messed up and then i found that the wires inside the box were touching. Pretty simple fix just a matter of finding where they are touching.

 

[Pheonixx77]

With my "super" multimeter in hand i attacked this again...heres how it went down..


Check 1--key off engine off
12.5 volts at amp, 12.8 at batery seems ok..

Key on engine running--
12.8 battery, amp 8.2...hmmmm (now i get a bit lost.)

Check 2---same as above, fiddled with some wires at the battery...
truck wont start...

smoke a ciggarette, dont beat on the truck!!!

:roll:

Check 3---Same as 1, fiddled with the battery terminals and wires a bit.
12.8 battery, 14.6 amp...subs are working, amp is working properly.


would it seem true that the battery terminals are crapped out? i am using the "red and black" ones from autozone with the bolts and two strips of metal that hold the wires in place..