power antennae

[jdirty]

here's what happened, i used to have a 12" setup in my coupe, took it out and left the amp in but not connected to the batt. while waiting for my lukebox, i took out the factory antennae and put a plug in it. fastforward to yesterday, got my awesome lukebox, hooked everything up. but no power to the amp. i put a new fuse in for the amp to battery connection. still nothing. put the antennae back in and grounded it, still no power to the amp. checked the wiring from the headunit to the amp for anything that may have gotten cinched or cut, everything was good, except for the power to the amp.

if i connected a wire from the batt to the rem on the amp, the amp powers up. so my amp is working. (first time i heard my lukebox fire up it brought tears to my eyes. lol)

but yeah.. i cant turn on the amp at all. i may try to get a new wire running from the head unit to the amp.


headunit: KENWOOD KDC-MP352U[/B]
amp: Polk Audio PA400.1
400 Watt RMS Monoblock Car Amplifier[/B]
sub: KICKER 10CVR84
400 Watt 8" DVC Subwoofer[/B]


the amp was saying something about 400 watt x 1ohm or some shit like that so i did parrallel wiring on the dvc sub so it'll be at 1 ohm. i tried following the instructions but i guess i really don't know why the amp wont turn on. lol

i went to work with the rigged up bypass for the rem and batt.. and fuck. this lukebox is awesome. even at 8"? i thought i would just be getting okay bass. but shit, though it doesnt hit as hard as my 12" setup prior to this which was supposed to have been installed by an "audio professional" who also tuned it, everything is so much more clearer now. seriously 8" kicker with lukebox enclosure vs my previous 12" kicker solobaric l3. (i only get kicker hookups)
if only i could get it to turn on the way its supposed to do so. lol

TLDR

I guess my main question is, would the stock antennae play any role in this whole amp power issue?

[jdirty]

did anybody actually read this? lol any suggestion would be great.

i may end up wiring the remote startup from the amp to the ignition hot 12v aux fuse box instead if i cant get a replacement wiring harness for my headunit or if getting new wire from the headunit to the amp doesnt work.

[StereoInstaller1]

Wait...so it worked before and not now?

WTF?

[jdirty]

if you mean the antennae, no. its always been dormant there. just being a stump on the rear quarter. but if you're referring to the whole audio setup prior to finangling with the antennae, yes, it has worked.

p.s. box is amazing. i wasn't even expecting it to be fully upholstered!! :D

[jdirty]

couldnt get the amp to turn on via a direct connection with a new wire from the head unit to the amp so I ended up wiring the amp's remote start to the aux fuse box. that grommet near the clutch was a pain in the ass to deal with. not much space down there and the grommet kept popping out. I'll still try to get a replacement wiring harness if it makes any difference.

[Gregs///M]

You could have just used the accessory power of the head unit wire, RED. You need to check, using a meter, the voltage coming from the blue/white wire from your head unit if its after market. If its factory, its the white wire.

I think the majority of your problems are installer related. Kenwoods usually have an output for the power antenna, blue wire. This activates the antenna up with 12 volts, and down with 0 volts. Same deal with the remote turn on wire, blue/white. Maybe those outputs on your head unit are bad. But most likely you have horrible connectors or terminations on your remote wires.

[StereoInstaller1]

Yeah, I think Greg nailed it.

ALWAYS blame the installer. If everything is flawless, no issues at all...blame the installer too!

I bet the remote wire is snipped somewhere. Like Greg said, use the blue/white from your Kenwood. Might as well test it too, make sure it has output

[jdirty]

You could have just used the accessory power of the head unit wire, RED. You need to check, using a meter, the voltage coming from the blue/white wire from your head unit if its after market. If its factory, its the white wire.

I think the majority of your problems are installer related. Kenwoods usually have an output for the power antenna, blue wire. This activates the antenna up with 12 volts, and down with 0 volts. Same deal with the remote turn on wire, blue/white. Maybe those outputs on your head unit are bad. But most likely you have horrible connectors or terminations on your remote wires.

Yeah, I think Greg nailed it.

ALWAYS blame the installer. If everything is flawless, no issues at all...blame the installer too!

I bet the remote wire is snipped somewhere. Like Greg said, use the blue/white from your Kenwood. Might as well test it too, make sure it has output

Thanks for the replies guys. im an electronics noob so i basically just hooked everything up like it was before. only thing that changed was the sub and me finangling with the antennae. i was just wondering if the headunit would need an "active" power antennae to provide output to the remote wire (blue/white)?? nothing was mentioned in the manual..

i dont have a multimeter and havent learned how to use one yet to be honest. but i'm lead to believe that the harness /connector to the back of the headunit is defective. because i had spliced to the blue/ white wire with new wire straight to the remote start on the amp and still nothing. i yank out the blue/white connector and stuck the wire into the contact at the back of the headunit and still nothing.

that's pretty much how i ended up wiring to the aux fuse box. are there any cons to this setup? vs the intended blue/white remote start wire?