Amp & Subwoofer Issue

Just got my 2008 Sport body worked and painted professionally. Now working on the inside with some upgrades. I installed a Boss BE10ACP 10" head unit, a Cerwin Vega 1600.4d 4 channel amp and a Cerwin Vega 10VPAS10v2 10" powered subwoofer. Not my first stereo install, in fact I just got done with a similar setup in my brothers SUV and all went flawless. The problem I'm having is this. The amp turns on just fine with the remote turn on. Ground and power cable appear to be just fine. The sub itself turns on just fine too. BUT when they are both on at the same time and I ground the subwoofer, it shuts down the amp and the amp turns off (green light fades and disappears). When I unground the subwoofer, the amp comes back on and plays just fine. What is going on? Everything I find online just talks about the sub bass causing the amp to cut out, but nothing with this grounding issue. Is it possible one of them is defective? Any help you can provide would be amazing. Let me know if I left anything out or if you need more info!

 

How do you have the remote wire routed? Are you using the same wire for both amps? Are either of them using some type of auto turn on?

 

At first I had the remote turn on wire branched off to both amp and sub. I thought maybe that was causing the problem so I ran two separate ones. The sub has a switch to turn off the auto turn on and I have it switched to off. Still the same issue.

 

Can you try just getting a short piece of wire or even a paper clip or something

have one amp hooked up with the remote wire, and use the jumper wire for the other amp. Just touch the main power and remote input at the same time to turn it on.

see what happens and we can go from there

 

Just so I understand you correctly, run the remote wire to the regular amp. Then run a jumper wire from the amp to the powered sub amp remote and power at the same time?

 

Run the remote wire to the regular amp. Disconnect the remote wire from the sub amp

Your sub amp should have power inputs similar to this. You want to jumper the power and remote connections and that will turn the amp on.

 

Gotcha! I'm at work until 3pm CST but I will get right on that when I get home and let you know. Could this possibly fix the issue?

 

And turn the "Auto On" button on or off?

 

No that wouldn't fix it because it would drain the battery. I'll let you know what I find out!

 

No this is just a test to see if both amps stay turned on. Trying to just narrow down the possible options

 

Ok both amps stay on and play fine with jumper attached. Weird thing now is I turn off the ignition and the amp green light stays on!! This wasn't happening yesterday. When I undo the remote wire to the amp it turns off. But with the vehicle off should the amp be measuring 12v at the battery and ground input of the amp on my multimeter?

 

Ok, not sure if this is normal either. With the truck off, I measure at the head unit remote out blue/white wire a voltage reading of 9.3V. Why is it putting out remote power with the vehicle off? I'm starting to think this is a defective head unit. It was refurbished by the way. When I hook up the remote wires to the amp and sub amp, I get readings of 5.5-5.7V at the turn on connection screw and they turn on individually with the engine off. This is really strange. I'm thinking of hooking up my old Sony head unit and seeing if I get the same issues occurring. Thoughts?

 

That’s because the power wire is always hot, and the jumper is making it stay on.

 

Ok that makes sense, I wasn't as worried about that as I am the remote out is giving off power with the truck off. Why is that? Everything I've researched says it should be 0V with the vehicle off.

 

Jumper is off and it's back to being hooked up as it was. Truck is off and amp stays powered. Very strange.

 

Well it’s not often you get the opposite problem.

it is strange that the remote wire keeps getting a few volts with the truck off.

The radio may have some type of delay on that output. Maybe leave the truck alone for like 10min and see if it’s still hot?

 

I know I left it off a bit maybe 5-7 minutes at least and it was still putting out 9V consistently with no decrease. Do you think maybe the head unit is defective?

 

Sure sounds like it.
9V when supposed to be off?
5V when powering?
0V when powering 2?
Sound like the small REM load from the two devices is enough to shunt whatever float/failing component is inside the head unit.

 

Not 0V when powering both, that is what it should be based on my research when the truck is off. It should NOT be putting off power with the truck off. I'll hook up my old head unit and let you know what I find. If it works ok then I know it's the new head unit. Hoping that will be the case!!

 

Update......hooked up my previous Sony Head unit. Got a full 12V coming from the remote wire and BOTH sub amp and 4 ch amp fire right up. Turned it off and after 5-7 seconds the green lights faded and it measured 0V with engine off. Definitely a defective remote wire. Sending it back and getting a different one. Thanks for your help! Had no idea something that causes this much trouble could be such a simple (but difficult) thing to track down. Appreciate your assistance more than you know!!