Another try to get my sound ordninace b-8pt working.

Well I've tried and am stuck, this might be fairly long so I can explain the whole situation.

I have my sound ordnance B-8pt behind the rear seat of my 2012 dclb.

I have my power wire set up and all fuses are good
my ground wire is fairly short and goes to bare metal, on the rear seat mount, I don't know how to check if it's a good enough ground, but it's cleaned of paint, can I use a small piece of wire to jump the ground to the battery to check if that will help?

I am using the high power input, and have the wires running to the back of the head unit, where they are spliced into the rear speakers. if it matters, I am using regular household speaker wire.

I have my remote wire hooked up to the grey ignition wire behind the head unit as I was told to do.

I have my remote level knob installed, and turned up

I have the output level of the sub turned up, and have tried all sorts of combo's to get some sound.

my inline power fuse near the battery is good, and the fuse on the sub/amp is good.

the problem
I am getting a very faint sound coming from the sub, as in I hear nothing from the drivers seat. if I have my ear against the sub with my audio turned up, I can slightly hear it.

the sub should be good, but I guess that would be something to check too?

here is a picture of the unit so you can see what I am talking about.

 

Meter the remote turn on at the amplifier to see if there is voltage.

 

Since he gets SOME sound I'll bet he's got Voltage. I'd start simple and make sure you're not faded forward and since I'm not sure, are the rear outputs of the factory HU full-range?

 

Have you tried Crutchfield's Lifetime Tech Support?

 

tried that. I even faded all the way to the back to see if I could get more out of the sub, no luck.

Do you think I should re wire to the front speakers? I just hate working with the tiny ass wires behind the HU.

 

I have this same sub but with an alpine HU. I am using the rca outputs though.

 

thats what i had in my 2001 tacoma, it was perfect! but i love the stock hu in my 2012

 

If you want to start ruling anything out, bets aren't the way to proceed. Unless you bust out your multimeter you just DON'T KNOW, and you're throwing darts to try to accidentally hit the problem.

A methodical approach will be more efficient, so let's actually begin resolving this issue and bust out the meter to pear down the variables.

 

works for me, I have a multimeter, but I don't know how to use it.

what setting do I put it on, and what am I checking for? ground?

 

sound ordance is garbage

aside from that you should be using a blue wire or a blue wire with a white stripe for your remote connection, you can use the red wire also

Also use rca cables, if you don't have a hookup for rca cables (i.e. factory headunit) get a rca converter and then wire that into the rear speaker wires.

 

Measure VDC between the amp turn on wire terminal on your amplifier and ground. You should see somewhere near 12VDC. I have attached a picture with my meter set to measure Volts DC so you can see the symbol. Remember to have your vehicle/stereo on when taking this measurement.

Edit: I was just checking out the manual. What position is the Power Mode switch in?

 

Oh I know. I've been doing this for 20 years or so. I was simply starting with the fastest, and easiest, thing to check first. Believe me, I'm all about methodical when it comes to troubleshooting.

 

there is a converter built into the sub that is as good if not better than most that are purchased elsewhere from what I have found doing my homework.

and the sub is definitely not garbage, I replaced a square 12'' kicker sub in a ported box, with this little gem and it has been amazing, I just don't know how to wire it properly using this method.

 

When I have the remote wire connected, the power light is on when it is in remote wire selection, when I put it on auto power the power light goes off.

so I need to touch the negative side of my meter to where my ground is mounted, and the other to my remote wire?

 

ok using this diagram again..


I am getting 12.50V when I touch my negative to the ground, and pos to either the remote wire, or the power, I get the same reading.

what else can I check? power at the sub side of my speaker wire that's connected to the HU?

 

Okay power sounds good.

If you don't use the remote wire and change the Power Mode setting, the sub is supposed to turn on when it senses signal. Verify that it does this. If not, you seem to have a signal input issue.

 

Wait, are you getting 12.5V at the REM terminal with the radio off?

 

ok cool we're getting there, when I have the remote wire off, I get no power either way, I'll also use my multimeter and check the speaker wires for power.

and no, I only get 12.5V with the truck on.

 

ok, I am getting 6.5V through this connection..



but, if I check left pos/neg, I get a 0 reading, and if I connect right pos/neg I get 0 reading, if I connect left pos to right neg, I get 6.5 volts, and same with right pos to left neg. seems like I have some wires mixed up is all?

 

one of my negative wires at that same connection is only getting about 2 volts.

what do you guys think I should do next?