Kicker hideaway- final upgrade to the $250(+) 3rd gen premium upgrade (+Kicker Key 180.4 amp)

One side is the power antenna connection and the other side would be the amp turn-on for the trucks that have factory amps.

 

Just to clarify, you are saying the blue wire from pin #8, right? The ECU wiring diagram does not say pin #8 is used - but from reading this thread it looks like it has been tested to put out +12v when the radio is on. So my plan is to cut blue wire and use pin #8 for remote turn on and de-pin the other end and use it for small rear harness.....am I on the right path?

@destin_meeks, thanks for contributing to this thread. You have been a big help!

 

So, I just reread the first post and feel stupid. Looks like amp turn on is blue/white. So I just need to de-pin blue loop wire and use it for small rear harness.

 

the only wires used in the smaller rear harness are the purple and green speaker wires.

 

On my 2018, the "small rear harness" also had a dimmer wire in it. I cut and depinned the blue loop, to insert into the metra small rear harness. If you dont the lights on the radio will be OFF instead of Dim when the headlights are on. Again, for the new guys it'll make perfect sense once you're looking at it.

My metra harness already had the blue/white wire for remote turn on.

 

I just got done completing the Hideaway install. All of my truck’s speakers work and the power light on the Hideaway is on but there is no sound coming from the sub. I double checked my harness and the whites are spliced to the whites, whites/blacks together, and grey together and grey/blacks together. Any thoughts on what the problem might be would be greatly appreciated. The only thing I can think of is to cut the shrink tube and make sure the solders are good but looking at it they still look and feel strong.

 

Step one, make sure your Hideaway fuses aren’t blown (at the battery and on the side of the enclosure)
Step two, make sure auto turn on is set to dc and input level set to high.

If you still have issues, you’ll need to run the blue remote wire to an accy source. The auto-turn on is hit or miss

 

So both the fuses are good. I connected the blue remote wire from the Hideaway to the solid blue wire in the Metra harness. I used 16 gauge speaker wire that I had on hand for the remote wire. Could that be the problem? Does the wire type/gauge matter on the remote?

 

Not really.

Does the amp have a power/on indicator LED?

 

Yes, blue light is on.

 

Is the gain all the way down? Or the bass knob turned all the way down?

 

Gain is halfway and I have the knob unplugged.

 

Do you have an aux-to-RCA cable? If so, try hooking your phone up to the sub with it and see if you get any audio

 

I have aux-RCA. How do I hook it up?

 

Oh yeah, I forgot the Hideaway doesn’t have rca’s Like most amps.. do you have a multimeter?

 

I just put wires into the harness’ plug where it connects to the sub then connected those to an old speaker. It played so the sub is receiving the audio. Could the ground be bad? I connected it to the factory ground under the driver’s seat.

 

That should be fine for a ground. It’s best to sand down the paint but it’s probably not needed for just the Hideaway. Aside from what we’ve talked about, I’m out of ideas for right now

 

Thank you for your help, much appreciated.

 

For those who added an amp like the key, after you did the upgrades with the sub...

Did adding the amp make the door speakers drown out the sub volume?

 

I turned the Hideaway up after the Key install to better match the sub. Those higher sub levels without the Key were overpowering the rest of the system. Once the system became more powerful with the Key installed the sub needed to be matched so I turned the sub gain up.