D1 stupid subwoofer question

[mdcoa]

Bought a non-running D1 last year. Now it's running. Could never get the stock head unit to work (it was stuck on cassette mode) and so replaced it. Rear subwoofers had never worked since I got the truck. Still not working.

I've looked in the RAVE manual, and it makes me think either I don't know how to read a modern car wiring diagram (probably true; most of my wiring experience was on a '72 BMW motorcycle and a '65 SIIA 109) or like the diagrams don't have sufficient detail (also true, I suspect; I cannot for the life of me figure out what each wire means, where it goes, or what it should be doing based on the diagrams in the RAVE, but this is possibly just a symptom of me being not so good at reading modern wiring diagrams).

Previous Owner put new speakers in, so I don't think they're the problem. I just replaced the amp with a purportedly good amp, so I don't think that's the problem. Here's what the wires are telling me:

11.9V at LGO (light green orange) wire
11.2V at purple wire
2.5V at red wire (one of the input channels?)

What else should I put my multimeter on to try to figure out what's wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[number9]

Info

I don't see any orange, purple or red in system looking at one of the 3 ETMs available for D1. Which one are you using and is it a reg or prem NAS radio.

......

 

[MM3846]

I followed all of the wiring in the RAVE and still couldn't my get mix of stock/aftermarket parts and wiring to work. It takes less than an hour to re-wire it, so I just did that. Aftermarket deck, subs, and amp.

 

[WaltNYC]

The LGO (pin 4) is the power
Purple (pin 5) is remote power on
Pin 1 is for the shielding ground of the audio lines
Red (pin 2) is audio +tive
Black (pin 3) is audio -tive
Also black (pin 6) is ground.

I tied #1 and 6 together

 

[mdcoa]

Thanks, WaltNYC; was wondering why there were apparently two grounds . . . thanks for the wire color decoder ring. Thoughts about my readings at those wires and theories as to what might be the problem?

Should I be seeing 12V at the +tive speaker wire, or something less? (i.e. is volume driven by voltage or amperage?)

 

[mdcoa]

I followed all of the wiring in the RAVE and still couldn't my get mix of stock/aftermarket parts and wiring to work. It takes less than an hour to re-wire it, so I just did that. Aftermarket deck, subs, and amp.

Thanks MM3864. If everything's working fine up front and at the rear (c-pillar) speakers, where would you recommend hacking in to connect an aftermarket subwoofer amp and speakers?

PO already put aftermarket speakers in there (Pyle PLG6Cs, with 400w max and 4 ohm impedance); is there a chance the stock rear amp isn't big enough to budge those?

 

[MM3846]

I have this mounted under my driver's seat:

http://www.amazon.com/BOSS-R1100M-1...F8&qid=1451967335&sr=8-11&keywords=boss+audio

and these is the door:

http://www.amazon.com/Earthquake-So...64&sr=8-6&keywords=earthquake+sound+subwoofer

There should be a sub out on your deck, that runs to the amp, then run speaker wire to the subs in the door. No hacking, just cheap audio parts. The subs sound better than I expected. Actually I lied, you do have to hack up the rear door speaker pocket so the hubs don't hit the plastic when they move, but with the grille on you can't tell anything is chopped up.

 

[mdcoa]

Thanks much--since I've got everything but the rear ones working I would love to just get the rear amp and speakers up and running, rather than re-wiring the whole system, but if I do give up and decide to just rewire everything and go to a one-amp setup, I'll certainly do this--thanks for the summary!

 

[WaltNYC]

after you hooked up the power lines and grounds, will the amp power up? (Key in position 1 and head unit powered on)

 

[mdcoa]

after you hooked up the power lines and grounds, will the amp power up? (Key in position 1 and head unit powered on)

At least I provided warning re. stupid questions in the thread title . . . how do I tell if the amp is powered up? It's got the voltages I mentioned above at several leads, but I can't tell if the amp is doing anything. . . it certainly doesn't seem to be sending any love to the speakers.

 

[WaltNYC]

No lights on the thing at all?
You could have no signal from the front, or that amp may be toast. Difficult to tell from here. You'll need to introduce a known good audio source and speaker to find out.

 

[mdcoa]

No lights on the thing at all?
You could have no signal from the front, or that amp may be toast. Difficult to tell from here. You'll need to introduce a known good audio source and speaker to find out.

Yeah, I don't think they're supposed to have lights . . .

Doesn't the 2.5V I've got at the audio input channel indicate that it's getting some signal, or should that be more like 12?

But, yes, I need to get my ipod hooked up to it and see if any sound comes out. Front amp works for driving all non-subwoofer speakers, but, yes, may not be sending any sound rearward.



Thanks much.

 

[mdcoa]

OK, so following up . . .

Thanks much for all the help--I got the subwoofer up and running last weekend.

I had already installed a new head unit using the stock front amp en route to the speakers/rear amp, and my tests had indicated that the rear amp was getting everything it needed (power, remote power, ground, and audio signal [which I verified by using alligator clips to hook headphones to the amp's audio feed lines].

So I looked around for a cheapo amp that might work, and found this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B5MUJ3U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages01

And this, to connect the Rover's low-power audio lines to the RCA low power input of the amp:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BHUEJB8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00


Connected the amp's ground to the earth wire, the power to the power (light green/orange) wire, and the remote to the rover remote power wire (purple). Connected the RCA cable to the red/green audio input line and to the amp, plugging it into the left input and leaving the right one un-fed, assuming it didn't matter (which turns out to be correct). Connected my speakers (two 4 ohm Pyle speakers the PO had installed but not gotten running) in parallel to the amp (I tried both series and parallel, and parallel worked better), and . . .

Viola! Now I can listen to the stereo on the highway and have a pleasant and non-deafening experience while listening to music, even over the hum of the MT/R tires. What a game changer a functioning subwoofer in the back is. Cost me about $40.

I am going to use velcro to stick the amp to the skin of the door, since I really don't want to drill holes anywhere to mount a $30 amp--we'll see how velcro does at securing it at the bottom edge of the door . . .

Thanks again to everyone, especially for the help identifying which wires do which. (Thanks for nothing, electrical troubleshooting manual . . . )