Alright so i have a kenwood amp for my speakers which run to the decks remote wire, and also a rockford amp that powers my sub that runs the remote wire to the illumination wire (red/black).

The reason i did this is because the fuse keeps skipping if i tap both the remotes to the deck remote.


But just yesterday i smelt burning under my dash on the driving side and there was smoke.

I looked under today (took off the bottom of the steering column) and found that the illumination wire shows completely brass (all the plastic is gone), and now the interior lights dont' turn on as well as my day-time corner lights.


I'm planning to take off the dash tomrrow (had trouble today) and see where it leads to and tape it all up with electrical tape, or snip the wire and replace and connect.


Any good advice or precautions anybody could give me?

Please help me if you have done this before or took off the dash before because i'm really bad with this stuff, i would go and get it done at the dealership but somebody told me they will screw me with labor hours since it is electrical and could take a long time to diagnose


thanks in advance to everybody

kevin

 

If you know you're bad with this stuff and you've already melted a wire, I highly suggest against playing with it anymore... there's too much potential to continue to screw something up in a more permanent fashion.

If nothing lights up, you blew the fuse (thank God they're there). You should have no problem connecting two remote wires to the deck, and the fact that it kept blowing the fuse should have told you something was wrong. Since the remote wire for the Rockford amp has now melted the illumination wire, I would say get the amp checked out... it's obviously pulling WAY too much power through the remote lead.

 

ALWAYS FUSE A WIRE within 8 inches of your connection point to illiminate any of these kinda situations. Also Use the switched 12 volt ignition wire in the radio harness to power up your remote turn-on leads. This is a higher current source and will support the current draw un-like your illumination wire which is why it melted. Always tape your connections with electrical tape as well. Good Luck.

 

Your statement isn't quite clear, so I'll add this... you should always fuse as close to the supply of power as possible. If you fused near the item being powered, a short somewhere along the wire between fuse and power supply can still cause a fire.

Second, if he's pulling so much current as to melt the insulation from the illum lead, I would have real issues with leaving that amp installed.

 

thanks for the input guys

just to add to things, i am not going to install this amp myself again!

ijust want to fix the illumination wire, the wire has melted the surrounding plastic and just shows brass under my steering wheel =(

 

CS:
If you really want to do this yourself, here's some advice:

The wire that melted the insulation is probably dead shorted somewhere between it's connection point under the dash and it's termination point.

Try running an extra long wire outside the car from your connection point under the dash to the termination point in the trunk. If after you replace the blown fuse, all works well, then you will need to replace the wire all the way from under the dash to the termination point. It should not rest against ANY metal edges along the way. If it passes through a metal panel, the panel needs to have a grommet or the edges covered in a rugged insulating material. If it passes over the edges of metal under the dash, they need to be similarly protected.

If when you hook up the wire externally the fuse still blows, then the component it hooks to is defective (illumination).

 

the only advice i can offer here? get help, serious professional or very knowledgable help. soon. tying into the illumination wire was a disaster waiting to happen.

fixing the damage you've done is going to require someone with serious know how, not just some backyard hacking.

 

Whoa, I misread. I thought he was running a relay in the trunk for illumination (as in for led's etc.) along with the amp triggers, I didn't realize he was saying he was running the triggers off the dash illumination circuit.

I agree, get some knowledgable (probably professional) help.

 

Yeah you need someone that knows exactly what he's doing to fix this. Its not a good idea to use that line to draw power from anyways and you unfortunately proved it damaging your car... Just get a little help, before you damage something important. The only way to learn is to ask for help... oh and learn from your mistakes we all do...

 

I am confused

I thought the orange illumination wire was tied to the dash illumination. I assume it carries 12v to signal the dash lights are on, or 0v when they are off (or is it the other way around?). In any case, how could you use this as an amp turn on lead? Seems like the amp would only be on with the lights (or off when the lights are on).

Or am I missing something?

Dennis