[wedemboyzz]

Preface: I know nothing about electronics so asking for advice:
I'm removing all the cloth from my trunk so I can sound deaden on the bare metal. There is aftermarket amplifier that a local shop installed for me in the trunk and I had to unmount it from it's screws to take the cloth underneath it off the bare trunk metal. After I moved the amplifier box a little bit, I looked at it's connections and I saw this black ground wire (see pic) that was not connected to the amp (not sure if it came out or it was already out).

If I were to put it back in, I have no idea how to besides shoving it's silver horsehair-looking strands into that slot labeled 'ground', so I think I'll bring it back to the shop for them to resecure it.

However, I am afraid that if I turn the car on, the amp will turn on and since there's no ground, it might blow it or destroy it (it's like $600 so not cheap)! Can I simply disconnect something to prevent this from happening, so that I can bring my car to the shop this week? Or what should I do? Appreciate any advice I can get.

 

[LinkyPwns]

Remove the ground wire off your battery and then you can hook up the amp ground wire safely. Check to make sure the wire strands don’t touch each other from + and -. Then hook up your battery again and you’re good to go.

 

[wedemboyzz]

Remove the ground wire off your battery and then you can hook up the amp ground wire safely. Check to make sure the wire strands don’t touch each other from + and -. Then hook up your battery again and you’re good to go.

Thanks for your reply.
How do I connect the ground wire? I don't know how to secure it because it's not a simple plug in, the wire end just looks like a bunch of hairs.

 

[LinkyPwns]

First remove the ground wire off your car battery so you don’t accidentally short anything out. Then you can take the amp cover off to reveal the screw to clamp down on the Ground wire.
You will need some Allen wrench’s to be able to work on this

 

[LinkyPwns]

It’s a good idea to tug on the wire right after you land it to make sure you got it secured.

Before you begin, spend some time reviewing this link on crutchfield
Amp installation guide

 

[wedemboyzz]

First remove the ground wire off your car battery so you don’t accidentally short anything out. Then you can take the amp cover off to reveal the screw to clamp down on the Ground wire.
You will need some Allen wrench’s to be able to work on this

I traced the ground wire and it looks like it attaches nearby, to the metal frame of the car instead of the battery.

Do I need to disconnect this?

 

[Mazda3SQ]

I traced the ground wire and it looks like it attaches nearby, to the metal frame of the car instead of the battery.
View attachment 330116

Do I need to disconnect this?

NOOOO!!!!! Disconnect the battery as directed. Unless you remove the power source (by disconnecting the negative on the battery) you can short out your amp, or worse. You don’t need to touch that grounding point you posted, disconnect the battery negative, reconnect the ground at the amp, reconnect the battery.

 

[wedemboyzz]

NOOOO!!!!! Disconnect the battery as directed. Unless you remove the power source (by disconnecting the negative on the battery) you can short out your amp, or worse. You don’t need to touch that grounding point you posted, disconnect the battery negative, reconnect the ground at the amp, reconnect the battery.

I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery. Thanks!

Now I'm still trying to figure out how I am supposed to reattach the ground to the amplifier. I used Allen wrenches to loosen the amp cover but I can't take physically take the cover off because the other wires are still plugged in and I don't know how to unplug those. And there is also that black metal corner thing just above the red wire in the pictures below, which is stopping me from sliding the cover off. I don't know how I'm supposed to access the part of the amp where I can connect/tighten the ground cable to. Any thoughts?

 

[mdnky]

You need to remove the top cover to get to the hex bolts shown in the diagram on pp.16 of the owners manual (https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20100808165400/Manuals/136/136XD6001.PDF),

The two bolts in the red circles are how to remove the top cover. The Allen screws are 2.5mm according to the manual.

 

[wedemboyzz]

You need to remove the top cover to get to the hex bolts shown in the diagram on pp.16 of the owners manual (https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20100808165400/Manuals/136/136XD6001.PDF),

The two bolts in the red circles are how to remove the top cover. The Allen screws are 2.5mm according to the manual.
View attachment 330119

Ohhhh! This was more user friendly.

I think I finally reconnected the ground wire. But I saw some pics of peoples wires melting if they weren't put in properly. Does this look like it will melt? I basically compressed the wire strands into a cylinder shape and shoved it in under the spade terminal thing and tightened it down.

 

[Grinder]

Ohhhh! This was more user friendly.

I think I finally reconnected the ground wire. But I saw some pics of peoples wires melting if they weren't put in properly. Does this look like it will melt? I basically compressed the wire strands into a cylinder shape and shoved it in under the spade terminal thing and tightened it down.

View attachment 330120

Looks and sounds (according to your description) like you've done a good job.

I don't see the smaller black wire that appears to be connected to the same terminal in the first picture - assuming it's supposed to be there, if that small black wire is in the terminal along with the large black wire, and both pass a moderate pull test for tightness, then you're good to go.

 

[wedemboyzz]

Looks and sounds (according to your description) like you've done a good job.

I don't see the smaller black wire that appears to be connected to the same terminal in the first picture - assuming it's supposed to be there, if that small black wire is in the terminal along with the large black wire, and both pass a moderate pull test for tightness, then you're good to go.

I started the car this morning and the amplifier isn't powering the subwoofer. Instead, the amp has a steady amber light, which the manual describes as:

"Constant Amber (Yellow): Indicates that an over-current condition has occurred and is accompanied by a muting of the amplifier’s output. Because the muting behavior may be very short in duration, it may manifest itself as an audible, repetitive ticking or thumping noise in the output. Over-current conditions can be caused by a speaker impedance lower than the optimum load impedance range for the amplifier or a short-circuit in the speaker wiring. The latter can result from a short circuit between the positive and negative speaker wires or between either speaker wire and the vehicle chassis. The “Status LED” will remain amber for a few seconds, even if the over-current condition is of a very short duration".

What does this mean? The wire is definitely in the terminal tightly along with the original black wire that was in there too. I don't hear any weird noises, just no subwoofer (the amp is for the subwoofer only). Is there anything I can do to figure this out?

 

[seafish]

Unfortunately if the amp was running when the ground was disconnected , there is a good chance that the amp continued to operate by grounding through another route, like the RCA connections ... and now it is damaged.

 

[Grinder]

Unfortunately if the amp was running when the ground was disconnected , there is a good chance that the amp continued to operate by grounding through another route, like the RCA connections ... and now it is damaged.

^^^This^^^

 

[wedemboyzz]

That's really sad. To think this all started because the ground cable slipped out while I was unmounting the amp from the trunk. Should the shop who installed it be liable for this since they didn't put the ground in securely? Or am I really at fault?

 

[JimmyDee]

A bit of both...

If the ground wire came loose, just from moving the amp... then the shop did a crappy job of securing it. No way it should come loose that easily.

But good luck trying to get them to accept fault. Especially after you moved / removed the amp. It would be pretty hard to convince them that it's their fault.

 

[seafish]

[QUOTE="JimmyDee, post: 6018268, member: 72383"

But good luck trying to get them to accept fault. Especially after you moved / removed the amp. It would be pretty hard to convince them that it's their fault.

[/QUOTE]

Too true.

 

[miniSQ]

This can't be a real question OP. I even checked to see if it was posted on 4/1.

 

[ajb1205]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Take it as a lesson learned as well as little extra incentive to learn how car audio works...or at least basic electrical knowledge.

 

[Grinder]

Basic Car Audio Electronics

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