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It powers up and antenna goes up, but no sound other than crackling noises. I tried the tape deck which works, but also no sound. At this point I'm leaning towards the amp being an issue, has anyone here diagnosed and repaired it themselves? This is the amp in my car.
I would try to ascertain if there is good signal on the input side of the amp (output of the head unit). I would use an old set of headphones or earbuds to listen to the signal from the head unit.
You'll need the old earbuds, and two small alligator clip style test leads. Smaller is better.
Clip one lead to the 'sleeve' section connector of your earbud's plug (the metal ring nearest the molded plastic). Clip the other lead to the tip of the earbud connector. Clip one lead to the pin on the wires from the head unit that corresponds to ground.
Now will listen to each signal one at time. Choose a local radio station on the head unit that will give you a known good signal. Set the head unit volume to about 33%. Adjust balance and fader to the middle for each.
Listening to the earbuds, one channel at at time, clip the lead leading to the tip of the earbuds to each of the signal wires from the head unit. You'll only hear one side in your earbuds, but if your head unit is functioning correctly, you'll hear good audio on LF, RF, LR and RR.
If you hear good audio, you have a good head unit. If the earbud sound matches what you hear in the speakers, you have either a problem with your head unit (probable) or the interconnect wiring between head unit and amp (possible).
I've never tested one, I would start w/ checking to see if the Amp is getting 12v's?
Large Brown and Red in the center (of your pic above) also the small white should be switched 12v when the Head unit is turned on (tells the power amp to turn on).
Looks like there is a fuse holder on the back of the amp too.
I've never tested one, I would start w/ checking to see if the Amp is getting 12v's?
Large Brown and Red in the center (of your pic above) also the small white should be switched 12v when the Head unit is turned on (tells the power amp to turn on).
Looks like there is a fuse holder on the back of the amp too.
So I took apart the amp tonight and found a couple of fried resistors, and they seem to be inline with both capacitors. I desoldered them but cannot really decipher the color codes so I can order new resistors of the same value. If I were to guess, I would say they are the same as the others that are adjacent (brown, green, brown, gold), if anyone knows I would greatly appreciate the info. Thanks!!!
Thanks for the quick response Don. It seems that your amp has a slightly different layout than mine does. Could you tell me the band colors from top to bottom for both resistors I have circled? Thanks again!
Picked up an assortment of resistors at radio shack earlier today. I'm going by my gut feeling that these are 1/4 watt 150 ohm, 5% resistors. Gonna solder them in tomorrow and see what happens, hopefully the main caps are still good too. Thanks again for your help Don.
Thanks John. I replaced the resistors and still a no go, so I took it all apart again and removed the two main capacitors. After testing them with my multi meter I was able to verify they were both faulty, and also fried their corresponding resistors when they failed. I need to check if RadioShack has 2200/16 capacitors in stock so I can get everything back together again tomorrow. Hopefully this thread can help out anyone else who is having the same radio/amplifier issues.
03-24-2016, 12:46 AM
Radio doesn't work, suggestions?
