So I got a new one off of Ebay and my brother who's got an amp and a sub tested it in his car for 15 minutes using line level inputs, and it ran fine. I then got a stereo shop to install it, and this is what's happened:

A few minutes after I pick up the car, it stops working. I check it out, and it's blown its 20 amp fuse. The installer said that funny enough, when he tried to install it first using the rear speaker wires to get the signal for turning it on/off, he blew a fuse. He had then switched to using the remote wire, and it ran fine for an hour before I picked it up.

We replaced the fuse, but it blew it again as soon as we connected power to the unit. To eliminate the wiring being a problem, I took the unit out and put it back in my bro's car, and again, as soon as we hooked it up to power, it blew a fuse, so I knew the unit was messed up at this point.

I took it to an electronics shop, who said he fixed it. He "replaced a bunch of FET's and resistors and repaired the PCB."

So before I hook it up, I'm wondering if there's any chance the wiring could have caused damage to the inside of the unit? I thought it's unlikely, but I've attached a picture in case it helps.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/10084/basslink_wires.jpg">

He's hooked up the blue remote wire for the sub to the white wire going to the driver's side rear speaker. What is that wire? Did he use the right one? (yellow arrow in the pic)

Would clipping the speaker wire too close to its terminal (red arrow) cause any issues?

Lastly, the only difference between my setup and my bro's would be that he's using line level inputs. Could the high level circuitry somehow be faulty in the sub, but not the line level ones?

Sorry, I'm just grasping at what caused the sub to blow before hooking it back up. Anyone have any ideas?

My car does not have the Bose sound system. It's a 2000 A4 1.8T.

 

converter to get signal for the sub off of a speaker. That radio has low level outputs, looks like he took the easy route out instead of running RCAs off the headunit directly to the rear. That's what it looks like, I don't think that would affect the sub in a negative way like that though. It's hard to tell just by looking at the pictures, you should be okay though.

 

where do you have it grounded at???

 

he is actually just using it for the on/off signal...which is fine

 

The quality is much better when you pull the signal from the head vs going with a line-level converter.

 

the problem, wouldn't the main fuse on the power line (I think he said it was 30 amps) go instead of the one on the unit? How can I get off the rear seat?

By the way, regarding your other post, where you mentioned he's just using it for the on/off signal, I think my setup is the opposite. He's tapped into both the rear speakers to get the signal for the sub (not to turn it on/off), instead of going line level inputs/RCA.

He could have also used that signal (it's a method suggested in the Basslink manual too), to turn on the unit. On the unit, you leave an "auto turnon" switch to ON and since he's already tapped into the rear speakers, it can use that signal. OR, you can use the extra remote wire, like he's done.

PS Do you know what is the white wire he's tapped the remote wire to? IIRC, the driver's side rear speaker has an amp, and he said that wire is the one the headunit uses to send the signal to it.

Basically, at this point, before hooking up the unit again, I'm trying to figure out 2 things: 1) could the wiring have led to things blowing inside the unit (which I can't see how), like what if he mixed up one speaker's + and - 2) did he tap into the right wire for the remote.

Is there a way to find out what all the speaker wires are?

 

- Left &amp; right rear line level (positive)
- Left &amp; right rear line level (negative)
- 12v power supply
- ground wire
- left rear speaker level + &amp; -
- Right rear speaker level + &amp; -
- Remote amp turn on lead

I don't recall the colours of all the wires but getting in there with a multi-meter and having a good look will help you identify each wire and its purpose. A good installer will identify each quickly and easily. You want to use the line level wires, not the speaker level for the best sound quality. I trust this makes sense.

A fuse constantly blowing is not good and could be caused by many things, eg. a bad wire, bad connection, fault in the unit itself, etc

 

FWIW I had one for a while and the speaker-level inputs from the rear speakers were pretty muddy.