Amp Power goes off

[chaos]

Just installed an amp to the Clarion XMD3 stereo, in my 2005,205 ski ltd. Amp powers up fine when the radio is on, as soon as I swith to CD or Aux mode the amp turns off. Power still at the deck, sound only when the deck is set to radio. Any thoughts

[Flux]

RE: Amp Power goes off

Is there a 12v trigger to the amp??

Might be that the lhead unit is malfunctioning and killing the power to the trigger when you switch modes.

If there is a trigger, simply put a tester on it and a ground and check for voltage as you switch modes. It it's malfunctioning, you could jump it to another source, like the HU's power source that is on the ignition.

Good luck.

[chaos]

RE: Amp Power goes off

Not sure what you mean with a 12V trigger?? Can you provide me a little more info.

Thanks

[Flux]

RE: Amp Power goes off

Many amps and head units have a single wire that goes from the head unit to the amp. This is the 12V trigger. When the Head Unit is on, it powers on the trigger which goes to a relay in the amp and the amp will then turn itself on from it's primary power source. This allows you to connect the amp directly to a battery and let the Head unit turn on from the iginition source. It prevents the amp from being on all the time and draining your battery.

If you installed the amp yourself and did not put a trigger on it, then it's just not there. I am suggesting it as one possibility of your problem.

How did you wire your amp?? Inputs from the Pre-amp out or from the line level?? What kind of amp??

[Mikeski]

RE: Amp Power goes off

You have your amp's turn on lead hooked to the deck's power antenna lead. When you turn the tuner off it is trying to put the antenna down and therefore shutting the amp off. You need to move the amp's turn on lead to the decks power out. I beleive one is blue, the other is blue with a white strips, swap them and things should work fine.

[chaos]

I got it going. I got my volt meter out to check voltages. When I changed to aux or cd the 12v trigger would be zero voltage. I wired the 12v trigger from the amp in to the power supply of the deck. Amp powers on when I power up the ignition and stays powered up through all functions. Thanks for everyones help.

[Flux]

Check mikeski's post, I think he got it spot on.

If you are satisfied with your wiring, then happy boating!!

[chaos]

I thought the blue wire was for the remote amp turn on, the orane wire would be for what?? Let me know.

[Mikeski]

I don't have the deck in my hand and unfortunately the manuals do not include the wiring coding so I will take a GUESS FROM MEMORY:

On the power harness you have:

Yellow = Battery (constant hot)
Red = Accy (keyed hot)
Black = ground (-12v)
Blue = amp turn on
Orange = power antenna output or dimmer line face illumination?

Bottom line, you should be able to turn your amp off by turning the stereo off. There is no reason to have the amp running idle or trying to pick engine noise when the audio source is off, it's designed this and will work this way if you get the wires hooked up properly. Put a CD in the deck and test the outputs, whichever wire goes on/off with the deck is the amp trigger.