Should my amp power wire be drawing 8.5V at all times? And what could be causing this? I am all but certain that this is causing my battery drain issues so plz hlp thx.

2/5/2008 10:31:13 AM

The amp power wire should measure ~12 volts when the car is off. How are you measuring this "draw?"

2/5/2008 11:28:23 AM

Voltmeter between the negative cable of battery and power lead, if it always has power wouldnt that drain the battery?

2/5/2008 11:31:52 AM

Not as long as the amp isn't turned on. It's similar to a light switch. There is always power going to the switch, but no power is going to be used unless you flip the switch on and the light bulb starts to glow.

There should be an LED on the amp to let you know when it is on and when it is off. Assuming the blue "remote" wire is hooked to the head unit it will turn on and off automatically whenever the head unit is switched on and off.

If you're only getting 8.5v I'd think either your battery is almost dead or there is something else drawing a ton of power (and thus preventing power from getting to the amp.)

2/5/2008 1:02:30 PM

^ he is correct

Most amps are hard wired to the battery with an inline fuse thus the amp always has power available then uses the head unit to actually turn the amp on or off.

So you should always have 12ish volts across the cables going to the amp...the fact that you have 8.4 volts means you either have a dead battery or a short somewhere.

[Edited on February 5, 2008 at 1:37 PM. Reason : .]

2/5/2008 1:36:05 PM

Battery is low, charging it tonight. I have other things hooked up but they are all switched off, cant figure out what is wearing the battery down, back to the drawing board I suppose.

2/5/2008 2:04:54 PM

you probably need a new battery.

2/5/2008 3:05:04 PM

What's your turn-on lead hooked up to? (the little blue wire going into the amp)

2/5/2008 7:01:58 PM