Sub Woofer Not Working

[Anthony Coghill]

Related to my previous post...



http://www.mysporttrac.com/shared/msgboard9e.asp?BOARDNAME=MSG&VIEW=1126916&sitename=mysporttrac



Alright, I've got everything wired up according to the following 2004 Adrenaline Wire Diagrams below:



http://www.mysporttrac.com/~library/13676/2004%20ST%20Audio%20Wire%20Diagrams.doc



The stereo is working great for the most part. However, the sub is not working for whatever reason and I don't know why. I think that just maybe the problem might be with the Clip Detect (See page 1 of wire diagram). What I've done is wire the clip detect coming from the stereo to both of the clip detects shown in the wire diagram for the sub and for the amp. I really am not sure this was correct actually. At first I had the 12V to 5V regulator patched in to remove the pop sounda and thought it was my problem so I removed it but that didn't work. It also might be how I've wired my RCAs. I've put the + LG/BK wire to the center of a RCA pigtail and wired the outer shielding wire to ground. I wired the - LB/RD wire to the center and the outer sheildgin wires to ground. I don't see how that is messed this up. In troubleshooting, I tried switching these around with no luck. I more suspect the clip detect shouldn't be wired together with the clip detect from the amp. However, what else do I do with it the clip detect from the sub woofer? I could go on an on here, but does anybody have any ideas as to what's going on. The sub woofer just isn't working. It is noteworthy that if I touch the RCA leads to ground, the sub makes popping static noise as those it wants to work. I'm not wanting to jump to a conclusion that the stereo itself is not working since it's brand new, but am not ruling out that maybe there is a setting that I couldn't find to turn on the Sub-Woofer output.

 

[Anthony Coghill]

Nevermind... I think I found the answer. Apparently there is a setting in the stereo. HA!!! I guess I should have looked for that before going through all the work I did. What a maroon I am! If it doesn't work, you all will be hearing from me again tomorrow on this.



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[Anthony Coghill]

Okay... I changed the setting above but the sub is not working still. Anybody have any suggestions? Can you tell me if I'm supposed to run the clip detect from the stereo to both of the wires called for the sub woofer clip detect and the amp clip detect. See the link.

 

[hal keiner]

I just installed an Alpine head unit in my ST and connected it to the subwoofer with no problem. While your setup is different than mine, the connections that I made might provide some guidance to you for your setup. The Remote Turn-on wire from the head unit is connected to the Subwoofer Enable/Clip Detect wire on the ST subwoofer harness. The Ground wire on the head unit is connected to the Subwoofer Shield wire on the ST subwoofer harness. The subwoofer (+) and (-) wires on the ST subwoofer harness are connected to subwoofer audito out (RCA plugs) on the head unit.



The narative and wiring diagrams you provide are a bit confusing to me. I can't tell what you may have possibly missed or got wrong. It might be helpful for troubleshooting this if you show what wires are on the head unit harness and what wires are on the subwoofer harness in a more simple way, such as what I show below, and again describe what wires on the head unit are connected to what wires on the subwoofer harness. Just my thoughts....





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Note: Ignore the bold highlights. This grapic was originally prepared for another reason.

 

[Anthony Coghill]

Okay, took me a bit of work but I finally got to it and got'er done. See below and open the file. I've put in an Excel Spreadsheet the wire diagrams for both the 2004 Adrenaline Sport Trac and the Pioneer Stereo. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, I need to state that my battery is going dead! Had to charge it twice! I tied wires together and did heat shrink. Can't imagine what's going on. Maybe the voltage regulator is jacked up.



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[Anthony Coghill]

Okay, I've left my sport trac parked for a couple of days now and battery is still charged so it may be okay. However, I still don't know why my sub is not working. If you see the wire diagram above, I think I wired it up correctly. Is splitting the clip detects correct? What exactly does a clip detect do? Does it put out constant voltage? I haven't put a volt meter on the back of the stereo with it on.

 

[hal keiner]

The information you provided helps but it would have been better if you provided the full pin descriptions on the three ST harnesses and the full pin descriptions on the stereo harness and listed them separately above. It would be much easier to follow and it minimizes any guessing. Showing wire colors helps but using the full pin descriptions on all the connectors on the head unit and ST harness is even more helpful. Having said that, these are my suggestions based upon my best effort to understand the information that you provided:



- Connect ONLY the Blue/White wire from the head unit to the 12v input terminal on the 7805.

- Connect the ground (center) terminal on the 7805 ONLY to the BK/LG ground wire on the Bundle 1 terminal.

- Connect the 5v output terminal from the 7805 ONLY to the Amplifier Enable / Main Clip detect terminal on the ST Bundle 1 harness.

- Do NOT connect the 5v output from the 7805 to the (LG) Subwoofer Clip Detect on the ST harness.

- Do NOT connect the ground from the 7805 middle terminal to the grounds on Bundle 2 or 3.



Some of these do's and don't may not make a difference but if you follow all of them, you will essentially match my setup, which works OK on my ST. No guarantees but these changes will not harm anything either. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Anthony Coghill]

That's just the thing. I replaced my stereo because my other one got stolen. They cut it behind the plug. No Plug = No Pins I wired the stereo harness directly to the sport trac wires. There is no harness.

 

[Anthony Coghill]

So, basically what you are saying is to not connect anything to the Subwoofer Clip Detect? Do you think that is why the Sub is not working?

 

[hal keiner]

So, basically what you are saying is to not connect anything to the Subwoofer Clip Detect?

Yes, that is one of my suggested changes. I had several more.

Do you think that is why the Sub is not working?

Perhaps it is the ony change that is really needed. Perhaps not. I just compared my understanding of your connections with how I installed the head unit on my ST and identified the differences. I would dare to guess, however, that this is the most likely and only "fix" needed.

 

[Anthony Coghill]

Alright, carried out the suggestions with no luck. Still no sub sound. However, I was noticing the rear speakers were booming like they were a sub. I think it's operating like Method 2 in the attachment (link above). Method 1 is what I went with using wires to the front and rear speakers and RCA to the sub, but maybe what I need to do is Method 2. The only question I have about method 2 is what about the rear speakers? It looks like method 1 is the way to go becaust the subwoofer RCAs are going through the amp.



Good grief, I had no idea this was going to get so ridiculous to wire up a stereo. It shouldn't be so complicated to figure out. After all this, I'm still wondering if I would ever even know if somethign is just wrong with the brand new stereo.

 

[hal keiner]

My setup is Method 1 and my suggestions were based upon Method 1. Your power connections to the subwoofer amp should be OK now. Perhaps youir problem is with something else, such as:



1) Bad constant power wire to subwoofer amp.

2) Bad ground on subwoofer amp

3) Bad speaker wire connections from head unit to subwoofer amp.

4) Bad speaker wire connections from subwoofer amp to the subwoofer speaker(s).



You can use an ohmmeter & voltmeter (multi-meter) to check these possibilities. Sorry, but I probably can't add much more than this. I guess you can always go to a stereo install shop and have an expert install guy figure it out for you. It might be worth it.