lack of power to headunit

[SpeedRacer]

hey, hust hooked up my head unit and there is no power going to it, have checked all the fuses and they are fine. checked it with a multi meter and it gets a very weak signal. had sent it back because I thought it was the head unit that was broken but turns out the head unit is fine

any ideas?

[DeeCee]

are you using the power and ground wire off the factory loom?
move your ground wire to a metal bolt attached to the centre console frame for starters.

You may have to look at runinng a seperate power wire to the headunit to ensure that you have adequate power

[SpeedRacer]

was hoping it wouldnt result in that...

yea have already moved the grounding

[DeeCee]

so you checked the fuses in the kick panel and under the bonnet then? I assume yes as you mentioned previously. and i assumed that you checked the voltage on the the power wire when teh unit was disconnected..

so - the best thing to do is run a new power wire. Not hard, just a bit finicky as you'll have to get some 12ga - 14 ga, solder, ring for battery terminal, some heatshink (if you are so inclined) and some bullet connectors or scotchlocks.

[SpeedRacer]

yea cheked when it was disconnected
kickpanel has things like the horn and a/c etc.? if so yea checked that

how thick is 12- 14ga? in terms of amp cable or speaker wire. mite have some lying around

[DeeCee]

did you check the fuses under the bonnet?
i would advise to get some decent coloured power wire - you get a mechanic or auto electrician under there and he'll go WTF??

here is a chart with the measurements of the wire.
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

note that for a headunit pulling approx 20amps then you'll want 10guage wire or so.. 12 isn't bad, but its not the best either - i've got 10ga in the car at the mo

[SpeedRacer]

ok... hav done some temporary re-wiring....

have a new wirew that goes from positive terminal on battery to constant on headunit, and another that goes from the remote wire where the amp was. the readings were fine, until i turned the key on then they went weak like the factory wires.

[Alex B]

Whats your earth like?

[SpeedRacer]

goes to chassis

[Alex B]

free of paint etc?? sounds a lil weird.

[SpeedRacer]

yeap its on bare metal, guna send the HU back, cant be f'd wasting time on it