I have the two 4x6s and two 10" subs hooked up to a four channel amp. This all works fine, until I turn my headlights on. When I do, the amp seems to just crap out almost entirely. Should I just start looking for a new amp or is there something else I can do to fix this?

 

How much power is your amp putting out? To me, this sounds like you have inadequate and/or faulty wiring. you might want to check your alternator and the rest of the wiring in the charging system. If your wiring is bad, turning your headlights on might cause sufficient current draw to cause your amp to switch off from lack of power. Is your alt. stock? How does the wiring in your charging system look? What gauge wire are you running to your amp? Is it grounded well? All of these things can cause problems.

 

How do you have your remote turn on wire hooked up? To the power antennea lead off the deck right? How about the deck wiring. If you tell me what wires go to what I can verify it. The reason I'm asking is because I've seen people use the wrong lead behind the deck that is tied into the headlight switch and it has done some wierd things.

Other than that look at the other posted suggestion. When you flip your headlights on does your volt gauge drop very low. Low enough to where there wouldn't be enought to run the amp?

 

Hmm, interesting. I know the remote is wired up to the remote out on the headunit, but something I didn't think twice about when I took out the old headunit was where the +12v wire came from. It seemed to not belong somehow. I'll tear it apart this weekend and have a look at it.
As far as the rest of the wiring, I have an 8 gauge wire, fused at the battery, with wire loom the entire length, going to a four channel 800 watt amp. The ground is also 8 gauge, though I'm starting to question the grounding point. I removed the rear seats, and the ground is going to the metal brackets that stick out of the carpet. I shaved it down to bare metal, so maybe it's just a weak place to ground something. I'll try a few other spots.

 

Check that ground. Behind the deck for me it was yellow from deck (12V constant) went to orange in car. Red from deck (12V ACC) went to yellow in car. Did my own ground. Used a relay for the remote turn on lead. Let me know what you find. I love troubleshooting.

 

OK, a couple things. I did a little checking and noticed that the amp isn't shutting off. It will work fine if it's cool, as in off for a while. And it seems a bump in the road can change its condition quickly, so I'm beginning to think it's the amp itself. The power and remote are wired correctly behind the headunit, and since the amp isn't shutting off, I assume the ground and power for the amp are fine, too. So I guess there are a couple possibilities:
1: some component in the amp is loose (the amp's a couple years old)
2: an RCA behind the headunit is hitting a ground, causing some kind of default for the amp to stop responding
3: the headunit's faulty
4: or whatever else someone can think of.

 

Hmmmm...Amp not shuting off huh. Gotta be something either with that amp or the remote turn on lead. If you disconnect the remote turn on lead the amp shuts off right? You can wire the remote wire to the ignition lead of the deck to check that something is goofy with the remote lead on the deck. This way it'll turn on and off with the car.

 

Oh... no, I meant the amp isn't shutting off when I turn on the headlights. It's just crapping out... not putting out any sound (or very crappy sound at times). The remote leads, powers, and grounds are all correct.

 

Well I guess you just have to drive around in the dark. That is weird. I wish I was there to see it. Sounds like power drain on the amp or something. Something is happening when those lights go on. In times like these I usually start to beg people to let me wire an amp in place of the other one to see if the problem goes away. Sorry I couldn't help you figure it out.

 

OK I lied, the power to the headunit I'm still not sure of. I have to check that out still, and see where it goes. It could be possible that the headunit just sucks so much that it's not putting power to the RCAs for some reason or another. I have the 6x9s running off the HU, and they stay on when the amp craps out. So who the hell knows. I think I know someone I can swap amps with, so I'll try that, too. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until the weekend, so until then, it's (of course) driving lights only for me.

 

measure your voltage at the BAT terminal on the amp, both with and without your headlights on. do you get the same number?