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Hooking up a car audio amp

V

Vey

I have this old car amp that I don't know much about.
It is a Motorola PA-4000.
I want to hook it up and see if it will work without frying it.

There are two groups of wire, One group is Red, Blue & Black.

The other group is Long Black with an inline fuse, Medium length Black,
Two short Blacks, short Orange and a short Yellow.

On the side, there is a sticker that says "Speaker connections, Left
Channel Yellow Black, Right Channel Orange Black. See Owners Manual."

Typically, I would hook the red to + and the black from the first group
to Black, but what about the blue wire?

And why is the fuse on what looks like a ground wire?
 
J

James Sweet

Vey said:
I have this old car amp that I don't know much about.
It is a Motorola PA-4000.
I want to hook it up and see if it will work without frying it.

There are two groups of wire, One group is Red, Blue & Black.

The other group is Long Black with an inline fuse, Medium length Black,
Two short Blacks, short Orange and a short Yellow.

On the side, there is a sticker that says "Speaker connections, Left
Channel Yellow Black, Right Channel Orange Black. See Owners Manual."

Typically, I would hook the red to + and the black from the first group to
Black, but what about the blue wire?

And why is the fuse on what looks like a ground wire?

The blue wire is remote power on, so the amp can be switched on by a low
current source, usually the power antenna or amp lead of the head unit. Not
sure why there's a fuse in that other bunch, if you open up the amp you may
be able to identify where it goes.
 
A

Arfa Daily

James Sweet said:
The blue wire is remote power on, so the amp can be switched on by a low
current source, usually the power antenna or amp lead of the head unit.
Not sure why there's a fuse in that other bunch, if you open up the amp
you may be able to identify where it goes.
Hey James - did you manage to find out from your uncle about the traffic
light cable loops ?

Agree with you on the blue wire being remote power on. He can just hook it
to supply '+' to test the amp comes on.

Arfa
 
B

Broderick Crawford

Vey said:
I have this old car amp that I don't know much about.
It is a Motorola PA-4000.
I want to hook it up and see if it will work without frying it.

There are two groups of wire, One group is Red, Blue & Black.

The other group is Long Black with an inline fuse, Medium length Black,
Two short Blacks, short Orange and a short Yellow.

On the side, there is a sticker that says "Speaker connections, Left
Channel Yellow Black, Right Channel Orange Black. See Owners Manual."

Typically, I would hook the red to + and the black from the first group
to Black, but what about the blue wire?

And why is the fuse on what looks like a ground wire?


It's probably already fried, otherwise wouldn't it be being used?
 
J

James Sweet

Broderick Crawford said:
It's probably already fried, otherwise wouldn't it be being used?

I've got a number of old car amps people have given me. They get upgraded
regularly by enthusiasts, ripped out of cars that were being sold or got
wrecked, or pulled out of cars that came with systems installed which the
new owner doesn't want. Just because it's out doesn't mean it's bad.
 
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