Help Needed for wiring sub to boat!

[Limishowman3]

My buddy and I were trying to wire his sub into my boat(2007 Outback DD) We had all the wires from my old system in my truck, and I thought we had everything hooked up right too. But the sub wont bump at all when playing the radio. I looked on the head unit and couldn't find the sub power. I don't know if the Kenwood head unit isn't able to play subs, or if there is something else wrong. Has anyone had this problem? Or any advice? I'm thinking of just going to a radio store if I cant figure out the problem. Thankyou

[tazz3069]

Is the sub hooked up to an amp?

[Limishowman3]

Yes I have the amp hooked up to it. Where do yall have the ground wire from the amp hooked up too?

[tazz3069]

I have both my amp hooked up directly to the battery. Dumb question, Is the remote control wire hooked up? When you turn on the stereo, does a light come on, on the amp? Look for a fuse on the amp. could be blown. Make sur your RCA cables are in all the way. Just a few things to look for.

[Limishowman3]

Ok that may be the problem. My remote control wire is not hooked up, but where do i plug it into? Because when i look on the back of the head unit, there is no spot for me to plug it into. I thought I didn't need it at first, because I wasn't using a remote for adjusting the bass like I had in my truck. Also how did you run the wires? I was planing on putting the sub and amp under the steer wheel area. That seemed the best spot out of the way and away from water. I already lost a camera from water damage when my dad took on a wake to slow, and water spilled into the boat and got the compartment where the battery is located all wet. It was a rookie mistake, first day we took it out on the water.

[cab13367]

There should be a blue/white wire labeled "P. Cont". You need to hook that up to the remote turn on lead of your amp. This wire sends a signal to your amp to turn on when the head unit turns on so that the amp doesn't have to be on all the time.

Hope that helps.

Al

[Limishowman3]

That helps somewhat, at least now I understand what that wire is for. I have that wire for my amp, but there is no spot to connect it to the head unit, unless do i need to wire it in with some other wire? I will have to look tomorrow at, as it is now midnight. Thanks though. Keep sending me feedback, because I am a novice at this. I messed around with electrical wire, but never for car or boat stereo's.

[tazz3069]

Cab is right. Look for the blue/white wire. Consider this wire your switch. When the radio is turned on, it sends a signal through the wire and turn on the amp.
I ran my sub wires around the front side of the boat.. I zip tied the sub wire to the wire harness. My sub is also mounted under the driver side behind the kick plate. My sub bos was made by Audioformz.com. It sounds awesome.
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[Limishowman3]

Ok I believe I understand what yall are saying. I have another question, under the cab side. There should be a mount that has lots of screws in it. One set of screws are red and the other set is black. There are wires running to this area, and I thought that may be another area to hook up your hot and ground wire. Can you hook your hot and ground wire here? Or would that be a problem? Well I guess I will be messing around some more today in the boat. I may try to upload some pictures if I still can't figure it out.

[SanMarzano]

I wouldnt hook up to that distrobution pannel. The hot wire comming to it is small maybe like a 10 or 12 G. Run Minimum 4g back to your battery. Depending on the run you may have to run bigger wire

[Limishowman3]

Alright thanks for that tip. I had 8 g wire when I had the amp in my truck, I went to a car stereo store, and bought 6ft of 8g wire. that cost 1.99/ft. Is the ground wire supposed to be that expensive or what? I probably need to go back and by me a longer wire too. Any advice?

[SanMarzano]

God wire is expensive!!! I have paid 7.99 a foot for 1g

[Limishowman3]

Ok I found the blue and white wire on the back of my head unit. Do I cut it and strip it and then run the remote wire from the amp and join it together with the blue and white wire? I know how to do it, but not sure if thats the method you take. Ill have to go buy some more ground wire though before I complete this project.

[tazz3069]

Ok I believe I understand what yall are saying. I have another question, under the cab side. There should be a mount that has lots of screws in it. One set of screws are red and the other set is black. There are wires running to this area, and I thought that may be another area to hook up your hot and ground wire. Can you hook your hot and ground wire here? Or would that be a problem? Well I guess I will be messing around some more today in the boat. I may try to upload some pictures if I still can't figure it out.

Those blocks are the poative and negative block for all your guages, horn, lights, etc. You do not want to use these terminals. I would connect the amp cables directly to the battery. I am almost done with my setup. I will post pictures soon.

[tazz3069]

Just splice thise two wires together. Use can use shrink tubing or yyu can use a splice

[Limishowman3]

ok thanks thats what I'll do then