Boom Amp not working

[maleko]

I found an interesting situation on my bike. I bought it used and it already had the Boom amp upgrade with Boom speakers in the fairing and saddlebag lids. I was wanting to upgrade the speakers to the Kappas and when I was removing the current ones I found that it appears the amp isn't even plugged in

There is one line going to the back, which i assume is to the battery. One line to each side of the fairing for the speakers to plug in. These lines have both a pair of maie and femaie spade connectors. There is also another line coming out of the amp with two small male straight pins that is not plugged into anything either.

I ran a test while the radio was playing to confirm the obvious and pulled out the main connector to the amp and there was no change in the sound. Not that I expected to see any.

I have the amp, speakers and head unit connected correctly, well I think so based on the not so clear HD instructions. When I turn on the radio I get no sound at all.

My first question is that I am not sure if the HU has ever been flashed. I was told it needed to when using the Boom amp. Whether it has or hasn' t shouldn't I at least hear something? I am not convinced that since I hear no sound that it is just a flash issue.

Or is the amp any good.  Maybe it is not even working either.  I bought the bike when it was only 7 months old and have all the invoices where his local HD shop did the install so I will make the dangerous assumption that it should have been done correctly.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[UltraNutZ]

seems I've read this somewhere recently.

what year bike is this in reference to?

you mention the stock amp but then you appear to make mention of another amp.  can you tell me what all equipment is involved here please?

[maleko]

It is a 2012 RGC.  I bought the bike used and it already had the Boom amp with Boom fairing speakers along with the saddlebag speakers as well installed, but apparently the amp was not ever hooked up. 

[Gannicus]

I'm sure Nutz will get back to you (He always does) But from my perspective it's time to think about looking at a new system. Too much time and effort involved trouble shooting a sub par system when your time could be better spent installing a new one.  My .02

[UltraNutZ]

i don't think that particular radio needs to be flashed for the amp.  Have you checked to make sure the amp is getting power.  Without knowing exactly what model amp this is, it's hard to help troubleshoot your issues.

[maleko]

Thanks for help Ultranutz.  It is a stock head unit with the HD Boom audio amp for the RG that mounts on the left side of the inside fairing.  That was a thought of mine as well but I was not sure how to test for power.  There is a line running to the back of the bike and when I pull the seat, what appears to be the same line is hooked into the battery and ground.  Any way to test for power to the amp with a meter?

[UltraNutZ]

either with a meter or a test light to check that you're getting 12v up there.
is there a fuse located at the battery on that wire?

[maleko]

That is a good point.  I will check for a fuse and I would agree that it should have one.  With the main and only connector to the amp unplugged does it matter what pins I put the meter on?

[UltraNutZ]

whatever color that wire is at the battery is what you want to check at the amp.  Once you start looking at it, if you can get me the model number off the amp itself, I can dig up a wiring diagram for it.  There should be a couple of wires that should have power in addition to the battery wire but can't tell you which ones without the model of the amp.  More than likely this is an MTX amp

[maleko]

Fuse is good, connections to battery and ground tight.  I don't see a model number on the amp but when I looked at the invoice from the original install it shows part # 76000169 for what ever that is worth. Next I will try a meter and see what shows.

[maleko]

The amp is getting power.

[UltraNutZ]

ok then that tells me either
1) the amp is bad
2) the wiring is not correct.  Have you verified the convoluted wiring?

[UltraNutZ]

on the back of the radio, are both the 23 pin connector and the 35 pin connector plugged into it or is the 35 pin connector empty?  It will be the one on the right as you're looking at it from the front of the bike

[maleko]

Both the 23 and 35 pin connectors are populated and connected.  This bike also has the wire harness kit installed for the rear speakers. As part of the install instructions I took out wires from the 35 pin connector from ports 1,2,24,25 which then got plugged into the connector on the amp into ports 8,15,22,23.  I also have to two wires coming from the amp connector plugged into port 4,5 on the duetsch connector in the wire harness kit as well.

[UltraNutZ]

according to what I'm reading you've got it correctly wired.  The only other thing I think to mention is the wiggle test to make sure all your connections are in fact solid and didn't get pushed back into the connectors when plugging it all together.

[shagyluke]

does this amp not have a blue remote wire???

[maleko]

Just an update for those that might be interested...

I couldn't figure it out and finally had to take it to the dealer.  They opened it up and found that the original installation was not done correctly and had pinched a wire going to the rear speakers.  When the amp was hooked up this created a short and brought down the system.  He found this was the cause when he unplugged the rear speakers and the system worked fine with the amp plugged in.  I had everything hooked up correctly but never tried the system with out the rears.  Works good now.  Next to change the amp and the rear 5X7's.

Thanks Nutz for all the help and guidance on the initial work. I appreciate it greatly.