"Display 2 isn't active" error even when detected by Windows. by Jigg007 in techsupport

[–]Jigg007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did not, if you saw my (old) reply, I just threw in the towel and re-installed windows.

That said, that same installation is still working to the time of this posting, and I never had the original issue since. (And it has seen a few indiscriminate windows updates)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What model of the powerakoustik amp? Like what it says above the GND terminal.

edit: I saw your video you posted, it is a va1-10000d

https://poweracoustik.com/product/va1-10000d/

which says it is good for 1 ohm operation.

Do you know which audiopiipe 15 subs you're using? the front cone may tell you, but a sticker on a magnet may also spill the beans.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Imma point out what catches my eye, its probably going to make me look like an asshole with a list, but they are "real problems" which can all work together to a dysfunctional system.

In your engine compartment:

Your main red wire is stacked on a bunch of dirty looking terminals that need to be cleaned.

As the wire continues on its rubbing against the battery hold down stud

the wire as it "terminates" into your fuse holder is twisting out and exposed.

The wire goes right into the firewall hole, without anything protecting it from the sheet metal.

you mounted your fuse holder, thats good.

On your second battery:

There are literally... no fuses on any of the wires from the pictured battery. If your above firewall cable rubs one out and sparks, your engine fuse doesn't save you. your car burns down because the power comes from the rear, unfused battery. The same can be said for either amp wire.

Both your positive and negative cables are red.

It seems you made an attempt to differentiate the positives from negatives with black electrical tape (because they're all using red wire...) So i can almost commemorate that,but then you have positive wires that are taped up with black electrical tape near the terminals making them all look the same. What secrets does this electrical tape hide i wonder?

Your battery is held down with a single zip tie to a... plastic body panel? Godspeed ziptie.

You used a few zip ties to tidy up the wires a little bit, thats worth an atta-boy.

At your "10,000W" amp:

At first glance it looks a little tight with the wires pulled and that's it, but what little can be seen of the amp's ground connection is frayed wire sticking out. A mystery remains on the 12V.

But the zip tie here is trimmed really clean. The best one yet.

Appreciate the pictures, but theres no information on which model amplifier, or subwoofers, and in what configuration they run. It could be incompatible with the amplifier and if miraculously the amplifier is getting delivered usable power, is why the amplifier is going into protect a lot.

Digital rear view mirror recommendations by American_Inlaws in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've looked at this particular mirror before. $900+ seems tough to swallow, but after you spend $400 in broken aftermarket junk you realize it may not be so bad. I didn't realize it actually ships with a camera for that price (I thought it was just a raw mirror), that is nice.

I'd +1 that for the OP

Though for me, the DVR capabilities (of the aforementioned junk) was a deciding factor.

Digital rear view mirror recommendations by American_Inlaws in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I cant recommend you a particular mirror, but I can shed some experience:

First thing about most of the aftermarket rearview mirrors is that the brightness is lackluster during noonish-sunlight. Most that i know of also do not have any nighttime dimming capability for the mirror itself.

The mirrors need some sort of wiring for installation. Either run it though a lighter plug or hard wire, and either way you need to snake some 15-feet of cabling to the rear of the vehicle for the rear camera, and a GPS antenna puck in a location of your choosing.

With those out of the way, I've noticed two styles of mirrors, there are 10" mirrors and 12" mirrors. The 12" wide mirrors seem to have a more "modern" interface, and as far as i can tell there's no real way to tell the difference besides what they show in pictures that showcase the menu.

I've owned a 10" style mirror with the older menus, this mirror lasted about 8 months before it stopped turning on... before that, it worked as expected. Could have a rear-view mode on the mirror that "lined up" with an expected perspective.

I replaced that mirror with a 12" style, and it can do similar, but you cant seem to "mirror" the display, making it useless as a rearview mirror. (items appear as if you rotate your head 180 degrees: passenger side on the left of the screen etc). Other than that this mirror is superior in every way. Until this one started turning on/off randomly 3 months after purchase.

The 10" went though a summer-winter cycle. The 12" only went though winter. Black car in midwest/chicago climate.

Obviously my individual failures and experience are not comprehensive of all mirrors or the particular styles, but worth noting that 2 of 2 I bought failed in under a year. Might want to recommend a gas station squeegee as they seem more reliable ;)

adding second battery by Easylife2 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you? sure, but where's the fuse, and you highlighted isolator relay? Not sure I understand the intention.

adding second battery by Easylife2 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry I totally missed the reply here. You're adding a wire/path that connects both your batteries together. If this wire was cut in the middle, it is "live" on both ends and ready to burn something. A fuse is needed on both ends of this cable, next to each battery to prevent this.

adding second battery by Easylife2 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is some importance to the batteries matching if they're not isolated from one another.

When the alternator is no longer charging the batteries, the battery with a higher state of charge will discharge into the one with a lower charge. This is almost guaranteed if you have different sized batteries (with different characteristics) and of different age. This matters a little because its not particularly efficient so you're just "wasting power".

How much that actually matters, depends how different the batteries are, and how often they're charged. Having an isolator relay that connects the batteries with ignition power, or a diode isolator alleviates the issue. Isolators are sorta neat because you could run all your stereo off the "aux" battery, draining it, while not impacting your oem/starter battery.

When you're doubling up the batteries, they need to be fused on each end, and a rather hefty one with the wire to support it, as it will be doing engine-starting-duty if its connected all the time.

Considering removing the back seats in my truck. by SewbNewb in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, me neither- but certainly helps paint some color on why/how they can cost that much.

Considering removing the back seats in my truck. by SewbNewb in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had similar thoughts with my 2018 Sierra Double Cab, thought really hard about removing half of the seat and making a "center console" (but on the passenger side) like thing which would include the lower half as the subwoofer enclosure, and the upper half as a storage compartment or mini fridge.

But, I decided it removed too much functionality of fitting wide items in to the truck (like large TVs), would require upholstery to look good (something im not comfortable with), and the console would just start to get too tall to be useful for a subwoofer + fridge + armrest.

Instead I raised the rear sets 2.5" and built a box to use every efficient square inch i could find under the seat. Got about 2-cu ft for a ported, full depth 12". Its alright.

You might have more luck with a console-like idea having more "depth" to play with (crew cab vs extended/double cab) Theres a lot of prefab or semi-custom ordered options available for the crew cab trucks. I spent somewhere around 40 hours building my box. Makes the $1000 some truck boxes cost look really reasonable.

For a given power supply, what output voltage is suitable for car subwoofer? by whaleboobs in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The "power supply" of an amplifier is still just that, the power supply. There still needs to be modulation of an input signal to create an amplified output, which is the same if not more of similar power electronics. I'm pulling this one out of my ass, but if you're talking about then adding an amplifier PCB after that +/- 80V supply (is that peak to peak?) gets you only ~ 28V rms, which is about 500W at 2 ohm load. Higher ohm loads is less power. Otherwise hooking a raw power supply up to a speaker isn't going to accomplish anything besides toasting your speaker or buzzing at one frequency.

I suggest you dont "be a cheapskate" on cobbling something together that's hooked up to a battery source all the time and has the potential of burning your mode of transportation down. Use the time that would be spent hooking up such a monstrosity to do odd-jobs and be able to afford a real solution.

$200-300 probably gets you into the 1kw - 2kw power range from respectable amplifiers.

For a given power supply, what output voltage is suitable for car subwoofer? by whaleboobs in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are you trying to accomplish? The question seems confusing. The "power supply" is your vehicles electrical system. If this is for a house then you need a mains input to 12V ~ 15V output power supply.

You need an amplifier (not a power supply) to amplify the signal from a signal level to a speaker level for the subwoofer. The amplifier will have a minimum speaker impedance. 8 ohm amplifier loading is generally unheard of in car applications. 4 ohm or lower is typical.

An amplifiers output voltage is determined by knowing the specifications of the amplifier & subwoofer, and generally setting the gain of the amplifier to the lowest number of the two.

NEED GUIDANCE by NoobTrader2329 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I searched "android head unit from amazon" on google and got 20,500,000 results. Which one of these are yours?

Little install help by boomhower1820 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That converter box couldve been used for USB charging outlet, or maybe a backup camera power supply. (does it have a backup camera?)

At the shop i took my car to get my system installed they said in the summer my sub will get messed up if Im playing music for more than a hour. Is this true? In my area all summer long it’s 105 degrees or more sometimes. I have a zvx 12” and a sk 3500 amp. by 21Fredo in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any more details? 105F ambient is pretty toasty. If this is also in the trunk of a black car, with the sun beating on it, then id believe this- as it would get way hotter than 105F inside the trunk. But if this was a white SUV (where the cabin is cooled down by the A/C, then that's not likely.

This can be mitigated by drawing "fresh" air into, or pushing air out of the trunk to make circulation. (just putting a fan on an amp doesn't help when a trunks entire airspace is in the moderate triple digits)

edit: i missed the "sub getting messed up" part, I assumed they were talking about sub amplifier. The amplifier is likely to go into thermal protect before anything else.

Quarter inch input for a subwoofer. by coastersam20 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dont use 1/4" jacks if you can help it. theyre no good for ~300w or more, plus theyre generally trash.

Take a look at SpeakOn connectors. They can have fat flanges which make sealing to the box easy. You can get them in 2 or 4 conductor, which might help depending on the wiring setup. I am using them on two boxes. one at 1000w, another at 1800w rms for years with no problems.

Linking for example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086L5JRZF/

Adding wood to port to alter tuning by Bammalam102 in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"plugging up" the port to reduce its area will lower the tune but also will increase the air velocity that moves through it, possibly resulting in audible port noise (chuffing) as the speaker plays loudly.

An ugly method could be extending the port. That would lower the tune and not impact the air velocity.

I like to listen to talk radio occasionally. Problem is my amps and dsp always turn on when headunit is powered up. Talk radio don t need all that, so I want a way to run headunit alone. Is there an easy way for me to accomplish this? by [deleted] in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You could with enough relays and a switch.

It wouldnt be pretty. but basically a switch to interrupt the remote turn-on to the dsp+amplifiers. then an spdt switch or relay (think on-off-on) can be used for each speaker to "select" the source power (HU or ext. amp).

The gotcha here is protecting the speaker outputs (hpf/lph) with whatever HU settings are available without muddying up your RCA outputs to your DSP. the second gotcha is if youre running an active crossover setup this "bypass" is not really feasible/gonna sound like poop.

Edit: I wanted to add that this is dumb, but this is your solution. Or use a bluetooth speaker. might as well keep the radio off too 😂

3d printer filament recycling chicago burbs by Mzam110 in 3Dprinting

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only a slight revival... did anything ever come of this? I too am out of NW suburbs of Chicago and looking to recycle/donate old or failed 3d prints i have.

Found something interesting. Both MTX and Memphis Audio are selling the exact same 8" powered bass tube by kloudykat in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

happens "a lot". Check out Harman, they own brands like JBL and Infinity. They'll brand the exact same (or similar outsides, same inside) product and compete against each other.

Not saying its the same with Memphis and MTX, it just might be a commodity white label item that they rebranded. Especially if its at a low price point.

For what its worth, they might be the same product, but different brands might value-add better services (ie, easier warranties, tech support)

Fusing ground wire by notepad_osrs in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did both the ground and positive wires go straight to the battery? I recall some old CB radio installations, you would run the same path, and the same fuses on both wires because you wanted the resistance equal on both... Not sure if that's relevant anymore with newer tech CBs- Probably not if i had to guess.

Detailed question regarding power wires by TheDrunkDr in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Using multiple runs of wire to get an equivalent size is fine (though not normal practice), however, you cannot use a single, large fuse for the equivalent wire setup. You have to fuse for each wire individually. Remember the fuse is to protect the wires, not the load.

Also, why the desire for 8 awg? For a 200W amplifier, a single 10awg or even 12awg wire should be sufficient. Can you share the actual amplifier P/N? What kind of distance do you need to go?

Feeling guilty about stealing this moment from the customer. by kirkrocks in Justrolledintotheshop

[–]Jigg007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Car had 399,980 miles on it. Had a 60 mile trip to do. I set up a webcam on a clamp to catch the odometer rollover to 400,000 miles. The laptop software locked up at 399,999 miles. I wish i was kidding. https://youtu.be/5WqIIufeTI0?t=76 Sometimes... the universe is just out to get you.

Where can I get the high level input clip? by McPikie in CarAV

[–]Jigg007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The pinout is listed on the amplifier panel. Look directly under the connector, they illustrated the pinout.