Car amp stopped working. Should the fuse be sparking when I replace it with a new one?

Question

When I tried to replace the fuse it came out ok and it was broken (fuse on the side of the actual amp). so i bought replacement fuses (exact ones. 30amps) and when i shoved it in it starting sparking and actually melted one of the prongs. (i'm completely new to this). so i figure i'll pull the red power wire from the amp. i unscrew the .. s***w and while i pull it out it sparks. i then put in a new fuse and then put back the power wire (which sparks again). still nothing. i figure i'm doing something wrong and i look online.. and it seems like there should be no sparking going on anywhere.. at the fuse,.. at the power cable...

in any case, just to figure out if it's the fuse on the amp that's toast i was wondering if anyone knew if i'm doing it wrong. or tell me step by step what i should be doing. considering the fuse in there was blown i thought i had the right idea. but now i'm worried i messed it up even more.

help?

Answer 1

in all honesty, you might have messed it up more...sorry to say.

did you try disconnecting the battery first? if not, maybe you didn't mess it up, you have voltage going through the wires and when connected, sparks can fly.  i would suggest disconnecting the battery, and trying again... with a new fuse.

and i know on my car, there is a wire that is connect to the possitive( i think, not so sure though) wire that connects to your battery, there should be a fuse there too... if its similar to mine that is. my amp went out and it was that fuse that caused it. if this doesn't help, then i would for sure say to go to a strerio place and let them handle it... yes it costs money, but if you don't know what you are doing then it will be saving a lot more money if you were to do it on your own and mess it up

update... looks like i was somewhat close lol it is the positive wire. good for me

Answer 2

You have a short, thats why its sparking. You need to carefully look over the wires from the fuse to see where it is.

Answer 3

was the amp on when you put the fuse on. if it was. turn it off before. there is a reason why the fuse was blown. the dammage was allready done.

Answer 4

it can spark, but its best to remove your in line fuse for the power wire before you start messing with the amp. one wrong move with it in and if you hit ground or something else it can ( not alwayse but theres a chance) do damage to your electrical system or blow important fuses

Answer 5

No, there should be no sparking at all from the fuse.

The power wire can spark when you remove it, if it touches the metal body of the amp.

The first thing you should do is disconnect the POS wire at the battery.

I would also advise you to check your wiring, because something is very wrong somewhere.

You should have a REMOTE wire going to the stereo, so the amp turns on and off with the stereo,

You should have  NEG or GROUND wire going directly to ground source, or the the negative side of the battery.

You should have a POS wire going directly to the positive side of the battery.

With the amp totally unwired, put the new fuse in.

Then, disconnect the POS wire from the battery and connect it to the amp, along with the other 2 wires. Make sure that you have a GOOD ground, as in no dirt, paint, etc, around the metal and it is screwed down soild.

Make sure when you connect the cable to the amp you use a conenctor, and that there are no loose wires sticking out of the connector or the cable that will touch eachother.

Reconnect the pos wire to the battery and everything should be good.

If not, the amp is toast.

Answer 6

Your amp is probably not grounded correctly, you must have a ground wire coming from the amp to some where on the frame of your car. The place the wire is fastened to the frame shouldn't be painted, you need to sand it to bare metal so you can get a good connection.