Kicker Key 500.1 Not working

[CurtisB]

your suggestion was a great one. my suggestion with the alternate source achieves the same thing: proving that the amp is good, and the source (very likely the handmade T harness) is bad.

but the OP can't do my method without a tone generator, and you suggested a way to check it without. cheers.

Well, one day in the near future, when my wife isn't home for about 8 hours, I will take apart my harness and re-do it. Don't want the wife to know that I didn't know what I was doing.............LoL

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[PMAG538]

polarity is reversed somewhere which makes the left and right channels cancel when summed for the sub.

most likely it's the T harness. you need a voltmeter to find out where and how to correct it. speaker-level output is AC. put your multimeter on 20v or whatever is near that and go.

unplug the white connector for the key 500.1 and look at the manual if needed, but the four square is this:
top left = left pos
low left = left neg
top right = right pos
low right = right neg

leave the balance centered and play a test tone then probe these connections. write down what you get so you don't confuse it.

bet you'll get positive voltage on one and negative on the other. go to the key 200.4 and do the same thing (the harness is a little more complicated check the manual). bet it's reversed on one side also, but you hadn't noticed because they are just out of phase, rather than summed mono which cancels out the sub.

at that point I'd complain to the harness maker to get them to exchange the harness, but technically you could probe again where it Ts into the factory harness and find the 2 pins that are swapped.

if you do this and you don't find a reversed channel, that will be quite the mystery, lol.

This sound com

polarity is reversed somewhere which makes the left and right channels cancel when summed for the sub.

most likely it's the T harness. you need a voltmeter to find out where and how to correct it. speaker-level output is AC. put your multimeter on 20v or whatever is near that and go.

unplug the white connector for the key 500.1 and look at the manual if needed, but the four square is this:
top left = left pos
low left = left neg
top right = right pos
low right = right neg

leave the balance centered and play a test tone then probe these connections. write down what you get so you don't confuse it.

bet you'll get positive voltage on one and negative on the other. go to the key 200.4 and do the same thing (the harness is a little more complicated check the manual). bet it's reversed on one side also, but you hadn't noticed because they are just out of phase, rather than summed mono which cancels out the sub.

at that point I'd complain to the harness maker to get them to exchange the harness, but technically you could probe again where it Ts into the factory harness and find the 2 pins that are swapped.

if you do this and you don't find a reversed channel, that will be quite the mystery, lol.

is there any way you can put this in simpler audio noob terms lmao. I kinda only kinda know electrical hence why I got a pre made harness that is now becoming a nightmare lol. Thanks so much for you help btw I would have never been able to find out any of this.

 

[PMAG538]

polarity is reversed somewhere which makes the left and right channels cancel when summed for the sub.

most likely it's the T harness. you need a voltmeter to find out where and how to correct it. speaker-level output is AC. put your multimeter on 20v or whatever is near that and go.

unplug the white connector for the key 500.1 and look at the manual if needed, but the four square is this:
top left = left pos
low left = left neg
top right = right pos
low right = right neg

leave the balance centered and play a test tone then probe these connections. write down what you get so you don't confuse it.

bet you'll get positive voltage on one and negative on the other. go to the key 200.4 and do the same thing (the harness is a little more complicated check the manual). bet it's reversed on one side also, but you hadn't noticed because they are just out of phase, rather than summed mono which cancels out the sub.

at that point I'd complain to the harness maker to get them to exchange the harness, but technically you could probe again where it Ts into the factory harness and find the 2 pins that are swapped.

if you do this and you don't find a reversed channel, that will be quite the mystery, lol.

Okay I didn’t do it your way but I was able to check it and it does seem like two pins are flipped at the 4 pin square plug would it be wrong for me to just flip them at the square plug ?

 

[colinl]

Okay I didn’t do it your way but I was able to check it and it does seem like two pins are flipped at the 4 pin square plug would it be wrong for me to just flip them at the square plug ?

the kicker 500.1 pigtail is miswired? that's surprising but certainly possible. make sure you test the 200.4 also, if it's in the T harness it will affect both amps.

but, literally answering your question, yes you could do that. you could also ask Kicker to send you a replacement pigtail.

 

[PMAG538]

the kicker 500.1 pigtail is miswired? that's surprising but certainly possible. make sure you test the 200.4 also, if it's in the T harness it will affect both amps.

but, literally answering your question, yes you could do that. you could also ask Kicker to send you a replacement pigtail.

well the pig tail is from the harness that the guy made it’s spliced into the front t wireing.

 

[colinl]

well the pig tail is from the harness that the guy made it’s spliced into the front t wireing.

yeah, that makes sense. the amp end is kicker, and he's spliced the kicker pigtail into the T harness.

just be real sure the 200.4 is ok. otherwise, you'll have your front left and right speakers out of phase and their output will be weak as well. not nearly as weak as the mono sub, so harder to notice.

 

[PMAG538]

yeah, that makes sense. the amp end is kicker, and he's spliced the kicker pigtail into the T harness.

just be real sure the 200.4 is ok. otherwise, you'll have your front left and right speakers out of phase and their output will be weak as well. not nearly as weak as the mono sub, so harder to notice.

It worked!!! Thanks so much for your guidance i actually couldn’t have done it without you!

 

[colinl]

It worked!!! Thanks so much for your guidance i actually couldn’t have done it without you!

weirdly enough that's the 2nd time in the last month I've been a part of helping someone figure out they had a polarity issue affecting their sub.

 

[AVC]

BTW, you can test easily if it's a polarity issue by panning hard left or right while playing music or pink noise. If the sub suddenly shows up for work, you have a polarity flip on one channel.

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