i have a 1997 dodge ram pickup that is giving me some electrical problems. i recently installed a 400 watt amp and one 10 inch sub woofer. First the gauge lights blew a fuse, i replaced the fuse and after pulling the light switch to the on position, i heard a pop and the gauge lights were out again. but this time the fog lights and tail lights also went out. im not positive the amp has anything to do with this. please help with any ideas.

 

Is the amp on a dedicated circuit with it's own fuse and ground?

EDIT: If so I would suspect the headlight switch. Pull the switch and look at the connector and wires.

 

yes the amp is on its own circuit. i will look at the headlight switch, but the amp grounded out to the seat frame is ok..right? some people say i need to run a ground wire all the way back to the battery. is this nessecary? Thnak you for the help.

 

Ive always grounded amps to the body and never had a problem with it. So you should be fine there.

 

I can second this. I install systems for a side job and have never had an issue with grounding to the body. running a ground wire from the amp back to the battery would just be a waste of time and money.

 

I've had my amp grounded to my driver seat for like 2 years now and no problems from it, I did blow my gauge light fuse a while back from messing with a blown bulb on the same circuit, so it doesn't take much to do. I would take a long look at it under the dash and see if anything looks out of the ordinary especially with your remote wire and check the headlight switch

 

Pull the switch and look at wires and connectors. My guess is you will find one or both melted. Very common on our trucks.

 

yea, a ground cable ran to the battery is only needed if the amp calls for more then a 4 gauge input, as most bodies will only be able to carry that much of a load.

 

looked at the headlight switch and all the wiring around it. nothing looked out of the ordinary. replaced the fuses and so far they haven't blown. maybe there was a bad connection in the switch, i will have to wait and see what happens.

 

I had the same issue when i put my headunit in. There was a wire for the radio that was not hooked up were it should be. Thinking it was the illumination wire was hooked up to the wrong wire from the harness.. Might want to double check on all that if it keeps happening.