So it was bound to happen, I read some tutorials and decided to install my new Supertones w/ harness on my own, with less than basic electrical knowledge.

After a bit of head scratching and reading up I got everything wired up and installed, success! Tested the horns, Success! Then I started the car up, and noticed the CD player wasn't turning on and then heard a couple of sparking sounds in the engine bay. I've turned the car off and investigated but despite a slight burnt plastic smell (very slight), I can't see where it came from.

I've got an Alpine CD player with an Alpine Amp wired into the battery which was disconnected, do I need to reset the amp somehow?

My setup is basically as follows:

Single spade connector: connected to one of the original horns
4x connectors: connected to the hellas
Red Power: Connected to the red terminal on the battery
Black loop (on the same string as the power) connected into the same place the battery ground is (on the chassis right next to the battery)
second original battery: still wired in to its original connector
Relays (with the 4 connectors going into it): just dangling around by the radiator for the time being.

Have I missed something stupid somewhere, or should I be seeking professional help? Also, should I consider insulating the relay box somehow, it looks awful exposed to rain/carwashing??

Other than that super happy with the noise! People will certainly know about it when they cut me up on the freeway now!

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Ryan

Check the fuse for the Audio system and amp. Hopefully you have shorted the active for this to the car body somewhere after the fuse. This may be as simple as a bit of the fuse body now touching the car body/component when you wired up the horns.

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Yeah the fuses were my first thought too, but all the fuses in the main box, and the two fuses on the amp itself are all fine. There is definitely no power coming through to the head unit though.

I started the car up again and I'm not convinced that the hella's were actually sparking, I let the car run for a little while and didn't hear anything besides some clicks from the a/c fan. It could have been the hella relay box which looked close to the chassis at the base of the radiator but I've moved it away.

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Ryan

Don't most head units have a fuse at the rear of the unit itself?
Might be worthwhile finding the manual or brochure for the head unit and see if there is a fuse at the back before pulling it out.

Edit: Can you confirm that in the process of installing the wires from the relay to the battery terminals that you didn't drop one of the wires that supplies power to the head unit?

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I dont think there is an exclusive wire for the head unit (that I can see). I've got a large red cable which runs through to the amp, this was only briefly disconnected but only whilst I slipped the Hella power lead in there. (I was doing it quickly because the Brant was going off every time the battery was disconnected.

I definitely do have a fuse on my head unit, but I don't have the key to get it out and have a look. I don't seem to be getting any power through to the amp either though (no lights or signs of life etc)

I did forget to disconnect the negative battery terminal before I started wiring up the hellas, but I did install the ground before I connected the power up.

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Ryan