OK...Im no automotive electrician...but I have successfully installed several amps, decks and speaker boxes. I have come across something odd....and im sure its just something stupid, but I am tearing my hair out, and could use some help.

I have a pioneer deck that I installed in the truck. It works fine. I added an amp ( that was in another car I had, so I know it works) this weekend. I wired the power to the battery with a fuse....the remote line to the amp switch line on the stereo, and the ground to the seat bracket. I then ran the speaker leads and the RCA's. As soon as I turn the truck on the radio comes on, and the speakers make a "pitter patter" noise, and the protection light is on. I thought maybe the amp was bad, so I tried another amp, and the same thing. I thought maybe because the truck has a dual battery, that maybe was the problem. I put a meter on the wire from the battery, and it was pushing 18....22...24...and then a steady 14.5 volts. Everywhere I look is 14 volts in that truck. Is that why the amp is in protect mode, because of the extra 2.5 volts? Has anyone else had this issue? Please help.

if the amp is on protection , you have a short in one of the speakers connected to the amp , if you have a multimeter you can check the resistance on the speakers has to be higher than 3 ohm , if you dont start unplugging speakers one by one until theres no protection ,amps are more sensitive to low resistance than rad1os unless is 1 ohm stable , disconnect the neg battery cables to make sure the protection clears.