Power, Grounds and Remote wires for amps.

[King_berald]

hey guys, installing my new sound system....the system consists of 2 splits in the front, 2 coaxes in the rear doors and a sub being powered by a monoblock and a 4channel....i am unsure how i need to run the power, grounds and my remote wires..i have a power distributer block and a fuse but im unsure on how to connect it all up. can anybody help me out??

[holdenboy]

Certainly can help you out.

Power cable runs from the battery to the mounting location for the amps (boot i imagine). From there it connects to the distribution block, out of the distribution block is two cables (usually smaller than the main power cable) which connect to the + terminal of each amp.

Ground cables connect to the - terminal of each amp and go to a solid section of metal on the car, the seatbelt bolt is a good location. Sand back the area to bare metal before attaching the cables.

Remote cables connect to the blue / white wire coming out of your head-unit. These run to the amps and connect to the "REM" or "remote" input on the amp. You can just run one remote cable and split it into two cables near the amps or just "daisy chain" the remote wire from one amp to the other.


Do you need to know about connecting the speakers / sub up to the amps?

[King_berald]

thanks mate, have already connected the speakers to the amps...do i need to run anything to the negative terminal of the battery? can i use the same gauge power cable on both sides of the power distributer? how far from the battery does the fuse have to be?

[holdenboy]

No you dont need to run anything from the negative terminal, you can use the same gauge power wire on the D.B. but usually a smaller gauge is whats provided in the kit (i.e. if its a 4AWG kit, it should come with a length of 8AWG cable for the amps).

The fuse needs to be within 30cm of the battery terminal, its there to protect the cable in the event of a short.

[King_berald]

thanks alot mate....the kit didnt come with any smaller gauge, my friend was saying the same thing....my distributer has 2 inputs, will it be fine with just the 1?...also, will the power cable be fine without a grommet on the firewall?

[holdenboy]

Yeah it'll be fine with just one input.

I would definitely be using a grommit for the firewall. If you run the cable through the unused clutch cable grommit (i assume your car is auto) then just cut a hole in this grommit and feed it through. Your asking for trouble having the cable rubbing against the metal of the firewall, its only a matter of time before the insulation wears through and causes a short.

[mawsy]

well said champ! make sure the earth is a good metal suface with no paint, most problems are avoided by having a good earth, i found out the hard way in my old ute haha and i know in the electricla worl outside of cars we try and run smaller cable out to the circuits from the board than what we ran into the board, the same should apply for cars