Hi guys,

New to the forums and modding, so I apologise for my lack of knowledge. Im installing a sub and amp, but trying to keep it all covert so noone looking in will be any the wiser of its presence. Ive posted some pics below, but I have 2 questions.

1. I know the amp has to have a trigger wire connected, and I know where to plug it into the amp, but where do I plug the other end? Does it have to connect to some particular spot in the head unit, or can I just connect it to a hot wire that turns on with the ignition such as the cigarette lighter?

2. I read somewhere that installing an amp upside down is bad news. Does anyone know if this is true and if so, why?

Cheers for any help guys

Gary

edit: haha yeah im having some trouble uploading them... just give me a few minutes

mmmmmmmm no pics buddy ?

Hmmm that sounds like a bit of a worry.

1st: Your trigger wire does need a particular wire to plug into to work. Depending on the headunit you hook it up to the remote turn on wire or aerial wire ( if that is the only wire, if there are both a remote turn on and an aerial then dont hook it up to the aerial otherwise you may find your amp only turning on when the radio is on :D ). Pioneer only have 1 remote out, JVC / Sony / Alpine usually have both.

2nd: Yes it is bad to mount your amp upside down. Why? Where is the heat that is created supposed to go? Only say some JL amps can do it as there heat is disapated out the sides. Still not recommended though.

How did you manage to figure everything else out? :confused:

The trigger wire (remote wire) i believe needs to go to the head deck, if your lucky some decks have names attatched to each wire. i think the wire you need that comes out of the deck is a little longer than the others.

Why would you want you amp upside down, then you wont be able to look at the pretty designs ( if it has any)

Thanks for your replys guys.

In response to how I figured the rest out, I have a standard wiring diagram which tells me some stuff. Connect one wire from the battery to the amp, luckily my amp makes it pretty clear where that goes, and then also shows a spot to connect the ground wire to the amp. Then there are 2 ports to connect the 2 RCA wires from the head unit to the amp, and as you can see in the pics, conviently the last owner who put in the aftermarket deck, left them dangling down so i could get to them easily. The only other thing that needs taking care of (I think and hope) is the trigger wire, which I was asking about.

Why exactly does it the trigger wire need to go through the head unit? If its just to switch the amp on or off, couldnt it go through something like the cigarette lighter? Or does it need more power which is provided by the internal amp inside the head unit?

In response to why its going to be upside down, thats cause I wanted the covert install and it fit nicely under the wooden board in the boot. Can't the heat be disapaited into the air in that gap between the wooden board and the spare tyre? The top of the amp will still be exposed to air, and the bottom of it attached to the wood, so couldn't it still dissapait heat down?

Thanks again for your help guys

No offence dude but worst photos almost ever of a harness, however I did manage to find your remote wire, it is the one doing nothing in the photo with your wires hanging out below your headunit which is in place. It is the blue one with the wierd plastic thing on the end, not un-common to have that.

What sub is that? You mounting it free air or is a box coming?

Trust me dude, it will overheat ever 5mins if you mount it like that. The caps etc intenally need to have the heat escape away from it. Mount it 90deg :D

Ok for your safety more than anything because I am concerned.

The wire from the battery should be about 8gauge power wire. The fuse should be fairly close to the battery ( within 40cm tops ) and need to be the same size as all the fuses on the amp + about 10% for good measure. This will be rated in Amps ( A ). For eg, that kenwood will probably have a 20 or 25 amp fuse so you should look at at least 30Amp for the battery fuse. If it was to have 2x 25Amp fuses then look at a 60A fuse.

The earth wire should be the same size ( gauge ) as the power wire. Make sure you sand back the surface you wish to use. You can only use grounding wire. You should also add a better grounding wire off the battery, run it somewhere in the engine bay.

Remote trigger is discussed above. It sends a signal to tell the amp to turn on. Much the same way it tells a aerial to go up and down.

RCA's. They send the signal to the amp at about 1-2VWRMS. Make sure to run the RCA's away from the Power and trigger wires otherwise you may get "noise" in your speaker that is running off the amp.

Pretty easy really. :D Have you found the hole in the firewall? Taking all the seats out and the back seat out is so much fun :bowrofl:

haha yeah I know the photos sux0rs. I wasn't really trying to show much in the wiring photos except those 2 RCA wires. I havn't had a chance to take the head unit right out, so I was hoping to find the trigger wire later, but if thats the right wire, then cheers for that.
Na im just going for a free air install, its a old ZR Alpine sub. I bought it second hand after some idiot decided to paint the cone blue. Ive used it before and it still sounds good though.

haha yeah I know the photos sux0rs. I wasn't really trying to show much in the wiring photos except those 2 RCA wires. I havn't had a chance to take the head unit right out, so I was hoping to find the trigger wire later, but if thats the right wire, then cheers for that.
Na im just going for a free air install, its a old ZR Alpine sub. I bought it second hand after some idiot decided to paint the cone blue. Ive used it before and it still sounds good though.

I would just check that those subs work in a free air environment as every Alpine ZR I have seen has been in 0.9-1.5cuft sealed boxes. Thats only the size of like a school bag to a sports bag. Ha blue cone :doubt:

yeah ive got a amp wiring kit with all the right guage wires n ****, but cheers for the other bits of advice.
I still don't understand why you think it would overheat though. The top of the amp is still exposed to the air, and theres probly more air under there, than there is under a seat, which ive had amps installed there before.

Also, so the trigger wire definately needs to be connected to the head unit, and cant be connected to another ignition operated circuit such as the cigarette lighter?

And nup, havn't found the hole in the firewall or started running the wires to the back yet... that should be fun:D

Cheers again

hmm yeah the free air thing is a bit of a worry... if it wont work without the box, then ill have to take to the wheel out or rethink the whole operation:(

Connect one wire from the battery to the amp, luckily my amp makes it pretty clear where that goes, and then also shows a spot to connect the ground wire to the amp.



OK, before installing your amp, buy your self an amp kit. It includes most of the wires you need to get your amp running. This includes a set of RCA leads, some speaker wire and 4 or 8 guage wire for the power cables.

You connect the amp to the battery using the thick 4 or 8 guage cables. The amp draws ALOT of current thats why you need the thick cables for it and if you use thin wires, it could start a fire and plus make your sub sound like poo.

Make sure you have a good ground connection






Why exactly does it the trigger wire need to go through the head unit? If its just to switch the amp on or off, couldnt it go through something like the cigarette lighter? Or does it need more power which is provided by the internal amp inside the head unit?



The remote wire acts as a trigger so when you turn the deck on, it sends a signal to the amp to turn on so its not on all the time.

Someone else might explain it in more detail, but this is pretty much all there is to know about hooking up an amp

Also, the RCA's that come in the pack would usually have the remote wire joined to them so you dont have to run a seperate wire.

EDIT: damn im slow :doubt:

The remote wire acts as a trigger so when you turn the deck on, it sends a signal to the amp to turn on so its not on all the time.

I know it does that, but I'm just logically thinking, couldn't that be connected to something that only comes on with the ignition, which is the only time when I'd want the amp on , such as the cigarette lighter? That would just be much easier to wire in...

i dont know about this myself, but what i think the other guys are trying to say is; the trigger signal is only a pulse not a constant voltage. it does not supply voltage to the amp to power it, just to turn it on, like a switch. it may not even be a 12V signal, it could be anything. so i think what you are saying will probably not work.

like i said, i could be wrong. i have never had an amp in my car, im just applying my knowledge of electronics.

Oh ok yeah that makes sense. Cheers for that

the remote wire out of the headunit supplies a constant 12 v. But as the headunit is powering it it does not supply a lot of amperage, just enough to act as a signal for 1-3 amps. Anymore and you may need a relay setup..

For amps which dont have a remote wire you could also hook up the remote to a switch and then just find a wire activated by the accessories (such as ciggy lighter) and splice into that
As for the idea, it should work. Although it may be a bit rattly, and may require you to seal up the gap between the lid and the body.

The amp location is preferably better right side up to allow ventilation, BUT may not overheat depending on how hard you drive the sub. So it may work. Although wouldnt be the best way to go about it, I woudnt rule it out straight away. But would be mindful of the poor ventilation.

Peace

Tim