Hey all,

I got a TM SE and was wondering whether I could pinch power from somewhere behind the fusebox inside the car to power say a 200W amp?

Would the existing wiring that gets power to that fusebox be able to take an extra 10-15 amp load max or would it be better to lay cables to the battery?

and if it cant power a amp, would it be ok to run a central locking controller? i would imagine they dont take a lot of power and i see it pointless to put dedicated cables to the battery just for central locking...

Thanks in advance,
Bill

i imagine that u could run a number off things of this power. I dont know about Gen1's but my Gen2 has loads of empty/unused fuse holes for things like power windows and other extra options which my car doesnt have. So going by this there should be ample power to run things. I wouldnt exactly run an amp off it though, maybe just run an 8gauge power cable from the battery, it really isnt that hard to do.

Amp: No, Central locking relay: Yes.

when i put central lockign in my car, i just went through the indicator control area and picked any one fo the wires that always had a current running through it, i believe its hooked up to one of the hazard light wores now lol.

And my cruise is running off part of the ignition, just behind the key barrel thingo

yeah i have a some empty fuses for power windows, etc that aren't there... but i'll put some cables to the battery for the amp and pinch power off something for the central locking...

thanks for da help :)

If you know what you are doing and have some good test equipment the by all means use the factory fuse box for items that will draw small current (central locking, etc).

For any audio - if you want quality sound, performance and don't want that annoying engine noise you need to run your own power cable.

A simple test - with the engine running, if your system at normal volume hits some peak bass in the music, the backlight of the head unit should not dim or flicker. If it does you should consider running direct power to it. Amps should always run direct power as they don't like varying input voltage. If the LED (little light when the amp is on) flickers when you get some punchy bass, the you sould consider running larger guage wire to it. 8 is the most common. Unless your a competition system 4 could start to be an overkill for the price.

Always remember to fuse no more than 30 cms from the battery! Otherwise :cry:

Most source units (head units) will have ACC ON which is like a relay to turn the unit on then the ignition comes on. They also have 'HOT' which is constant 12v which it feeds from when the system is running. This is the one you want connected to the battery also.

I generally run 4 guage from the battery, through the firewall to the back of the car where the amps are, then break that into 2 x 8 guages to feed the amps. I piggy back on a 12 guage once inside the firewall and run this to the source unit.