how best to power my amp?

**MP3 MOBSTER** · 12-04-2004, 03:13 PM

Hey guys, well you all been great upto now, maybe you can help me one more time,

im installing a pc in an MR2, This has a stock amp, it has no standard inputs into it, so i cannot mess with the wiring on the staock amp, and its in a really awkward place.

I have found out how to give it power, on the harness i bought you get 4x phonon cables, if i push a signal through those and connect the red cable on the harness that should go through a HU to the blue amp remote, the amp kick in and hey presto we have wicked sound. - but it killed my battery - drained it dead!

now..... i need to know where to cable from to enable me to get the same effect but the connection is established when either the engine is started or when i turn the key.

Do i wire from the ignition barrell? as the wire on the harness is a permmanent live ( or seems to be) although it says IGN 12+v on the cable.

My question --- i need to wire the remote amp cable on the harness to where ( that wont kill my battery ) not keen on using a switch as i will definately forget to switch it off.

Please help

cheers

**justICE** · 12-07-2004, 06:12 PM

Are you sure it is the remote turn on that drained your battery? They usually only pull like 100mA. Is it possible your alternator cannot support the extra current draw that your amp requires?

**Nic** · 12-07-2004, 10:51 PM

find the acc wire from behind your headunit, then wire that to the amp

**turbocad6** · 12-07-2004, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by justICE

Are you sure it is the remote turn on that drained your battery? They usually only pull like 100mA. Is it possible your alternator cannot support the extra current draw that your amp requires?

it's not the remote turn on draw that killed the battery, it's the fact that the amp stayed on because of it. you can find a ignition or accessory lead at the radio head conection or the fusebox or the ignition switch itself, but you must pay attention to the gauge of the wire feeding this amp, as I have seen some factory setups that actually power from this lead, meaning that the amp may draw 15 amps or more from this lead. if you see that there is a seperate heavier battery lead then you can power this with a 16-18 ga. wire or less with a 3 amp fuse, but if there is no other heavier seperate battery lead, then you may need to run like a 12-14 ga. with a 15 or 20a fuse...

**lummox** · 12-08-2004, 10:32 AM

you could wire the remote turn on to an unused 12V (yellow) on your psu, as such the amp will turn on whenever your computer is on, and off when the pc is off.

Unless u are using standby, in which case you need to find out if your mobo kills 12v in standby