Thread: noobie to car amps: can i connect antenna and +12v leads together

Originally Posted by joshthepilot

I sure hope you mean the "stereo on" signal wire that goes to a power antenna and not the antenna itself. If thats true, then sure. 12V is what tells a power antenna to extend and lack of 12V tells it to retract.

Sorry, I didnt explain the problem clearly. I removed my HU, so there goes the aux inputs. Now, I bought an amp and I connected the +12v, ground, and the speaker leads etc. But the amp does not power up.

So i did a google search and they mentioned that i had to connect the antenna out from the HU to remote start the amp. However, since I dont have the HU, I dont know how to proceed.

seems joshthepilot still answered your question. Your headunit (if you had one) would send 12volts to the remote start of your amp when you turned on your car. Since you don't have a HU, just connect the ACC line from your car to the amp. THis way, your amp will turn on every time your engine does.

Originally Posted by shamyday

seems joshthepilot still answered your question. Your headunit (if you had one) would send 12volts to the remote start of your amp when you turned on your car. Since you don't have a HU, just connect the ACC line from your car to the amp. THis way, your amp will turn on every time your engine does.

sweet, thankx

Originally Posted by ithertz

I would use a switch so your amp isn't always on when the car is on. Reason is you may end up with feedback if the amp is on and audio plaing through it. Sometimes when an amp is on and no signal from the rca's the amp will hum. However if you always have your computer on then you'll be fine this is only if your computer is off.

No need to use a manual switch.. it's what the remote turn-on is for. The blue REM (+12) on your headunit goes to your amp's REM terminal so it only turns on when your HU is ON.

Originally Posted by khemical

If you read more than just that last post, you would have seen that it was mentioned in almost every other post that he is not using a headunit.

My contribution:

It is not necessary to do so, but you may want to look into putting in a fuse and/or resistor(to cut back current) so that you do not fry your amp running the ACC straight too it

How much current does the "rem" on the amp draw? I guess it shouldnt be more than 100mA, right? since, I guess a relay should be in there? anyways, I can always use a relay and a remote switch.???