To: anyone with an after market AMP, power wiring question

[ferrariowner123]

So i have posted about amps before, and i finally made my decision on where to put the subwoofer, and as i get funds for the gear, I'm planning out this system will work, and i know that you need to run the power cord directly from the battery, but i was looking at the firewall and went "how the hell am i gonna do this?"Because i really didn't see any good holes in the firewall to put an 8 Gauge power cord.

So, to summarize, If anyone has installed an aftermarket amp in their car, for a subwoofer or for whatever else, can you please explain or even show me (Pictures would be a HUGE help) how they put the power cord through the fire wall?

Also, im planning on putting my sub, amp, and box all right in front of where the existing stock amp is, and does anyone think a 17' power cord will be long enough, because i ran the RCA cord on the drivers side to the deck, and its also 17' and it seemed a little short, and I've heard from crutchfield that you dont wanna have the power cord and RCA cord running the same way as each other.

Final question, i saw on here not too long ago, someone who hooked their sub/amp up to an off switch, and i would also like to do that, can anyone so me how to do that?
What wire do i put the switch on?

Thanks for any help

-Kyle

[ferrariowner123]

anyone?

[Kidastra]

I passed mine on the left side (driver side) I cut a notch out of the metal cap and made sure there were no sharp edges that could cut the wire

[ReKleiner88]

I ran mine straight from the battery under the fender:



After that i pulled it down along the fender and through this hole you'll find when you open the passenger door:



Then I proceeded to run it through into the vehicle, you see a screw holding a piece of plastic in where your right foot would be if your in the passengers seat. open that up pull it through and run it under the carpet and door jam kickplates.

[fueler]

mines exactly the same as kidastras

[Ryman]

k was just looking around for things to learn and do and found this post....... right now i'm running 8 ga wire cuz the owner before me left his wire in so i'm just using that right now but I have a an amp that should have 1/0 wire going to it and also probably puting an extra battery in the back sometime soon.... would like to know how you guys would think i should route my 1/0 wire.... i remember looking when i first bought the car i thought to run my wire the way kidastra did it but there is a metal strip right behind that black pawl and i'm not sure if it's ok to drill through that or if it's there for a reason...............
and also when i first bought the car i kinda did it the way that rekleiner did it but i took it out a few days later cuz i thought i was going to sell the car...... but thinking about it now i'm not sure if that's safe cuz if there is rubbing between the door and the car i don't want the wire to be exposed after a while.... the biggest obstacle is that the wire is so big and i don't feel like my car catchind on fire sometime in the distant future...

[asnorton44]

Here is how I did mine:



Still need to get the plate cut out to fit it exactly though.

[Ryman]

how'd you get your drill in there? just drilled at an angle?

[asnorton44]

Yeah just drill that sucker out you shouldn't have any trouble running 1/0 gauge, I ran 2 AWG without a problem.

[fueler]

Yup its safe to drill. I drilled mine, thats how i got 4 gauge cable through.


It's just a metal plate covering a hole in the firewall (in the 5speed manual version of our trucks, there's a hydraulic clutch master cylinder there.) so in an automatic, its just a metal plate covering a hole.

[Ryman]

k thanks guys i'll get to drilling pretty soon thanks

[Ryman]

k so i got my drill out and had a hard time drilling from the engine bay inwards so i went into the cabn and started taking things out of my way to find that the metal piece that i was going to drill comes right out....... so i took the piece off and just put a grommet there and for the sides since the whole isn't completely covered i was going to fiberglass it but i'm lazy so duct tape worked fine or now...

[asnorton44]

So you ran that 8 gauge wire?

If you are interested in an inexpensive and effective wiring kit I would recommend DB Link CK2Z 2 gauge kit. I just installed it, nice thick wire and a good set of RCAs. 150AMP fuse. I paid $50 for mine but I just found it on Amazon for $37 shipped, marked down from $75. Quite a steal.
http://www.amazon.com/DB-Link-CK2Z-Comp ... 263&sr=1-1

[Ryman]

no i ran 1/0 gauge wire i got everything already no need wiring kit....... and i use 250-300 amp fuse thanks though

[asnorton44]

What subs and amp do you have? Must be pretty loud.

[Ryman]

that's a hifonics bxi 2008 powering a 15" FI BTL and i just got a Kickerzx 850.4 to power my highs/mids
it's loud to the ear for what it is but the box and amp are not tuned correctly but i was able to post 144.9db so i was happy off of stock electrical

[fueler]

sick!!

i have a pair of kicker CVR's in mine, not a showstopper but definitely gets the job done offroad

[asnorton44]

Niiiice

[slickroger]

that's a hifonics bxi 2008 powering a 15" FI BTL and i just got a Kickerzx 850.4 to power my highs/mids
it's loud to the ear for what it is but the box and amp are not tuned correctly but i was able to post 144.9db so i was happy off of stock electrical

Nice man i like that AMP hifonics makes some great amps. I also ran my power wire like fueler and Kidastra

[Ryman]

thanks guys i'm currently rebuilding hopefully i'll be able to post some pics of the new build and yeah hifonics amps are alright they're definitely overrated but that's ok if you know what you're doing and don't get dumb with the impedances they'll definitely last

[Nuswimr]

Drill baby drill... I have a 2003 Pathfinder SE. Below the glove box there are 2 metal circles they look like you could punch them out to get through the firewall for running wires. Such isn't the case but I drilled through the bottom one which comes out in the wheel well behind a plastic panel. Be careful when drilling once you break through there are a few vacuum lines there a couple of inches back you can hit. When you remove the plastic panel you can see a hole into the engine compartment in the corner behind the battery. It is large and there is plenty of room to run as many wires as you could want. I siliconed around where I drilled the wire through, however, with the plastic panel there inside the wheel well no water gets anywhere near my power wire.

As for the switch to turn on the amplifier some head units like mine have a wire that comes off from them that turns on the amp when the head units comes on. You could put a switch anywhere in that line if you don't want the amp on all the time. There are other switches you can install depending on the amp where you can control the gain right from the front of your car, a friend of mine had it mounted under his drivers seat so he could adjust the amp to his liking.

I always run my rca wires on the opposite side of the power wire. You can get distortion on the rcas sometimes from the power wire, and it doesn't take much more time.

I have an infinity reference amplifier mounted below the floor in the plastic container near the tailgate, and an infinity reference 1250 watt 12" sub it powers. I'm debating about replacing all the cars speakers with infinity like I did with my last car but not sure if I want to invest the time and the money. Good luck with your install hope this helps.

[ferrariowner123]

Here is how I did mine:



Still need to get the plate cut out to fit it exactly though.

So i do have a five speed so how am i gonna mount that huge in line fuse, just move to further into the car?
And, im planning on getting two amps, one for my sub, and one to power the four mains, how do i get power to both of them? do i have two individual power lines running from the battery individually, or one heaping one that goes from the battery then splits out to both?

Also,how do i wire the two amps to turn on from my deck, i know there is an accessory out, but do i just split them off and run them to each amp?

AND does anyone have any suggestions for an easy to install factory replacement battery box, i bought my cat with out a box and have been running if for about a year now, no problems, but i really dont want to cause any extra wear and tear.

Thanks again

-Kyle

[ferrariowner123]

So i do have a five speed so how am i gonna mount that huge in line fuse, just move to further into the car?
And, im planning on getting two amps, one for my sub, and one to power the four mains, how do i get power to both of them? do i have two individual power lines running from the battery individually, or one heaping one that goes from the battery then splits out to both?

Also,how do i wire the two amps to turn on from my deck, i know there is an accessory out, but do i just split them off and run them to each amp?

AND does anyone have any suggestions for an easy to install factory replacement battery box, i bought my cat with out a box and have been running if for about a year now, no problems, but i really dont want to cause any extra wear and tear.

Thanks again

-Kyle

please im ordering everything soon and i need to know if i need two wiring kits!!!

[Ryman]

yeah i would get two wiring kits cuz you can get more voltage going to both amps with two wires (depending on how much power you're sucking) if you're running a lot of power to put a number on it i'd say about 1500 watts rms combined then definitely two runs of wires............ you could get a distribution block with a thick wire going to it and then it splits into two wires but like i said you lose power..... but either way i say you ground them in different spots.... and about where to put your fuse you should definitely put your fuse somewhere in your engine bay cuz from my understanding of fusing you want the shortest run possible between your positive terminal and your fuse so it only has a short run and less of a chance of getting hot and melting the plastic off of the wire and eventually setting your car on fire when the positive grounds. and also if you're using expensive wire like $4 a foot then you'll be very happy when you only have to give up $10 for new wire and a fuse instead of something ridiculous

hope this helps i didn't proofread so sorry if it doesn't make sense get two kits

[Videoman123]

How come none of the pictures are visible from Photobucket?

[VStar650CL]

If people take pics down or the links expire for any reason, they go away. That's why I always use attachments, so they're stored in Nico's servers and will never disappear. Stuff stored on external servers like Photobucket is guaranteed to die whenever the subscription or service dies.

[Videoman123]

Gotcha! The guy who ran his power cable down the fender into the passenger area sounded a lot easier than what I went through to do mine.