Not for a Scooby this but a good place to ask.

If a head unit wants a dedicated 20 amp feed which the manual says run straight off the battery, is it wise to even consider taking it from anywhere but?

No mate, 20A is a lot. Take it from the battery, but remember to fuse the supply close to the battery and definitely before the fuse goes through the firewall.

To minimise voltage drop, you want a low resistance wire for this (around 12 or 10AWG should do). Don't forget that your earth needs to be up to the job too :)

Cheers Nick :)

There is an inline fuse as part of the wiring all hanging out of the head unit though. Any harm in putting an extra fuse in in the engine bay?

Thought it was worth checking - my last Alpine head unit didn't need an extra power feed.

You need an extra fuse in the engine bay. If u think about it, you've got quite a thick wire going through the firewall. If that shorts due to a cable failing/chafing/whatever, then it'll be connecting +12v to ground through the cable. The cable will eventually melt after getting very, very hot...

So fit a fuse near the battery :)

Nick.

Cheers Nick.

Maybe something I'll leave somebody else to do then.

You can do it Chris, it's easy :)

The hardest part is finding the big grommet to feed the wire through - if you've got aircon, use that grommet... If you haven't got aircon, use that grommet :D

Nick.

So a chisel or Black 'n' Decker isn't recommended.

Would you need to disconnect the battery when connecting things up?

I've just fitted an alpine CDA-7893R to my scooby it has a 60w x4 amp in the head unit and the instructions said it needed a 20amp feed direct from the battery and believe me if you turn up your stereo it certainly needs that direct feed, as said before make sure it is fused no more than 6" from the battery

That's exactly the head unit I'm on about Webster.

Cheers :)

[Edited by ChrisB - 11/26/2002 8:44:34 PM]