Stupid question ...
 

I'm a ham fisted uneducated oaf when it comes to electrical stuff.


I've managed some car DIY by fitting some new speakers and a head unit in my Hawkeye STi, but resorted to paying a local garage to do 'other' stuff for me like fit my Prosport gauges.


I'm come into one of these active Subwoofers that live under your seat. One of my buddies bought it for his car, but realized it doesn't fit and he's going the whole hog with an amp and sub in his boot etc. and is getting a local (ish) ICE place to fit in.


Anyway, I digress. I am going to have a go at fitting the sub, which leads me to 2 questions.


Where do I ground the bugger, is there anywhere around the centre console/handbreak etc. I can use.


And I must have power being supplied to the gauges in the centre pod, can I use a scotch lock or something to T-piece power for the sub from the power supplied to the gauges (which I assume is coming from the battery terminal)?


Many thanks in advance, and I suspect the right answer is pay someone else to do it :Suspiciou

Amp earth from back where lights are held from were the 10mm nuts are or a good ground

Run the live from battery with inline fuse

Run remote wire from stereo

I've used 0gauge front to back then 4gauge to the amp

I Also run power wires from drivers side and rca doepwn passenger and not together do there's no interference

Sorry if it doesn't make sense as I'm not good at writing up stuff

Thanks Zany, unfortunately that's still in the realms of rocket science for me and I was hoping to avoid running the live from the battery and piddling about with firewalls and gromets if it's already been done to power my gauges ..

If you was local I would have sorted it for you pal it's not rocket science but I'd advise you to take it to someone that knows what they are doing if your not sure
I've been putting stereos etc in for over 20years

I've even known people's cars to set on fire as they hadn't done things right the first time
Also may invalidate your insurance if a fire occurs etc not trying to scare you pal just making you aware of the worst

Yup thanks Zany - good advice - thx

If you are interested in doing it yourself and want to learn, then I can give you a quick guide as it's a pretty straightforward job. If not, pay someone competent. What you've asked above is a good way of seeing your car go up in flames.

Do you have suitable HU for a start?

Haha thanks TECHNOPUG ... with 2 people advising me there's the possibility of my car exploding in a ball of flames I think I'll just bite the bullet and get someone competent to do it for the sake of a few quid !

I've got one in my classic.
It takes a live from the supply to the mirror switch, and is earthed to one of the bolts holding the arm rest cubby hole and centre console in place. It's remote is in the arm rest.

Mine is an Alpine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Auto-T...oAAOSw9N1VwdCb
One like this is worth having. Finds a live wire. The croc clip goes to earth and the pointed end pierces the insulation, or touches the terminal.

Thanks Alcazar .. much appreciated :D

I presume that it has a tiny amp drawing a very low current or your mirrors are retro-fitted with some decent thickness power cable?

The second.
Done when I fitted folding mirrors. ;)

So the advice is only really useful to anyone who has done the same,
Id never pick up a 12v supply for a amp off the cars wiring, always back to the battery with a fuse as close to the battery as possible, to protect the cable.

The Amp I got didn't spec that. Instructions said to pick up a live anywhere.

Just to close this out .. I paid a professional to install my amp/woofer yesterday. Cracking job from a car enthusiast.


It's actually been mounted behind the rear seats. Sure it's not exactly up there with the Harmon Kardon system in my last car, but it's brought a depth to the sound along with the 16.5 cm components in the front and the doors all dynomatted.


Might actually listen to a few tunes now, instead of the boxer beat all the time :D