Power wire routing(through firewall)

[adidas_kn]

hey guys, i'm finally going to power my amp the correct way by 10guage wire to the battery. i ran the wire all the way up the interior and left it under the carpet on the passenger side floor while trying to figure out a way to get the damn thing through the firewall into the engine bay to the battery on the passenger side. as far as i can see this is almost impossible. i've installed plenty of stereos before and this car is too damn crowded under hood. any help would be much appreciated. going to try to work on this tonite or tomorrow morning.

<small>[ August 21, 2002, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: adidas_kn ]</small>

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

You're probably not going to want to hear this, as you've already ran your power wires down the passenger side of the compartment... But if you look really hard under your dash on the DRIVERS side, you will find a rubber grommet. If you pull off this grommet and the adjacent one in the engine bay, you can use this hole to run into the cabin, but make sure that you reuse the grommets to prevent water leakage and wire shortage. Also, just a reminder to run your RCAs and power cables on OPPOSITE sides of the car. If you choose to run your power down the driver's side, when you take up the moulding, you may just want to lay your signal cable at the same time. Hope this helps! thumbs_u

 

[skippie]

SHOmuchFUN:
"Also, just a reminder to run your RCAs and power cables on OPPOSITE sides of the car."

Why is that? Does it interfere with the signal or something?

 

[ericwick19]

you will get engine noise in your speakers if rca's and power are routed on the same side

 

[adidas_kn]

i think i might have found a way to get it through. not the best way but will work. will require access to the right inner fender well and the small unused rubber plug and hole in the front door by the hing. feed it through the kicker panel and through the rubber plug, then through the fender by the power antenna and hidden all the way up to the battery through a hole in the inner fender right next to the washer fluid resivior and the battery. I'm pretty creative so i know this will work. i'll take pics if i get a chance. i love digital cameras. thumbs_u oh and i am running 10guage rockford fosgate oxygen free power wire and the new really expensive twisted(weaved) fosgate RCA signal cable. and the entire setup is only running a single sub amp. so there will be no interference through cab speakers still running perfectly through the factory amp and head unit power 50x4max + 20x4max = approximatly 35x4rms. wink

<small>[ August 23, 2002, 03:46 AM: Message edited by: adidas_kn ]</small>

 

[adidas_kn]

all i can say is wow! i installed the new pioneer Sub EQ and ran the power off the factory sub power wire. and now that i got the amp hooked up to the new amp power wire. i finally found a way to run the power wire on the passenger side of the car and keep it hidden all the way up to the battery. here are some pics.

 

[D3R3K]

Only ten gauge wire? Hopefully you are running a cheap amp or you could be holding it back due to lack of power. I was working on my custom box earlier today and I will be running four gauge that will run to the back and then through a distro block that goes to two eight gauge wires. Either that or I am going to relocate the battery to the trunk to make more room up front.

 

[BenBrausen]

Wow 10ga.... I ran 4ga last time in my old car with my subs. Had the wire melt down to the battery terminal at one point... Now I'm runnin' 0ga in my SHO. The RadioShack 8ga wire that they carry for 99 cents a foot is better then the 8ga Rockford stuff.. Less resistance, more strands, and cheaper... Ran that stuff back in the day when I wasn't runnin' much power. Drilled right through the firewall on the passenger side and put a groment in it and ran the wire through there...

 

[Chrisssssssss]

I ran my 4guage through the grommit by the brake pedal underneath the dash. Also please make sure that there is a grommit wherever you decide to go through the firewall. It not only prevents moisture from entering the cab, and it also prevents the wire from getting cut from the metal and causing a short. I have seen bad things happen this way, especially from the thick power wires. Make sure that you get a fuse by the battery, so that if you do get a short somewhere in the power cable, it will blow the fuse, not the car.

No Fuse + big power cable = SHO Boom!

 

[adidas_kn]

10 guage is plenty enough for a 160x1rms fosgate amp. i dont want alot of amps and subs because of the trunk space and extra weight. it is getting plenty of power and has zero cut off. i use to install for a radio shop and i still install in my spare time. 10 guage is good for up to 200watts. and like i said the wire is run through a rubber plug in the door jam. no problems. just wanted to post the results. i am very pleased with the outcome. L8R burn_out

 

[ericwick19]

routing the power wire through the fender is not a very good idea

 

[adidas_kn]

name one reason why it is not a good idea. it is almost the same route that the power antena is run. anyways i think i mentioned before that this is only temporary. i will be relocating the battery to the trunk with a shorter thicker amp wire. some people here are very negative and i don't know why. anyways thanks for the help and i hope everbody has a good week. tool

 

[FAST4DR]

Adidas... Just saw the post and I did the same thing. Mine has been like that for four years. The wire is up behind the fender well and then makes a short turn into the door. You can also run it down the drivers side like shomuchfun said but I didn't have enough cable and the battery is on the passengers side. Here are a couple pics of my install. - William

 

[underdog1924]

When I installed my 4 ga. I drilled a new hole under the EEC plug. It's in a perfect spot since my wire was run on the passenger side and I didn't have to run it across the engine bay.

 

[Slo-Sho]

I didn't even connect my wire to the battery. I used the same wire out of my old Honda which was 4 guage. It turned out to be too short to reach the battery. So instead I connected to the main fuse box under the hood. Never had a problem since.

 

[slickn56]

Hey Fast4dr how do you like those infinity kappa 3 ways? Ive been thinking about picking up a pair a these to put in the front doors but they need to have good imaging. If the imaging is not good enough I was figuring on running the kappa seperates but would rather not deal with mounting a tweeter.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[SHOZ123]

slosho:
I didn't even connect my wire to the battery. I used the same wire out of my old Honda which was 4 guage. It turned out to be too short to reach the battery. So instead I connected to the main fuse box under the hood. Never had a problem since.

The OEM wiring is from the battery to the starter to the engine fuse box. No need to ever connect directly to the battery.

 

[FAST4DR]

The OEM wiring is from the battery to the starter to the engine fuse box. No need to ever connect directly to the battery.[/QB]

Paul is right. There is no need to connect directly to the battery. Attaching it to the fuse box under the hood is the same thing. I just hooked mine up to the battery cause at the time I ran the rca's down the drivers side.

SLICKN56 -- I like the Infinitys and I think they sound great. Some people do not like them because they are very bright. I have been listening to infinity speakers since 1988 so I am used to their sound. As a matter a fact all my home theatre speakers are Infinity also. You will get better imaging of course with kickpanel placement. The higher you put a tweeter on the left side the closer it is to your left ear. If you put the tweeter lower on the drivers side then it is closer to the same distance on the passengers side. Moving the tweeter higher and lower on the passegers side doesn't change the distance to you right ear, but moving it higher and lower on the drivers side does. You want to try and get them equal distance from your ears or use a dsp processor to achieve the same thing.

<small>[ September 10, 2002, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: FAST4DR ]</small>

 

[allSHO94]

there is one thing i have to question. and that is why do u get engine noise in your speakers when u run the rca's along with the power cable. i ran the rca's remote and power cable right next to reach other in my old truck and never had any problems with engine noise in the speakers.

 

[FAST4DR]

I believe it is just good practice to separate the signal wires from the power wire. A magnetic inductance is set up when you run long lengths of wire side by side, which can cause interference.

Engine noise in your speakers is usually caused by a ground loop. One or more of your components is grounding itself through the rca's. If your ground is not good and the rca's are less resistance, then the ground will seek the least resistance and go through the rca's. There is a number of other cause but I think this is the most common.