on and off amplifier switch
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=28053
Printed Date: May 21, 2024 at 7:19 AM
Topic: on and off amplifier switch
Posted By: focuswagon
Subject: on and off amplifier switch
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 11:08 AM
how do i hook up a switch to my amp, from my factory radio. to turn the amp on and off?
-------------
stay focusedddddddd!!!!!!!!!
Replies:
Posted By: Prophit
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 11:58 AM
Well one method is to tap into the switched power on the back of the factory head unit. Get a light tester and turn the car off then to the on position with the head unit it on. Find the power cable tap into it and there ya go. Your amp will be on as long as your radio is on.
Posted By: aggie altima
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 1:24 PM
If you are talking about a switch so you can turn off the amp while the radio is still on, then you can add a switch to the remote wire.
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 1:46 PM
You could use a switch like this
Posted By: Prophit
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 2:21 PM
Adding switches like that one can be hazardess. What happens if you forget to turn it off.. Dead battery. If you tap into the factory 12v+ switch power wire you dont have to worry about it cause when the radio is off the amp is off.. Makes like alot easier.. no cutting nothing.. just tap it and run your remote. Makes life alot easier
Posted By: focuswagon
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 4:39 PM
thanks to all. i have 1 more question. where can i find the wire diagram for my factory radio harness? so that i can find out which wires in my radios factory harness are speaker wires? i have to connect a line output converter to my factory radio.(it converts my speaker wires into rca jacks) please helppppp!!!!!!
-------------
stay focusedddddddd!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 4:48 PM
Yes, of course use the remote turn on lead from behind your radio to run through the switch. That way in case you forget to turn the switch off you won't run down your battery. You really don't need a switch for an amp unless you don't want it on all the time when you are listening to your music (like if you don't want your subs playing). You should really just use the remote turn on lead behind the dash and go directly to your amp with it. This will turn your amp on and off with the radio, defeating the purpose of the seperate switch.
Posted By: aggie altima
Date Posted: March 09, 2004 at 9:26 PM
oops, sorry, didn't realize that he was using "factory" radio. Yeah, 12V power to your radio would be the wire to tap into. Did you try looking for the wire diagram on this site? I would, but I'm eating...
Posted By: focuswagon
Date Posted: March 10, 2004 at 8:04 AM
i looked for it but didnt find it- aggie.please help
-------------
stay focusedddddddd!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 10, 2004 at 11:47 AM
Do as customsuburb says. Use the remote wire from the radio to turn on the amps. Best way. No cutting nor forgetting to turn off and running the risk of a dead battery.
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: March 10, 2004 at 11:55 AM
yeah i wanted to know how to install a switch to controle the power to my amp. while the radio. yes i read and understand theres a risk of forgetting to switch it off and cause a dead battery. im sure i wont forget to switch it off. but what do i have to do and buy?
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: March 10, 2004 at 11:57 AM
so how do u install a switch for the amp ? i wanna know how as well... wut do i have to buy?
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 10, 2004 at 7:04 PM
You can do it several ways. You can put the switch from ign power to amp, that way when turn off the car it will not get power. You can also put a relay that is being energized by your remote cable, if your amp does not have a remote input. you can do it whichever way suits you best.
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 2:55 AM
how do i put a relay with the remote cable? it has a remote input to the amp. the amp already shuts off wen the head unit is off.. but theres this problem.... wen ever the hean unit goes on before the music it would rattle... same wen i turn it off.. it would rattlle loud as hell.. same wen i put the volume to zero.... also wen i chaning numbers on teh cd.. say from 1 to 2..... it would rattle... so thats y i want the switch..
Posted By: netboy
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 4:14 AM
Please explain "rattle" a little more...what is exactly rattling? amp sub speakers?
-------------
Memphis MC-1300
2 12" JLw6v2
Diamond audio M3 6x9
Diamond audio M3 5.25 components
Audio control Matrix
Carputer
Posted By: aggie altima
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 5:15 AM
focuswagon, I'm not sure what year your car is, but I'm pretty sure the Focus's are consistent. Here is a post I found for a Focus, click here. Check that out. If that is your car, what you will want to do is get a T-Tap, which is a little splice which cuts into the wire, and use that to splice into the 12 volt constant power wire. Then get the plug which plugs into the T-Tap (sorry, forgot what it's exactly called, but I think if you buy the T-taps, it should come with the male plug), and connect the remote wire of the amp to that male plug, then plug it into the T-Tap. The amps should then turn off with the car as the radio would.
BangBang, that sounds exactly like the problem I used to have. It doesn't seem to be the remote wire causing the problem, as the remote wire only senses if the car is on or not. Once the car is on, the remote wire plays no role in the system. What I accidentally found out was that once I touched my RCA's behind the deck to a piece of metal, all the "popping" went away. I hope your deck isn't Pioneer, cause that's what mine is. Well, it seems like grounding the RCA's fixed my problem. Why, you ask? I have no idea...
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 5:47 AM
For one, a loose RCA cable would cause intermittent problems, so make sure that no RCA cables are loose.
About the remote cable, it does not come on when the ignition is turned on, but only after you power on the Head Unit. The HU controls anything by using its remote output to trigger a ON/OFF condition. If connected to an amp (as in yoru case) your amp is powered on and off by the HU when it sends the signal via remote-output.
After reading your posts, it looks like your HU is giving out some signals it should not give. It coudl also be possible because the amp's gain is not tuned properly. If you turned the gain to the max this sort of problem will occur. You should tune the amp's gain to the highest possible yet without distortion, that the optimal volume you get. I hope you did not turn the gain all the way up. If you did, then that will more than likeky be a problem.
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 5:50 AM
Why can I not edit my previous post? I saw a few spelling errors I would like to correct but I don;t have the edit button! I even logged out and logged back in. Must be one of the bugs. Oh well. sorry about any spelling errors.
Posted By: focuswagon
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 10:17 AM
Thanks Aggie-Altima. i will try those wires. but i also need to know which one should i hook my remote wire to. is it RADIO 12V|ORANGE / black (thick), this one or RADIO SWITCH|YELLOW /GREEN this one. i will be hooking everything up this weekend. i will be sure to post my outcome up on monday
-------------
stay focusedddddddd!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: customsound
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 10:36 AM
Prophit wrote:
Well one method is to tap into the switched power on the back of the factory head unit. Get a light tester and turn the car off then to the on position with the head unit it on. Find the power cable tap into it and there ya go. Your amp will be on as long as your radio is on.
never use a light tester on your car thats a bunch of crap. they cause shorts and blow fuses like crazy! use a DMM (digital multi meter)
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 11, 2004 at 11:12 AM
focus, if you read the posts carefully your answers are already in there/above. if you still are stuck, the YELLOW /GREEN wire is what you use. even if you are 100 percent sure, double check with a meter; it is always safer than burning out something. good luck with your remote.
Posted By: superstreet786
Date Posted: March 16, 2004 at 7:40 PM
just put a switch in line with a constant power source
-------------
---- 1996 Chevy S10 ----
1 Lightning Audio S2.600.2 Amp
2 Lightning Audio 12" Subs
1 Lightning Audio 1 Farad Cap
Posted By: economist25
Date Posted: March 20, 2004 at 8:18 AM
is it possible to use too much input voltage for remote turn on? I used switched power as remote cause the radio remore turn on was blown is this ok?
-------------
GOt astro? 2000
Posted By: markcars
Date Posted: March 20, 2004 at 8:42 AM
perfectly ok. that remote turn on supplies +12v. you cannot give it too much voltage since your car battery is 12v.
|