Wiring to the battery
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=6266
Printed Date: June 07, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Topic: Wiring to the battery
Posted By: nickb20
Subject: Wiring to the battery
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 6:36 AM
Hi, being quite new to this i am quite thick. I have 7 different things to connect up to my battery, they are 1) Head unit. 2) DVD player 3) TFT screen 4) 2 sets of neons 5) 2 Amps. How do i connect all of these to the battery, is there some sort of adaptor i can buy. I was thinking of buying an additional battery but would still have the problem of connectin 4 different things to one of them. ------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Replies:
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 9:52 AM
Don’t need an additional battery your not using that much Juice. As far as hooking everything up run a fused 10 gauge wire from your battery to the inside of your car and then distribute the power off that cable. It’s actually a lot easier than you think. As far as your remote wire that will turn everything you will need a SPDT relay https://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp . Here is the diagram of how to hook that up Positive Input-----> Positive Output Relay Diagram: • 87 - Constant ( cable from battery) • 86 : GROUND • 30 - Remote Wire Accessories ( amps, dvd TFT screen ) • 85 : Remote Input from HU • 87a: NOT USED
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 10:20 AM
Excellent,thank you. I dont mean to sound stupid but how would i run the 7 power cables off of the one main power cable, and will this effect the power going to each of the components. Does this require an adaptor or something else.
------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: cpgoose
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 11:55 AM
hey...just another option: You can just run 1 or 2 thick gauge wires (like 4awg) from the trunk where your amps are....through the firewall in the front of the car, up to the battery. That will be good for the amps. Then for the other stuff, just find the power wire behind the dash, and piggyback that. You should probably use some (if there aren't already some) inline fuses. Just find the wires you'll need coming off the ignition harness, and tap that for the head unit, the dvd player, the screen, and the neons. I have a head unit and eq and 2 neons hooked up to the power wire behind the dash. Then I have my amp from the trunk hooked up to the battery with a 4awg wire.
Posted By: chasesaccessori
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 12:49 PM
Ignore the half assers!!!!!! do like bberman1 said and run one (1) 4 or 2 guage wire, fused buy the battery, into the car through the fire wall. Run it into a Distribution block, or a fused Distribution block. From that, run smaller guage wire to your accessories. Don't be tapping into or piggy backing power from other things. ------------- (owner/installer)
Chase's Accessories
Ridgecrest, CA
in business since 92
Posted By: cpgoose
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 12:52 PM
Posted By: chasesaccessori
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 1:21 PM

------------- (owner/installer)
Chase's Accessories
Ridgecrest, CA
in business since 92
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 1:37 PM
Sorry after reading my post I realized that I put 10 gauge power cable that is most likely too small. Use the 12volts power cable chart to figure out the correct gauge wire. https://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp But always consider future upgrades when you calculate your cable size. And be sure to fuse the cable within 18 inches of your battery. As far as running the power cables off the main power cable you need to get a distribution block. There are 2 types of distribution blocks fused and just your plane old distribution block. A fused distribution block fuses each connection before it is distributed. A regular distribution block just distributes the power to each connection. There are different distribution blocks for each size cable so be sure to get one that will fit which ever size cables you choose to use. Here is a link to a site that sells distribution blocks https://www.darvex.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=D&Category_Code=EP and https://www.darvex.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=D&Category_Code=APDB if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 3:53 PM
That is excellent guys thank you very much, you have answered all my questions plus more. I have been searching the web for days for this info and i have to say the people in this forum seem to know more about what they are talking about than in any other. Once again THANK YOU . ------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 5:21 PM
Glad to have helped!
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 07, 2002 at 3:08 AM
Just one more quick question, would it be o.k to run two power wires from the battery to two different distribution blocks.
------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 07, 2002 at 10:45 AM
Yes it is but it’s a lot easier just to run one cable. An easier way to do it is to get a larger distroblock with the number of connections you need. Or get distro to create a Y off the main power cable and then go to two seprate disro blocks off that Y connection
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 07, 2002 at 12:04 PM
so do you mean hook up the power cable to a distro block with 2 outputs, running 2 more power cables from those 2 outputs, to two more distro blocks. ------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 07, 2002 at 5:46 PM
Correct it makes more sense to do that then run 2 separate power cables plus I looks cleaner under the hood. But may I ask why you want to use 2 distribution blocks instead of one
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 08, 2002 at 11:43 AM
Because i can only find distro blocks that have 4 outputs, and i have to hook up 7 different items to them, so i would have to buy two distro blocks that have 4 outputs to accomodate everything.
------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 08, 2002 at 12:42 PM
This is how you do it. You hook up the head unit to the factory harness that supplies your stock head with power (12 volt switched, constant and ground). You run the DVD player and TFT screen both onto one of the wholes on the distribution block. The neon’s to together on one whole and then your 2 amps on their separate wholes. That’s a total of 4 connections.
Posted By: nickb20
Date Posted: December 08, 2002 at 4:02 PM
Thank you,i think that is all i need to know, its just getting time to do it now, again thank you for all your help (easier than i thought) ------------- Do it LOUD, fast and furious
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 08, 2002 at 4:19 PM
not a problem
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