Amp wiring, battery draining

I have a + cable running directly to the battery from the AMP and I believed I hooked it up so that when the car was off the power was off, however...if I don't start my car everyday the battery goes dead.  I have since unhooked the cable from my battery and the battery no longer goes dead. 

I was thinking about putting in a toggle switch to cut off power but really that is so busch league... Is there a relay design I can use to cut the power once the car is off or some other way?

Thanks

John

    Your amp should have a power, ground   and a remote  wire  on it.    The power wire should be ran to your battery just as you did it.  The only problem there is you probably did not put a fuse in the wire near the battery.   You really need to put a fuse holder as near the battery as you can,  failure to do this could result in a fire. 

       Now getting to your problem   the remote wire is the wire that controls when your amp turns on and back off.   This wire needs to be connected to your radio's amp turn on wire,  If you are using the factory radio you will need to hook the remote wire to the switched power wire of your radio.

        We need to know what kind of vehicle you are working with to give you any more info.

          Rick you should have a blue or a blue wire with a white stripe on the back of your Radio.  If you have both   use the blue/white    This wire needs to be connected to the terminal on your amp labeled Remote, or turn on  or AP  it is usually a smaller terminal between or next to power and ground.

         Do you have a fuse near your battery?

      Brian you will have to get help from some of the others here   it has been many years since I have installed.  Your radio may not have an accessory wire to hook to.   I will try to get you some info at work Monday.

I have looked and when the car is not running the amp light goes out.  But what I did was unhook the neg cable from the battery and put a test light between the neg terminal on the battery and neg cable.  The light stayed on strong.  I unhooked the amp from the battery and the light went out and the battery has remained charged with no problems for 3 days now. 

That has been the extend of my trouble shooting as I felt that once I unhooked the amp and the light went out the problem was partially solved.  Yes I do have a fuse located near the battery inline with the amp.  I purchased an amp wiring kit and the wire came with the inline fuse :-)  No fires please....

I have to check the remote wire and make sure it's hooked to the remote from the head unit.   It's a weekend project [this weekend].  If it's not hooked up correctly I will surely post the amp type for further input!  But I Thank you all!!!!

Keep yer fingers crossed.

All you need to do is turn off the car, then see if there is still power on the remote wire at the amp. Use a meter, you can not gat an accurate reading by eye or with a "light"

If there is, you found the problem

If not, could be a faulty amp, seen this before but it's rare.

I would also consider a simple current draw test using a DMM if all else fails.

But since you state the dead battery problem goes away if you dissconnect the amp, you basically have proven the problem lies in that area.

don't always go by the light on the amp. On most amps the light will still come on as long as the remote has 12v on it. The power wire does not even have to be connected.

The only reliable way to test anything is with a meter.

Keep us posted.