ICE install

[R Power]

Hi folkes, just a question to see how some of you have wired your amp power cable

I have wired mine to the secondary port under the steering column, however i did it the same way on another LCR but the sub was making a thumping sound. Rang a car audio place and they said Seats should be done direct to the battery, but ive had 2 leons now and wired them to the secondary port with no problems.

So just wondering to see how many people have put it to the secondary or direct to the battery, and if to the secondary port do you have any problems with your bass??

 

[D.K]

I would of thought you should always go direct to the battery, That's how I'v alway's done it.

 

[R Power]

ye because the advantage of the secondary port is that ur RCA is completely hidden, so you cant see it at all. Neater job.
Just strange that my 2 leons worked fine wired in there, but this one i did in weekend didnt. was really strange how mine is fine and his wasnt.

 

[D.K]

Why would this hide the RCA's ???
Take the power from the battery then pass it through the pollen filter, it will then come in behind the glovebox, then tuck it under the carpet and run it along the door seal's on the nearside of the car.
You should really run the power cable's down one side of the car and the RCA's down the other side.

 

[D.K]

Have you got a pic of this "secondary port" ???

 

[dannyFR+tdi]

Ive had a decent sound system in all the cars ive had at some point and the main cable from the amp always was fed direct from thye battery and this was done at a very respected company

 

[kegger]

You definitely need to run it directly from your battery and fuse it adequately within 12" of the terminal for safety. The amount of current being drawn is significant... your amp will not perform to it's full capabilities without the direct feed.

If you don't want to run it through the pollen filter (I found this fiddly) there is a loom that goes through the bulk head behind the air filter. You'll need to remove the airbox first but with plenty of WD40 I persuaded a 4 guage power cable through along side the loom. It then comes out behind the glove box and is easily hidden neatly behind the trim.

I was advised by a european sound off champion this was the best way to do it on the leon... it still took me an hour or so and some scraped knuckles to get right... hope this helps but pm me if you get stuck.

 

[munkyboy]

I would definitely run it through direct to the battery. As Kegger says the amount of current being drawn it would e safer. Obviously depending how powerful the system is. But definitely direct to the battery.

 

[dmmsta]

Also, running from the distribution block under the steering column means that you might as well run the amp on 20AWG wire, as this is what that block is fed on, so completely defeats the use of any substantial power cable to the amp.

Battery is best!!!

 

[Lodgey180]

i have never heard of any other way to run a amp apart from the battery ..
ive had a huge amount of subs and amps in all my cars (except this one) and have always been ran fromt he battery

 

[MisterMoleyMole]

The problem is that if your running from anything within the car you are relying on that small amount of thin wire in the cars loom ... the power should always come direct from the battery using thick power cable all the way. I've run 0awg down mine from teh batt .. its a pain but doable!

 

[MrJohnnyB]

You get interferance if you run your battery cable and your rca down the same side of the car, or allegedly you can do... but not sure if thats running directly from the battery? Anywho, yeah simple enough job to run it straight from the battery, cant see my power or RCA cables at all...

 

[MisterMoleyMole]

Think the whole interference thing is a bit of a myth. I went to a pretty repytable company who do alot of installs and they said it didnt matter. As long as you are using decent cable you will have no porbs running all down the same side.

Interefernec is normally down to a bad earth

G

 

[Nutkin]

Think the whole interference thing is a bit of a myth. I went to a pretty repytable company who do alot of installs and they said it didnt matter. As long as you are using decent cable you will have no porbs running all down the same side.

Interefernec is normally down to a bad earth

G

that is bollocks, a high current will always interfere with an analogue signal. Bad earths will also cause this but if your draining a lot ofamps the magnetic field of that currentpassing through will cause interferance as the free radical electrons will interfere with your audio signal. there are cases where this will be minimal, if your RCAs are a fairly high current and your amp is only a fewamps more current then the interferance isnt noticable.

But this is also the reason why if your house is under a main power line you get bad tv reception.

 

[MisterMoleyMole]

gosh!

My old vectra had no issue and the guys at Mega-Watt told me it doesnt matter unless your usin the cheapest of cheap cabeling ... and they doin it for a livin.

Just goin of what ive been told and past experience.

 

[kegger]

The problem is that if your running from anything within the car you are relying on that small amount of thin wire in the cars loom ... the power should always come direct from the battery using thick power cable all the way. I've run 0awg down mine from teh batt .. its a pain but doable!

Jesus... How many amps are you running?

You will still get interference, just might be so slight you might not be able to hear it... usually its the most annoying noise that sounds like a kid playing race cars changing gear every time you do!!

 

[steve_p]

I'll be running two dual mono's, a bridged 4 channel and a mono block (all Genesis Series III)
Minimum 0 gauge for that lot

 

[stpete]

Straight from battery is best, with fuse and can be very neat and easy, rather than come through pollen filter this grommet is easier

Thanks Pete (icecavern) for pic!!!

 

[andycupra]

lol amazing...

 

[MisterMoleyMole]

Jesus... How many amps are you running?

You will still get interference, just might be so slight you might not be able to hear it... usually its the most annoying noise that sounds like a kid playing race cars changing gear every time you do!!

2 in the boot ... one for the front comps and 1 for the twin JL subs