Help with hooking up my Pioneer amp...

[HighwayProwlerz]

I have a 200w 2 channel Pioneer amp that I need help hooking up but I am slightly confused about the diagram and hope someone could clear this up for me. I need to understand how the power wire (positive) is connected to the battery. Do I need two fuse packages with fuses or what?? I attached a pic of the wiring diagram I have. Please help!!

[Pte Socks]

hehe Its funny because I hardly see you writing in these sections highway... anywho, to your question. Honestly, it looks like that is exactly what they want. 2, 30A fuses wired in parallel. I really dont know why they would have that kind of setup except for they not wanting to have a 60 A fuse instead of the two 30 A fuses. More than likely, thats what they want. Basically from what I know of electronics ( hehe which isnt much and im soon to be a certified electronic service tech ) is that they want to use common fuses for cars. The reason they dont have them wired in series is because if one fuse blows, the circuit is dead, but by having them in parallel, if one blows, the circuit is still complete, though not for long because the added current would likely kill the second fuse. Dont ask me why exactly, except that I know 30A fuses are somewhat easier to find for a car fuse than lets say a 60 A fuse. Thats the best I can give you, though you might want to talk to Dave or Matts just to be sure.

[HighwayProwlerz]

Yeah, I am just getting into the audio part of my car. So I don't post here much. That is what I thought too, two 30 A fuses.... but I'll wait to see what Dave or Matt has to say about this post.

[matts]

:P. screw that. put a 60 amp fuse on it and call it good. that's just too much of a hassle. but rich is right. if for some reason you blew one 30 amp the other fuse isn't too terribly far behind......if it don't get blown at the same time. just go to a local car audio place, or even walmart if you don't want to pay for a name, and buy a 8 ga. amp wiring kit. it should come with the rca, remote wire, fuse holder, power/ground wires. the only thing about the cheapy kits is the kinds of fuses they use. i'd rather use a AGU (round, glass fuse) over the normal car fuses. and a 60 amp is i think the biggest you can get in the AGU style. but if you go to a car audio place just tell them that you're wiring up a 200 watt amp and they'll hook you up with all you need.

as for connecting it to your battery. do you have top AND side post? just side? just top? emily has a top/side post on her car. when that's the case you just buy a post for a stereo cable that fits a top post. i bought 4 of them at my local walmart cause they had them on sale for $5. they're gold and have three holes in them (1 4ga. and 2 8ga.) with set screws. you just strip the coating off the wire, twist the end of it, slide it in the appropriate hole and screw the screw in.

if it's a side post they make either a.) a special side post adapter that has a bolt on the end that you can put a ring terminal on or b.) just get you a tad longer bolt and use it in place of the current side post bolt.

but for all your wiring and stuff, assuming you dont already have it, go to a local shop. they'll set you up with everything you need. i'd love to tell you what you need, but it's hard to explain without standing right there with parts in my hand lol. hopefully what i said will help you a little.

just a couple pointers. dont let you ground wire be over 3 ft., you want it to be as short as possible. make the ground wire AT LEAST the same thickness as the power wire. if you plan on upgrading to a bigger amp later might as well go with some 4 ga. wire now. it'll save you from having to redo it down the road. don't put your power wire anywhere near the rest of your speaker/ rca wire. it'll give you some nasty sounding noise, and you dont want that. i always run the power wire on one side and all the signal wires on the other side of the vehicle. make sure you have a good ground. most of the time that's a problem area, you can never have too good of a ground :D. hopefully all that'll get you started. any more questions just drop us a line. good luck

[HighwayProwlerz]

Alright, I have a 6 ga positive and a 6 ga ground wire and the RCA jacks. We planned on running the positive from the top post of the car battery and grounding the amp in the trunk where the amp is located so we're good to go there. Just need to get the fuse and fuse package then and it sounds like we are good to go. Would you recommend getting a capacitor or no?

[matts]

a cap isn't going to hurt, but i really dont think you'll need one with an amp that small. you probably wont even need a bigger altenator. maybe down the road if you add more or upgrade.

[HighwayProwlerz]

That's what I thought... thanks. I am probably going to get a bigger alternator anyway because of my neons too.

Now one more other question..... the directions have me connecting the amp directly to the battery, won't that draw the battery power when the car is not on and run the battery down???

[Travis]

(Sorry to 'whore' your thread highway)
Matts would you recommend me getting a cap or a bigger alternator? If I really have my system cranked, I can see all my lights dimming at night. MTX 2300x amp, bridged to 2 12" subs, 4 gauge wiring all around(except speaker wire to the subs of course)... It's sorta annoying... It's not like super dimming action when it hits but it's definitely obvious :D

[Kdawg207]

Originally posted by HighwayProwlerz
Alright, I have a 6 ga positive and a 6 ga ground wire and the RCA jacks. We planned on running the positive from the top post of the car battery and grounding the amp in the trunk where the amp is located so we're good to go there. Just need to get the fuse and fuse package then and it sounds like we are good to go. Would you recommend getting a capacitor or no?


^
You need no help :lol:

No need for a CAP yet....slap it in and enjoy the bump

[Pte Socks]

yea, a cap wont hurt though im more of an HO alt fan myself. Hehe one thing I didnt realise is that you can actually buy 60A fuses, personally I havent seen any and thats why I thought go with the 2, 30 A fuses. But matts is right, if you wanna make yoru seteup somewhat decent, just buy a wire kit, its makes things so much easier that way.

[HighwayProwlerz]

Well I will head over to the place I got the RCA jacks at and get a fuse and fuse package for my set up. I already bought the wire 6 ga stranded for both. I plan on upgrading my alternator to a higher output. I have had to already replace the battery on my '03 and I am sure it's because of all the crap I am running off my poor battery. I am going to hook it up tonight and hope it sounds nice. I want to listen to my music LOUD again!!

Now I am going to want to get a small sub to run a third channel off my amp using capacitors and inductors (it's in my manual). Anyone have any recommedations on wattage, brand, etc???

Not too expensive, I am working on two cars at once here.....

[Pte Socks]

hmm not sure, depends on cash flow, but like me, I love my JL though they are expensive. I do know that lets say a 10W0 wont run you much at all, they last a long time, plus, even with small amounts of power they pound pretty good

[HighwayProwlerz]

How about a Pioneer? And what wattage? I need to know what I am looking for, make sure it will work right with my set up. I have an Aiwa 208w headunit, 200w Pioneer Amp capable of three channels, and 4 Pioneer 100w speakers 2 4x6s and 2 6x9s. I want a sub box with one sub, either 10" or 12" and have the amp mounted to one side and the sub on the other, or something like that.

[matts]

the remote wire shuts the amp on/off with the radio. when the radio is not on, neither is the amp. so you have no worries about the battery running down. did you replace the battery with a bigger battery? or a relatively stock one?? if you've got one that's close to stock get a bigger/better battery first. a cap will only benefit your system as where a big alt. will help the entire electrical system. i'd go with the 10". sounds like you just want a little more low end, and i doubt that amp will give the amount of power it would take to run a decent 12.

travis, what else are you running? i.e. neons, extra lighting, etc. if you've only got the system and it's not dimming that much i'd say get a 1 farad cap. it's a little cheaper than a high output altenator. but if you've got quite a load on the alt. from extra lighting i'd say get a bigger alt. :) help any?

[HighwayProwlerz]

Oh.... that's what that wire on the back of the stereo is for! Okay, so I have another wire to run. Thanks Matt, I am hooking it all up tonight (didn't get to it last night) so wish me luck.

[Pte Socks]

personally, im a bit of a pioneer fan, I know they are cheap and all but im surprised at what pioneer has done with some of its stuff.

[HighwayProwlerz]

I agree. I'll probably go with that.

Now where in the hell do I ground the amp in the trunk???? I just spent an hour looking for a place and was unsuccessful.

[nineteen88ga]

Your ground should be fairly easy to pick up. Double check that you won't hit any line below the car but once you fine a clar spot just scrape off the paint down to bare metal, crimp on a ring terminal to your ground wire and drill a self tapping screw into the area you scraped down. If your uncomfortable with drilling another great spot is your seatbelt bolts. Just slip a ring terminal over one of the bolts and tighten it back down.

[matts]

at first i was using the little support bar looking thing that's under the rear deck. it worked and there was already a hole. i just took a bolt, nut and a couple lock washers. worked like a charm

[HighwayProwlerz]

Aha! I found it. It's all hooked up and sounds wonderful. I am only amping the rear so the front still sound like sh*t but I have most of the power focused on the rear speakers.

[matts]

you should have done vice versa.......and amped the fronts and had the rears sound like crap

[HighwayProwlerz]

Well I can do that.... not a big deal to change it. I'll give that a try.

[Pte Socks]

yep, definatly, if yoru going to ave subs, amp your fronts. I kind fo took a different route in upgrading my fronts but keeping my rears stock and just amping my subs, you can tell quite a difference with my fronts giving me treble and my subs the bass

[HighwayProwlerz]

Alright... I have my eye on a Pioneer sub so when I get a chance I am going to switch the amp from the rear to the front and hooking up a sub. Need to find a nice box to use though.

[Pte Socks]

yea, you could probably get away with a prefab for the box.