Hi guys,

 

I've decided to fit a new amp and head unit into my current car but have come across a potential problem. The amplier has a remote on/off input but the head unit does not support this feature. Does this mean that (a) the amp will always be on and therefore drain the battery when the ignition is off and (b) can I wire in a separate 12V rocker switch and connect that to the amplifier remote on/off input.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

Regards,

yer put a switch on it all will be fine.

Is this the blue wire?

if you don't connect the remote socket on the amp to 12v then the amp will never come on

 

very few headunits have a dedicated output to turn amplifiers on, most people use the output on the headunit meant for the electric aerial.

 

other options would be to connect to the ignition feed to the headunit and then the amp would only be on when the car is on

 

i wouldnt advise a switch from the battery feed as it would be easy to forget to turn it off and flatten the battery

Thank you all for your feed back! :)

 

IanL: thanks for the explanation. If I use the antenna feed then I will presumably loose the automatic operation of the antenna, or can the feed be split in two (or would that not leave enough power to switch the amp on/off?)

 

Regards,

Thank you all for your feed back! :)

 

IanL: thanks for the explanation. If I use the antenna feed then I will presumably loose the automatic operation of the antenna, or can the feed be split in two (or would that not leave enough power to switch the amp on/off?)

 

Regards,

 

It can be split. It's only a low power consumption to switch the amp on/off.

join the remote wire to the switched live for the head unit, when the stereo is turned off with the car ignition so will the amp. Ive used that way a few times and never had a problem with it.

join the remote wire to the switched live for the head unit, when the stereo is turned off with the car ignition so will the amp. Ive used that way a few times and never had a problem with it.

 

True - but if the ignition if on and the stereo is off the amp will still be on. It's best to run it from the aerial output if available so that the amp is only on when the stereo is on.

The only time using the aerial signal output doesn't work is where the head unit (very rare) only puts the aerial up when the radio is on, and puts is down again when listening to a CD etc