[VCSRT]

Originally Posted by chris227

You do know the battery is in the trunk right?

Yes I do, if it shorts, its going to take the carpet, his box and possibly seat with it. Rule of thumb for both ground and power to fuse, shortest run possible. I included the video for naysayers, that don't believe it will happen to "Them".

Looking at the total install, its like most DIY installs, most real installers wouldn't wire it that way, mount the amp to the box, and wouldn't shoot the box into the seats. To each their own, I know my old boss would have had a cow lol.

[Darth Martel]

If it shorts, the fuse will blow... Unless somehow, magically, the +12V wire jumps out of it's casing and shorts to the trunk metal. I suppose there is a .01% chance of this happening so, yeah, it COULD happen theoretically. The fuse is roughly 2ft from the battery. It'll be fine. "Pro" installers work under the assumption that sub installs are for car shows or competition or something along those lines. I've seen some really sweet looking installs with custom fabricated enclosures and lighting and all sorts of whiz-bang, visually cool add-ons. People will spend megabucks on an install and get a 1.21 Gigawatt amp that'll shake apart their car. This is not one of those builds. I wanted added bass to my system. It's nothing fancy. Mounting the amp to the box is for easy access. The fuse is mounted to the box for the same reason. +12V and ground wiring from a battery is not rocket science. I've worked for GM and Alison Transmissions installing multiple electrical systems on hybrid busses and vehicles, including battery wiring. You are correct in that you want to fuse the +12V lead as close as possible but you do need to take accessibility into consideration. Putting a fuse on the negative lead as well as the positive lead is extraneous. It's a single voltage loop. Overcurrent will blow the fuse. It's not like a 2nd fuse will catch the overcurrent the first fuse missed. Sometimes, people overthink things.

Anyhow, thanks for your input

Originally Posted by VCSRT

Yes I do, if it shorts, its going to take the carpet, his box and possibly seat with it. Rule of thumb for both ground and power to fuse, shortest run possible. I included the video for naysayers, that don't believe it will happen to "Them".

Looking at the total install, its like most DIY installs, most real installers wouldn't wire it that way, mount the amp to the box, and wouldn't shoot the box into the seats. To each their own, I know my old boss would have had a cow lol.

[VCSRT]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

If it shorts, the fuse will blow... Unless somehow, magically, the +12V wire jumps out of it's casing and shorts to the trunk metal. I suppose there is a .01% chance of this happening so, yeah, it COULD happen theoretically. The fuse is roughly 2ft from the battery. It'll be fine. "Pro" installers work under the assumption that sub installs are for car shows or competition or something along those lines. I've seen some really sweet looking installs with custom fabricated enclosures and lighting and all sorts of whiz-bang, visually cool add-ons. People will spend megabucks on an install and get a 1.21 Gigawatt amp that'll shake apart their car. This is not one of those builds. I wanted added bass to my system. It's nothing fancy. Mounting the amp to the box is for easy access. The fuse is mounted to the box for the same reason. +12V and ground wiring from a battery is not rocket science. I've worked for GM and Alison Transmissions installing multiple electrical systems on hybrid busses and vehicles, including battery wiring. You are correct in that you want to fuse the +12V lead as close as possible but you do need to take accessibility into consideration. Putting a fuse on the negative lead as well as the positive lead is extraneous. It's a single voltage loop. Overcurrent will blow the fuse. It's not like a 2nd fuse will catch the overcurrent the first fuse missed. Sometimes, people overthink things.

Anyhow, thanks for your input

I don't want someone to have issues and have them point fingers at the thread, I would reverse your power wiring and 3M double side tape the fuse holder somewhere near the battery. You don't fuse the ground, the easiest way is the 3 screw method, as seen in the middle picture it will help with noise, unless you want to drill through the chassis and use a solid bolt, lock washer and washers on the other side, often times its not possible to do so. If you're getting noise use a ground loop of some sort. You would think running a ground is far from rocket science but it can be the cause of a lot of issues.

When you don't build custom amp racks, or show cars, you still aim for longevity and quality. Most of the time, you can tuck the amp on dowels under a seat, as you can see from this picture, most amps have vents on the bottom to help them breathe, and if you read manuals they don't want you surface mounting the amplifier. If you're out in hotter climate, or even if you've run your amps for long drives often you can feel its hot as all can be, every bit of ventilation helps.



Cheers my friend.

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by VCSRT

Most of the time, you can tuck the amp on dowels under a seat, as you can see from this picture, most amps have vents on the bottom to help them breathe, and if you read manuals they don't want you surface mounting the amplifier. If you're out in hotter climate, or even if you've run your amps for long drives often you can feel its hot as all can be, every bit of ventilation helps.

You can supplement ventilation in a tight spot by installing hard drive cooling fans onto the case. Get switched power off the board in the amp. You can rewire the two small fans in series and run them off 12V instead of the normal 5V. They are pretty quiet. This technique also allows you to mount amps upside down, as often the top cast metal case acts as a heat sink. With active cooling the heatsink doesn't have to be on top.

[Darth Martel]

I took your rule of thumb statement to mean both power and ground were fused. Perhaps I read that wrong. Your follow up post is correct though, you don't fuse the ground.

As for grounding the amp to the chassis, that's typically for convenience since the battery is typically in the front of the vehicle and you want the shortest run possible. The battery is just a few feet from the amp in this case, therefore; there is a direct run from the amp to the battery which is ideal. Grounding to the chassis opens up potential noise issues. Now, I want you to think about the purpose of grounding for a second. To complete the circuit, right? The amp is powered by the battery. What opens up more opportunity for noise? Grounding through the chassis or grounding to the battery? Given, our cars are brand new and grounding to the chassis should be mostly the same as grounding to the battery but, there's always room for some type of noise or interference with a chassis ground because it's not the true grounding source. The battery is. The thought that grounding to the battery is potentially noisy is absolute nonsense and displays a complete lack of understanding of how electrical paths work. I say that running power and ground isn't rocket science because it isn't. I realize people introduce ground loops and buzzing into their systems all the time but, they aren't getting that from powering straight from the battery. It's when they tie off to what they think is a solid grounding point only to find out later that it isn't. Chassis grounding is for convenience or practicality. It's not because it's better.

Originally Posted by VCSRT

Yes I do, if it shorts, its going to take the carpet, his box and possibly seat with it. Rule of thumb for both ground and power to fuse, shortest run possible. I included the video for naysayers, that don't believe it will happen to "Them".

Looking at the total install, its like most DIY installs, most real installers wouldn't wire it that way, mount the amp to the box, and wouldn't shoot the box into the seats. To each their own, I know my old boss would have had a cow lol.

[AchiliesSS]

Dark Martel, Is completely right. good job on that reply.

[VCSRT]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

You can supplement ventilation in a tight spot by installing hard drive cooling fans onto the case. Get switched power off the board in the amp. You can rewire the two small fans in series and run them off 12V instead of the normal 5V. They are pretty quiet. This technique also allows you to mount amps upside down, as often the top cast metal case acts as a heat sink. With active cooling the heatsink doesn't have to be on top.

You can use relays with the fan's as I have done, most people don't go that route, but when you set the amp on dowels you can use L-brackets and just screw into those for perfect case fan mounts.

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

I took your rule of thumb statement to mean both power and ground were fused. Perhaps I read that wrong. Your follow up post is correct though, you don't fuse the ground.

As for grounding the amp to the chassis, that's typically for convenience since the battery is typically in the front of the vehicle and you want the shortest run possible. The battery is just a few feet from the amp in this case, therefore; there is a direct run from the amp to the battery which is ideal. Grounding to the chassis opens up potential noise issues. Now, I want you to think about the purpose of grounding for a second. To complete the circuit, right? The amp is powered by the battery. What opens up more opportunity for noise? Grounding through the chassis or grounding to the battery? Given, our cars are brand new and grounding to the chassis should be mostly the same as grounding to the battery but, there's always room for some type of noise or interference with a chassis ground because it's not the true grounding source. The battery is. The thought that grounding to the battery is potentially noisy is absolute nonsense and displays a complete lack of understanding of how electrical paths work. I say that running power and ground isn't rocket science because it isn't. I realize people introduce ground loops and buzzing into their systems all the time but, they aren't getting that from powering straight from the battery. It's when they tie off to what they think is a solid grounding point only to find out later that it isn't. Chassis grounding is for convenience or practicality. It's not because it's better.

I think you're not completely reading what I have wrote, and were taking the fusing of the ground wire in a different direction. Grounding to the chassis is grounding to the battery (however you want to look at it) unless you're powering a winch I don't see the point as current draw goes overboard with those, however it is not going to hurt if you do like you have done, and that was not being called out. Read my post again. I probably should have the let the entire thread go.

[blkchevyz]

Originally Posted by heinbo

Hi guys, I'm new to the group. First I want to say thanks to the guys that posted the info and wiring schematics for hooking up a sub. I used this info to hook mine up. It works great. In regards to the exhaust sound coming through the amp, I found by clipping the green and the green/black wire from the black connector (the one to the left of the green connector) I eliminated the exhaust sound. The turn signal and all other functions work leaving the connector plugged in. hope this helps.
again, thanks guys for the sub instructions!

anyone verify this on a 1ss?

[miketan]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

For the last few weeks, I've been trying to piece together exactly what it will take to an a sub to my 1SS. This weekend, I did just that. This guide is not totally inclusive as there are a few questions left unanswered. I did not try the pre-amp low-level inputs that are feeding the factory amp to pick off of. My amp (JL Audio Slash 250v2) can take either pre-amp inputs or speaker-level inputs. I went with speaker-level. Also unanswered is the question of what wires feed the exhaust tone into the amp. I verified that the signal does exist in the 1SS. When I first installed the amp/sub combo, I tested it with the engine off and everything sounded fine. When I fired the car up, the low exhaust rumble was amplified through the subs. It was unpleasant to hear. Unplugging a connector removes it. I didn't trace it down to the exact wires because unplugging the connector solves the problem and at least for now, I'm not missing whatever else is on that connector going to the amp. I will cover that later though.

First, I'd like to thank Chris227 for providing me with the prints/schematics for the 1SS. I used a meter to verify that these prints are accurate. At least, as far as the amp wiring is concerned. I assume the wires at the speakers follow suit but, I don't plan on replacing the stock speakers for now. This is just to add an amp/sub to a 1SS nonBOSE system. Here is what Chris227 provided me.






These prints are great and helped me figure out just what wires I needed to tap into. 4 wires require a voltage tap. They are the Blue (Left Front Speaker positive), Brown/Blue (Left Front Speaker negative), Yellow (Right Front Speaker positive), and Yellow/Black (Right Front Speaker negative).



As you can see, I have those wires tapped. Now, I did a little bit extra and purchased a set of Scoche High Pass filters. They were $6 so figured worth a shot. What do they do? My subs will handle everything from 200Hz down. The factory door speakers do ok with low frequency information but, they don't do well with stuff 200Hz or below. Since the subs will be doing that, I figured I'd filter out the low frequency information so it just never gets to the door speakers. Now the power being sent to the door speakers can be utilized for better mids and highs.



As you can see, I have the high pass filters in line with positive signal wires going to the front door speakers. I have them connectorized just in case they didn't make much of a difference and I could remove them and not have to do any extra work to hook things back up. Work smarter, not harder.



The tapped speaker signals I connected to a set of RCA jacks. This took a little bit of splicing as the RCA cables were very small wires. I twisted together some red and black wires and used that as a more sturdy pigtail to connect to. I soldered the RCA signal wires to the red wires and the shield wires to the black. I then taped everything up so it was protected and sturdy.

Getting to the battery is fairly easy but, as a larger framed man, it was a bit difficult to physically do. You can see the negative terminal when you take off the panel on the side wall. However, the positive terminal is further back, inside the wall. It's also covered by a protective plastic cover. It's easy to get off. You just release the tabs on the sides. You have to move the wall away from it though and that means removing the plastic retaining pin a few inches from the battery compartment opening, towards the deck lid. Removing that allows you a bit more room to work in.




I cut out a little tab on the side wall that allowed the power wires to fit through once I put the access panel back. It looks relatively clean. I didn't bother putting the protective plastic cover back over the positive battery terminals. Chances of water getting in there are slim and it's not like you're going to accidentally drop a screwdriver across the terminals. Otherwise, I would of had to dremel the cover so the positive cable to the amp could fit. Not worth the hassle.

Here are the results with the enclosure courtesy of sub of thump. 2 12" JL Audio subs and a 250W JL Audio amp.





I just wanted to add some subs to compliment the already decent sound of the stock system. I'm not going for competition level or wanting to shake the neighborhood. I've got to say, that it took some tweaking of the amp to make it sound decent. As I said at the start of the thread, the exhaust noise being pumped into the sound system really wreaks havoc when you add a sub. If the pre-amp input signals are usable, those should work for feeding a sub/amp because the factory amp adds the exhaust note. Picking off the signal before the amp means you should have a clean, purely musical signal coming from the MyLink head unit. This is, of course, providing that the signal isn't somehow encoded. If I get some time in the coming weeks, I may mess with the pre-amp signals just to see if they'll work. In the meantime though, to get rid of the exhaust note. Simply disconnect the black connector to the left of the green one.



I may tinker with that connector if I get some time too, to see which wires the exhaust note comes in on. I didn't notice anything wrong with the connector left off. I saw in another thread that the clicking noise when you have the turn signals on will be missing. I can live with that. I can see the lights blinking.

As for tweaking the amp for getting the right sound. That, of course, is personal preference. Make sure you set the amp for speaker level input if you're not using a line converter. I do suggest you set the MyLink bass level to be midway or perhaps a little bit lower to start with as you set your amp up. Adjust the input sensitivity of your amp so that the midway bass level is the ideal bass sound. You can then change the MyLink bass level settings if you want more bass. Set the cutoff frequency of your amp (assuming you can adjust it) for whatever your subs are rated for. Mine were 200Hz. 200Hz is also the frequency of those high-pass filters I added that go inline with the positive speaker signal wires. This filters out signals that are 200Hz and below so that only your subs are putting out anything that low.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask. If you have something to add, please do so. There have been a few threads about adding a sub/amp to a 1SS nonBOSE system but, sadly, there wasn't much information in them. Using prints and schematics that were kindly provided to me by Chris227, I verified what actually works to get things working and I now have a decent sounding system with some bump that I can rock out to. With a little bit of work... now, you can too.

Is there anyway you still have those images? I want to re-upload them to imgur since these links are dead.

[Darth Martel]

sorry about that... I'll work on this this weekend

[KingLT1]

FYI, you don't need 3rd party hosting anymore to share pics...just upload them directly under the advanced tab.

Nice write up btw! Very helpful.