Hi,
I have bought a Blaupunkt subwoofer that seem to fit very nice under the passenger seat but now I need some dc power to it.
The easiest thing seem to be to "connect" to the cable that powers the cigarette lighter in the mid console.
So my question is if anyone knows how to find the cable or how to remove the ashtray so I can see the cable from there.
reg
Martin
AFAIK, the lighter is not switched, so your subwoofer's power will always be on, and may run your battery down - you should work it out so it comes on and off with the audio system, methinks.
brad
Thanks Brad,
The good thing with the Blaupunkt is that it powers itself on and off when it gets/does not get music feed. So it should not be a problem.
Something has to be "on" to detect that audio input is present. Suggest you investigate the quiescent current draw. it is probably not much and probably not enough to worry about if it is your daily driver, but if you park it for a few days, you may need to be concerned.
Tap something that's on/off with the ignition, if not the ignition with a fuse tap. Nice and clean. If you wanted to pull it out you could do so, and the fuse will protect your electrical system
In your design if you choose to use the lighter for another accessory while pushing the sub hard your fuse will blow.
Hang on, a subwoofer is going to need a heckuva lot more current than tapping into a lighter outlet or using a fuse tap can provide. You need to run a dedicated, fused (within 20cm of the battery) power wire from the battery and find or make a clean ground (if it's going under the seat, the seat's mounting bolts may work well.
How many "watts" (the term is grossly misused in the autosound industry) is it? How many amperes is the fuse on the device? I'd expect you would need to run at least a 12GA power wire for it.
There is a pre-existing ground bolt underneath the passenger seat. It's used to ground the seat heaters (if you have them) and other functions. That's where you want to pick up your ground connection. Depending upon your amp power levels, you may be able to tap the large red wire that is in the plug under the passenger seat. There is a wire of about a #10 or #8 gauge that is hot all the time down there. (These are where I grabbed power and ground for my data logger and camera. Although my needs were for <3 amps and I installed an inline fuse to protect my smaller wires in case of a short.)
It is a Blaupunkt THb 200A with max power of 140W and RMS power of 70W requiring a 10A fuse.
It fits perfect under the passenger seat, which is why i bought it.
I have found the ground bolt under the seat and today i took out my fuse box but the cables are so tight so i could not turn it around. I could however feel the back of what is suppose to be the Bose 15A fuse but my question now is how can i tap into the fuse?
What connector do i put on the subwoofers power cable to tap into the fuse? Is the fuse powered, meaning, does it already have 12v current, if so do I tap in on the upper or lower part of the fuse?
If someone has done this before, pleas help a lost man in the desert.
Martin
