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Active Sub

fridayman

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Jun 25, 2010
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Garage
I want to install the equipment that I took out of my old car, into the 90. I've bought an active sub wiring kit for teh sub that will go at the back and it was suggested that I fit a switchable relay to the live wire running from the battery to the sub. If the live wire is 8-gauge wire with a 60amp inline fuse, what relay should I be looking for? I looked at the RS website and they have 80amp relays that cost almost £150!
 
doesn't the sub / amp have a remote turn on wire? It should have and then there's no need to wire your own relay as it'll turn on with the head unit.
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
doesn't the sub / amp have a remote turn on wire? It should have and then there's no need to wire your own relay as it'll turn on with the head unit.

It does. The relay would just be an additional fail-safe so that it can only come on when the ignition is on.
 
Can't see why you'd need that TBH but X-Eng do a split charge relay that should be more than enough for sensible money.
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
Can't see why you'd need that TBH but X-Eng do a split charge relay that should be more than enough for sensible money.

I might leave it for now, as I do plan on fitting a proper split charge and battery management system at some point, and until then I always have my breakdown card in my truck if I need it :)
 
you can't use the split charge for the batteries as a relay for the amp at the same time- the amp needs its own power supply either from the aux battery or the main ones.

The x-eng relays are perfect for what you are looking for- they are man enough to be used as a split charge but will happily work as a relay too.

my sub runs off the aux battery and as its only 6" away is only fused at the sub end not the battery end- but because the battery is on a split charge i can run the amp with the ignition on without destroying the main battery. The head unit, PC, fridge and a couple of exterior lights also run off the aux battery.
 
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pugwash said:
you can't use the split charge for the batteries as a relay for the amp at the same time- the amp needs its own power supply either from the aux battery or the main ones.

The x-eng relays are perfect for what you are looking for- they are man enough to be used as a split charge but will happily work as a relay too.

my sub runs off the aux battery and as its only 6" away is only fused at the sub end not the battery end- but because the battery is on a split charge i can run the amp with the ignition on without destroying the main battery. The head unit, PC, fridge and a couple of exterior lights also run off the aux battery.

I got a little dizzy reading this :? :)

I haven't learnt enough about this stuff to know what I want yet, but based on what I know so far... I want to add a 3rd deep cycle battery at the back with a managed split charge system and an inverter. This 3rd battery will ultimately drive all the additional electrical appliances. But until I understand a lot more about how these setups work, I will just wire the active sub as you would in a normal car i.e. long fused live from the battery, short ground to the body, and switch signal and RCA inputs from the head unit. Do you think that the relay is necessary now with what I plan to do in future?
 
You don't need the relay, just wire it like you normaly would. You'd need to be having a bit of a sound off to worry about the sub alone draining your battery.
 
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