How to power an amp without drilling holes

[Dom]

Last night was mostly spent trying to work out how to run a power cable from the battery to the boot without drilling any holes. Here's the results...

I used about 5m of 4gauge cable, which left me with over 1m spare when I reached the boot.

Step One: Locate the grommet
The grommet that I sent the cable through into the engine bay is on the drivers side, loosely indicated by this picture:

The easiest way to do this is to find something long, thin, and if possible, sharpish. I used a straigtened bucket handled and sharpened one end slightly with a grinder!

It is best to start from the drivers side footwell and, with a torch, look up behind the dash and follow a 'pipe' through. It's easier shown on this photo:

To help orientate yourself with this pic, the black shelf is the underside of the shelf below the steering wheel. The silver thing, with one end highlighted in yellow, is what i used to pierce the rubber grommet.

Step two: Get the cable through
Slowly push your long thin tool (ahem) through the grommet, being careful not to hit anything else, although I don't think there is anything weak in this area. Also, don't push/pull it the whole way through. It should exit into the bonnet as shown in the next pic:


again, to help with bearings, the grey bit going across the top is the rubber seal which the bonnet rests on, and the round black thing is about level with the steering wheel 'ish'.

Now attach your power cable to the interior side of the rod that is poking through the grommet. Gently pull the rod from the engine bay side until the wire comes through. You can now take the cable off and buy a new bucket

I found that the easisest way to get it to the battery is to send it behind the plastic panels so that it comes out behind the battery box. Basically following the brown-green brake pipes. I haven't got a picture of the wire connected to the battery, so I just doctored one...


Step three: Going to the boot
Next, I took off the rubber door seal and and grey plastic panel next to it. This is just held on with clips. I sent the wire behind the bonnet catch lever and down the gap in the panel.

I continued along this panel to the end of the door. The next step was to gently prise of the rear side panels. This only has to be done a little bit as you will be sending the wire along the top, following just below the window ledge. You may want to attach the wire to the side with some tape, if only to avoid it touching and perhaps damaging the rear speaker whilst you are still fitting it.


The wire should now be in the boot area. There are two ways to get the wire into the boot. You can either take off the access panel and send it through there, or send it under the main panel and carpet to keep it hidden. I chose to send it through the access panel as this will be hidden with my boot install anyway, although under the main panel would be best if the amp is going in the spare wheel holding place. Be careful the amp isn't too covered down there and overheats though!



And there it is, the wire is in the boot. The easiest place to earth the amp is probably on the boot latch, as this is not covered in paint. However, sanding away some paint in the spare wheel holder may be better for you, depending on your circumstances.

I hope that explains is well enough, the whole thing took me a good 3 hours, but that was with trying to find a suitable grommet and lots of cursing and general farting around. It should take between 30 minutes and an hour.

Any problems, don't hesitate to ask!

Dom

[smiffy]

Good work

Fancy installing my stereo & disc changer into my MINI when I get

[Dom]

No probs, me and my mate use the Auto Windscreens depot (he works there) for all our car work. Nice, indoors, light and warm!

So far this week we've wired an amp into a Saxo, fitted 16" wheels into same Saxo, and fitted the power cable into my MINI. Oh, and he's fitted a few windscreens and windows to other cars too

Dom

[smiffy]

Have you replied to my thread about a S/W MINI Club Thats if you interested

[Silverstone]

Well done that man!

That will save me a lot of rummaging and cursing - not to mention avoiding the need for the old Black & Decker!

[madcaser]

But when you wire up your amp does it stay on all the time the power ?
So when you turn off your car and put the alarm on does it still stay on and run out your battery ? if you have a dirrect feed from the battery to the amp and it is earthed doesnt that mean it will be on 24-7 and run your battery flat ?
because i would like an amp in my car but dont know what to do

[Skinnyrunt]

I'm pretty sure that if it's wired in(the car) correctly the amp will only draw current/power when the head unit is on.

[GTT 280]

Most amps have a remote terminal.

This trigers a small relay to complete the curcuit of power to the amp.

So you amp will only be on if there is a signal being fed to this remote terminal on your amp - Most good stereos have a terminal out wire that you connect up. This in turn will also be required to pass through to the boot so its probably worth doing this at the same time and just coiling it up until you need it.

I must say, I do like all the informative pictures etc. VERY HELPFUL and it will save me alot of time and bother.

NICE ONE !!

[smiffy]

How about a picture of you boot install

[Dom]

the last picture is of my boot install... I ain't built it yet!

I'm designing one at the moment to accomodate 2 10" subs, but space is proving a bit of a problem! I can fit the subs in fine, it's just the amp. And I want it on show!

My mate works at Auto Windscreens so I may try and get hold of some thick perspex to make the sub boxes out of... could be different, but acoustics may not be right.

Anyway, expect a mad install in the next few months... oh credit card!

Dom