Audio/Visual & Electronics - Amp Power on Passenger Side.

Ok, so I bought this Civic not too long ago. I was wired for everything, but didn't have anything except the two front door speakers. The thing I need help with is the amp power cord. It was installed on the driver side of the car along the same side as all the speaker wires and RCA's AND it was too short to reach the battery from that side. I pulled it out and ran it along the passenger side and came to a road block. I have no idea where to run the power now. I pulled out the glove box to find vents and many other things blocking my way. I noticed a little hole with a rubber plug under the battery area and pulled out that plug to see carpeting (I think) though I cannot find the hole inside the car.

Does anyone know where I can run the amp power on the passenger side?.

I run mine through the passenger side, to keep it away from the RCAs. Im not sure what model you have, but in my 98, what you have to do is run it under the skirting and plastics along the inside of the car and into the passenger foot well. Just above where the carpet stops there is a grommet, like a litte rubber seal in your fire wall with some wires comming through it. You just make a small cut in it and push your power cable through that. Then under the hood, you will need to take the battery off, and the little metal frame it sits on (again, assuming yours is the same as mine) to find the grommet and where the power cable shoud come out of. pull it up, reinstall your battery and bolt the power cable to it.

Thanks for your reply! I went back out to find a way through the firewall and took a wire clothes hanger with me. I pulled that rubber plug out again and pushed the wire hanger through. Amazingly it came right through to where the carpeting ends. Tightly wrapped the hanger around the wire and pulled it through to the other side. But one problem which is my own stupidity. I thought I would be able to hook it right up, but no. I forgot all about the fuse and switch that needs to be on the wire so when the car shuts off, so does the amp. So it's ran through, but once again the wire is not connected.

Oh, by the way, I have a '98 Civic EX

It's better to punch a hole in the gromet as Chaos described so your wire isn't rubbing on the metal edge outside the gromet. You don't need a switch under the hood, just a fuse. The amp can get power constantly and the small "remote" wire from the head unit will turn it off when the head unit goes off when you turn the key off.

Yea, that is a good idea about the gromet. Now just to remember where I put it...If I can't find it I don't think I'll have to worry too much as the wire cover is very thick.

I think I get what you're saying. My power cord runs into a spliter type thing. The AC in, then out to Power on the amp, then the other end goes to the remote (it's a thinner wire). Is this correct? I can take a pic if needed.

You need to run a small single wire from the head unit to the amp for the remote. Some RCA cables have a remote wire built in. It connects to a blue wire coming out of the head unit. This wire has 12 volts when the head unit is on but not when it is off. If you were to connect the remote terminal of the amp to a place that is always live, the amp will stay on all the time and drain your battery.

Here is what is setup in my trunk. The part that confuses me is that extra red wire there. Maybe power for the subs? I'm guessing then that blue wire, I need to hookup to the head unit, and tighten it down to the remote screw of the amp.

The big red wire coming in from the top is to the battery. The one hooked up to the amp is the same power, just through the splitter.http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4721/dscn1265tz8.jpg

The remote line needs to be hooked up to teh head unit. You have to check what color the wire is offf the head unit but on my pioneer it was a yellow wire that was remote.

This is what turns the radio off and on with the car.

ORIGINAL: BX_Civic

The remote line needs to be hooked up to teh head unit. You have to check what color the wire is offf the head unit but on my pioneer it was a yellow wire that was remote.

This is what turns the radio off and on with the car.



i personally have never seen a radio that uses yellow as the turn on. it is usually 12 volt constant, but maybe your radio is different.

every radio that i have seen uses blue/white as the remote turn on wire, and if you cant find that use the ingnition which is usually red

and crunchytoast as far as your set up. use the red wire that you said you know goes to the battery, and hook that to 12 volt, hook the blue wire to the rem input, and hook up a ground wire (which i assume is the black wire in the pic). if these are done right, everything should work. and dont hook up the extra red wire to anything, and tape it off just to be safe, or pull it out of the car all together

ORIGINAL: Sigracer10

ORIGINAL: BX_Civic

The remote line needs to be hooked up to teh head unit. You have to check what color the wire is offf the head unit but on my pioneer it was a yellow wire that was remote.

This is what turns the radio off and on with the car.



i personally have never seen a radio that uses yellow as the turn on. it is usually 12 volt constant, but maybe your radio is different.

every radio that i have seen uses blue/white as the remote turn on wire, and if you cant find that use the ingnition which is usually red

and crunchytoast as far as your set up. use the red wire that you said you know goes to the battery, and hook that to 12 volt, hook the blue wire to the rem input, and hook up a ground wire (which i assume is the black wire in the pic). if these are done right, everything should work. and dont hook up the extra red wire to anything, and tape it off just to be safe, or pull it out of the car all together


you sir are correct, it was the blue white one, i must have been thinking the 12v constant like you said.

dito. blue remote turn on... red power, black or brown is ground.

that extra red wire was probably used for a active crossover unit. just remove that extra wire preaty simple!
JUST BE SURE!!!!!!! that you have that power wire FUSED within 1foot or LESS if posible of the battery terminal up front! otherwise if your wire shorts out on something it WILL TURN YOUR CAR INTO A SMORE MAKER!!!!! big fireball in short!!!

ORIGINAL: addiction2bass

dito. blue remote turn on... red power, black or brown is ground.

that extra red wire was probably used for a active crossover unit. just remove that extra wire preaty simple!
JUST BE SURE!!!!!!! that you have that power wire FUSED within 1foot or LESS if posible of the battery terminal up front! otherwise if your wire shorts out on something it WILL TURN YOUR CAR INTO A SMORE MAKER!!!!! big fireball in short!!!



Yes. That is what I plan to pick up for about $20 when I get paid. I ran all the wiring and while I was doing it I completely forgot about the fuse needed then it donned on me. So I have all the wiring ran, but not hooked up to the batt yet.

ORIGINAL: addiction2bass

dito. blue remote turn on... red power, black or brown is ground.

that extra red wire was probably used for a active crossover unit. just remove that extra wire preaty simple!
JUST BE SURE!!!!!!! that you have that power wire FUSED within 1foot or LESS if posible of the battery terminal up front! otherwise if your wire shorts out on something it WILL TURN YOUR CAR INTO A SMORE MAKER!!!!! big fireball in short!!!





Why does it have to be so close to the battery? Personally I have done mine in the boot a few feet before the distriution block. As far as i can tell, the current still has to pass throught it so whats it matter where it is?

see the fuse is mainly thier so if your power wire shorts out on the car body it will blow the fuse saving your car from a firewall death...
cause if you dont have a fuse on the power wire before it goes into the car... say the hood hinge closes on it cuting thru the rubber jacket, or if ya have it ran thru the firewall and overtime the wire rubbs on the metal which finaly cuts thru the jacket THEN it shorts out... starts smoking, starts glowing red hot THEN it bursts into flames while at the same time using all of the stock ground cables also have that much current flowing thru them running back to the battery and they do the same which will turn your car into a fireball..... and lets face it if your car turns into a fireball on the street.... 99% chance your not gonna be near ANYTHING or be able to think fast enough to be able to rip the battery terminal off which is preaty much dam near imposbile so the fire just spreads and spreads and spreads until its so burnt up the car is a complete loss!!!!


it can and DOES happen!!!!!
i myself screwed up my friends grandam that way puting in a stereo i quickly ran the power wire thru the door jam and quickly wired it to the battery without a fuse and afew seconds after she closed the door which pinched the power wire it was smoking like crazy quickly i poped the hood and had another friend grab a garden hose that was SO LUCKY to be right thier and turned on! so i was able to put the fires out while riping the s*** outat the battery cables.... luckely the car wasnt a total fire ball BUT car still wouldnt run... messed with the computer aparently and shop charged her like 1,600bucks to fix it!

needless to say spend that TINY bit of cash and buy a inline fuse and put it as close to the battery as ya can. its the cheapest insurance youll ever buy that could very well save your whole car from a firie death!!!!

Yeah. I knew something bad would happen if I hooked it up without the fuse so I knew I should get one before I even attempted to hook it up. I still can't find what I did with that grommet though. I would like to put it back in with a hole in it, even though the wire covering is very thick, and has a plastic sleeve over it.

well if ya cannt find it just use a small rubber hose.... split it and roll the hose over the metal hole... get a grocery bag cut it in two... get some silicone preferably black to kinda hide it... then tape up the grocery bag up fron the bottom side... then put in the silicone with the wire still thru the hole as wel ;) and then top it off and put the other piece over the top to give it alittle uniformity... if thats a word ;)

preaty easy. those little gromets just disapear if ya let go of them! they blend in with about everything under the hood. LMFAO

ya just remember that an inline fuse is made to protect THEWIRE NOT THE AMP. the fuses on the amp are made to protect the amp. along with what addiction said, if the current gets too high, the fuse will pop, and if anything is damaged, it will only be the 1 foot piece between the battery and fuse rather than the entire wire. so you will only have to replace that small piece rather than the entire wire.

Hmm, this kid is gonna go relocate his fuse....

PLEASE DO... beter safe than sorry!
cause even tho it works and ya may NEVER have a problem with it... the risk is still thier... infact my 66impala... 1st car 1st system... i didnt use a inline fuse at all..... never had a problem with it..... BUT after about 8years i noticed it... HEY i didnt use a inline fuse... WOW shocking i never had any problems.... BUT i still went out and spent some money on a inline fuse and spliced it in ASAP...

Yea, the hunt for the grommet was unsuccesful. I'll get somethin in there though lol. As for the inline fuse, that comes soon. After I pay my speeding ticket that I got 3 hours after I got the car LOL

LMFAO nice speeding ticket... i think i can beat ya tho..... LOL
i stored my 66impala for a few months to stay more low key... and 1 BLOCK FROM MY HOUSE at a stop sign WHICH I DID STOP AT FULLY... BUT cop also saw/heard me burn rubber and speeding in a school zone after i stoped... O MAN did that suck! but luckely cop KINDA understood the power from that car BUT still had to give me a ticket so i got to chose.. unsafe start OR speeding in school zone.. i asked which one was less points.... so i took the school zone speeding and paid the larger fee :( but less points was worth it....

and well since i havent realy driven that car hardly ANY i got all my tickets off my record now and HOPEFULLY will stay clear BUT we shall see after i get this 94civic on the road.LOL