Installing Toggle Switch for Amp!!!

ok so i know for a fact ive asked this question already.
but im asking again. the reason is cause the last toggle switch i installed to power my amp blew. and so im pretty sure i did something wrong. so i need your help to do it the right way.

i wanna install one of these bad boys

to power my amp. but what wires do i hook up to it?


before what i did was i i cut the wire that ran from the back of the amp to my deck and hooked that wire up to the switch, but that only lasted a few months before it blew.

so what did i do wrong, and how can install this new one so i dont run into that problem???

you just need to hook your data (usually blue) wire from your amp to it. Then run power to your switch and ground it.

Put an inline fuse on your data cable if you want.

Tdawgthegreatest wrote:

you just need to hook your data (usually blue) wire from your amp to it. Then run power to your switch and ground it. Put an inline fuse on your data cable if you want.

ok yea, thats prolly where i messed up at.
i just ran the blue wire and never put power to the switch or anything. ah!

Why would you need power to the switch? He doesn't need power to the switch unless its a light up style.

What you did the first time should have worked. Basically the switch runs inline with the data wire from the deck to the amp. In the off position no signal gets to the amp for it to turn on.

Sounds like maybe the switch just wouldn't handle the current going thru the wire.

What I did was use the remote wire from the cd player and ran that to the power side of the switch and then ran the other side of the switch to the remote connection on the amp...everything has been working fine....

if you installed the switch in the main power then I'm sure it would blow that large of current will destroy a switch...
you need top install it in the remote wire , thats a small current and will kill the amp

A-Ray wrote:

Why would you need power to the switch? He doesn't need power to the switch unless its a light up style. What you did the first time should have worked. Basically the switch runs inline with the data wire from the deck to the amp. In the off position no signal gets to the amp for it to turn on. Sounds like maybe the switch just wouldn't handle the current going thru the wire.

yea i thought it would work too.
i dunno, the switch i bought said it was a 10amp switch. i guess thats not enough.
but the biggest switch i could find only went up to 450watts, and i have a 1000watt amp.

A-Ray wrote:

Why would you need power to the switch? He doesn't need power to the switch unless its a light up style. What you did the first time should have worked. Basically the switch runs inline with the data wire from the deck to the amp. In the off position no signal gets to the amp for it to turn on. Sounds like maybe the switch just wouldn't handle the current going thru the wire.

So the amp turns on?
I was doing it thinking he wanted to NOT hook the switch to the remote of the HU.
So that he's like, "Oh lets turn the amp on" and flips the switch to the remote wire.

okay okay. let me get a better understanding of this.

Are you wanting to just hook up the switch so you can turn the amp on whenever? Key on or not?

If thats the case, you run power to the switch. Run the Remote wire from the switch to the amp. Then ground the switch? yes?

EDIT: with a 2 prong switch. you might not need to ground it. I always use 3 prong

ok all i wanna do is use the switch to turn on my amp instead of using my deck to turn it on.

cause i dont wanna go through all the menus on my deck to turn my woofers on.

i just wanna flip a switch!

DuzzleKid wrote:

ok all i wanna do is use the switch to turn on my amp instead of using my deck to turn it on. cause i dont wanna go through all the menus on my deck to turn my woofers on. i just wanna flip a switch!

Ideally and in most all applications I have ever heard of you put a switch (2 prong) inline with the remote turn on wire (normally blue).

In the OFF position there is no signal to tell the amp to turn on.

In the ON position the signal travels down the wire normally as if there was no switch.

The amperage/wattage of your amp does not effect what kind of switch you need. As bad venge said, there isn't much current going thru the remote turn on wire.

Most times (if wired right) the amp will turn on with the HU and shut off with the HU. If you hook the blue wire for the amp to constant power, the amp will be on all the time-- instead hook the blue wire to the back of the HU labeled remote.

DuzzleKid wrote:

ok all i wanna do is use the switch to turn on my amp instead of using my deck to turn it on. cause i dont wanna go through all the menus on my deck to turn my woofers on. i just wanna flip a switch!

Then you do want to bypass the headunit's remote wire. Run a wire from the battery, or tap into an existing 12v constant source, and put your switch inline on that. Just be sure you always turn the switch off when you leave the car, or else your amp will stay on until the battery dies!

I'd use a switched source to prevent the oops I forgot to turn off my switch
you shouldn't have to go to any menu's to turn the sub on , it should come on automatically with the deck ... we add those switches to kill the subs if the police are around (noise ordinance)

ill just try the normal way i did before.

and ill get back to you. haha

So you're just going to ignore good advice and possibly start your car on fire? Hah!

Find a constant 12v power source in your car (you can get some good advice for doing that here), run that wire to your switch, then run a wire from your switch to your remote input on the amp. Ignore the head unit's remote wire (tape it off cause it'll still be live sometimes).

^^Listen to this man.

Aken wrote:

So you're just going to ignore good advice and possibly start your car on fire? Hah! Find a constant 12v power source in your car (you can get some good advice for doing that here), run that wire to your switch, then run a wire from your switch to your remote input on the amp. Ignore the head unit's remote wire (tape it off cause it'll still be live sometimes).

ok, well ill try that then.

ok so what i did was i ran a wire from a constant 12v and crossed it with the blue wire coming out of my amp, and i put those to the ON prong of the switch.

then i took the other half of the blue wire that was coming out of my HU and put it on the OFF prong of the switch?


am i good?? it works fine.

*blinks*

So you pretty much just wired it up the same way....but with an off switch in the middle.

cause your switch will only turn on when the deck is on...right?

The constant 12volt is unnecessary if you are retaining the blue remote wire...all you had to do was switch the blue wire.

A switch is like a valve, it takes something into one prong, and sends it out the other. If the switch is turned off it breaks the connection and doesn't send anything out the other prong.

All you need is, Head unit ------ Blue wire ------- Switch ------ Blue wire ------ Amp remote wire input


OR

12volts ----- Switch ----- Amp remote wire input

well i still wanted the HU controls for the woofers. cause they were really overwhelming when i first hooked em up. but i guess i can just adjust all that on the amp itself.

i just figured it would be easier on the deck. so i can change it according to the song.

The remote wire doesn't change your bass settings or sub settings.
The RCA's tell the amp what to do.

ah ok, perfect then. hehe

i'm not sure you should be messing with the wiring of anything if you don't know what the remote wire for the sub is actually used for.

Aken wrote:

So you're just going to ignore good advice and possibly start your car on fire? Hah! Find a constant 12v power source in your car (you can get some good advice for doing that here), run that wire to your switch, then run a wire from your switch to your remote input on the amp. Ignore the head unit's remote wire (tape it off cause it'll still be live sometimes).

so i did what you said and it works fine. awesome.

but now i cant control the woofers from the HU, like the REV and NORM function and stuff like that for the woofers. i have to do everything on the amp itself.

but it does work.

*shrug* it shouldnt change the woofer settings messing with the remote wire.

White and red are the rca's

Blue is the remote wire.

DuzzleKid wrote:

ok so what i did was i ran a wire from a constant 12v and crossed it with the blue wire coming out of my amp, and i put those to the ON prong of the switch. then i took the other half of the blue wire that was coming out of my HU and put it on the OFF prong of the switch? am i good?? it works fine.

This is wrong and the switch is doing NOTHING. When you run a wire from a constant 12V and cross it w/ the amp blue wire there's now always 12V to your amp. It will always be on. You could remove the switch you installed and it would work the same.

Follow the simple diagram TRogers posted or take it to a "professional."

I suggest the 12v----switch---remote.

Cause if you hook the switch to the remote off the HU then...you might as well just be hooking it to the HU instead of the switch.

TDawg, from what I read I think he wants his head unit on without his subs at times. So pulling an external 12v would be more work than needed.

I would suggest putting a switch on the remote wire. This way, you can have the head unit on and choose when to turn your amp on.



There is no way the head unit is sending a controlling signal through the remote wire, but even if it did...A switch would not prohibit that if it was on the remote wire. With the switch in the on position everything would function as if the switch wasn't there.

All you have to do is put a switch in series with your remote wire that runs from your head unit to your amp(s). I did this so I can turn off my subs when my kids are in the car and it worked flawlessly.