Amp wiring

[Drea//Mer 30]

Hi everyone,

over the last 2 days ive been struggling to run a 4gauge amp power line through the firewall in my e36 sedan.

Has anyone done this before? any helpful info would be much appreciated, I tried removing the glovebox and pushing the cable through a small hole under the carpet but to no avail...

[jpp 0]

Mine is in the boot, so didn't have this issue in my e36, but from other experiences, I've been able to push it through the grommet rather easily, I've used things to help me like wire wrapped around it, then yanked through.

Is that your problem, or more an issue of finding where to put the cable through?

[Drea//Mer 30]

I tried pushing it through the hole that had the little rubber bung in it behind the carpet about half way down but it didnt seem to go too far; on a side note, how did you get a good 12v power supply to your boot?

[Jammasterjames 0]

I tried pushing it through the hole that had the little rubber bung in it behind the carpet about half way down but it didnt seem to go too far; on a side note, how did you get a good 12v power supply to your boot?

Battery is usually in the rear of tha E36????

[B*Emz 0]

The batt in my e36 is in the front. I get a feeling the people who installed the doof doofs into it made the hole in the firewall behind glove box bigger then sealed it with silicone or something.

[Drea//Mer 30]

Ah ok i got ya, im not too keen on drilling holes in my new baby... i might take it in to a car audio specialist. I hope they dont charge too much to run some wire

[B*Emz 0]

Mine was done at a car audio place too dude haha. Wire isn't likely to to break the bank, but I paid 160ish for full install about a year ago? Think that was minus the sub/amp wiring kit though-

Just drill a fecking hole!

[Guest Ken]

Mine was done at a car audio place too dude haha. Wire isn't likely to to break the bank, but I paid 160ish for full install about a year ago? Think that was minus the sub/amp wiring kit though-

Just drill a fecking hole!

Check what's behind it first!!!

You can get nice rubber grommets from Payless Plastics (or equivalent around the country) to place in the hole after you've drilled it. Choose a diameter to make the cable a tight fit and spray it with a bit of silicone (or WD40 or whatever) before you pass the cable through.

[MADBMA 0]

i dont think its legal to drill a hole into your firewall so you would have to be carefull with that but surely you can find an exsisting hole to use, i always thought the e36s battery was in the boot, that where mine was, never seen it up front.

[my_e36 43]

4 cyclinder engines's e36 models have the battery up front I think.

[QuickSilver 0]

ive drilled holes in my firewall for such a thing and theres no legal problems whatsoever, ie with wofs and such, drill it and seal it with silicon, should be no problems.

Edited July 2, 2007 by QuickSilver

[Drea//Mer 30]

Thought i'd follow up on my progress...

I managed to run the 4g wire under the edge of my left front guard and down the side through the passenger door, from there i wired the amp under the mat on the passenger side. Its a bit of a cludge i know; but it cant be seen and the door still closes and seals.

I run all of my sound off my ipod (3.5mm to rca cable into amp) thats why i chose to mount the amp in the front of the car instead of the boot, it saves me carting a wad of cds around.

Does anyone know where i can source an ipod car charger that works in a bmw? My old one for my previous car doesnt seem to

[jpp 0]

Thought i'd follow up on my progress...

I managed to run the 4g wire under the edge of my left front guard and down the side through the passenger door, from there i wired the amp under the mat on the passenger side. Its a bit of a cludge i know; but it cant be seen and the door still closes and seals.

I run all of my sound off my ipod (3.5mm to rca cable into amp) thats why i chose to mount the amp in the front of the car instead of the boot, it saves me carting a wad of cds around.

Does anyone know where i can source an ipod car charger that works in a bmw? My old one for my previous car doesnt seem to

What do you mean by under the mat? You don't mean where people can put their feet on top of the amp, and call it under-floor-heating, right?

Can't remember if its 4 or 2dr, but I don't recommend amps under seats in coupes, especially, as they can get kicked around, and all because you were to lazy to run an extra metre of cable.

Why not run your iPod from your HU?

Any iPod car charger/phone charger can work if you are prepared to cut the 'plug' bit and hard wire it into an accessory wire.

Please tell me you have made it look all purdey and no wires are shown get and not rough with a plywood sub box, mismatched etc etc~!

[rogan 1]

Definitely buy this http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics-photo...7162187.htm?p=8

Auction ends tomorrow and it's $1 reserve. If you have to pay $20 it's still a bargain. Note the seller also has them for a $45 buy now on other listings. Don't bid till the very last second cos I'll bet my mother-in-law there'll be a phantom bidder if you bid too early.

Once you bought it, you cut the cable near the ciggie plug in bit, and then solder rca plugs onto the wire. Small bit of soldering (or you can get a car audio shop to do it for you) and you've got power to the ipod for charging and also you're getting signal from the ipod pre-amp so it's way better than the signal you're getting from the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Here's the how to:

Strip the cable and the wire colours are the following:

Outer sheath - ground

black - ground

red - +12v

white - god knows but not needed

there's 2 grey thicker wires, these contain the L & R audio chanels. Strip each grey wire and you'll find a sheath with a coloured wire on the inside (just like a miniature RCA).

Yellow wire is right+

Sheath around yellow wire is right-

Green is left+

Sheath around green wire is left-

Once you've got this far

Red wire through 3A fuse to ACC

Black and outer sheath to car ground.

Yellow & green & sheaths can then be attached to RCA plugs / 3.5mm jack

Also remember your amp needs cooling. Putting a mat over it doesn't help. Bad cooling can result in amp overheating = bad. Put it in the boot, out of the way and bolted down, and buy some RCA extensions.

Can I ask how you're switching the amp on? have you got the remote on hooked to the ignition or have you put an inline switch in?

Edited July 7, 2007 by rogan

[Drea//Mer 30]

heh, well at the moment its a bit of a temporary job, the only visible wire is under the dash on the passenger side, but its tidy.

The amp is being switched on from a 12v wire i found behind the glove box, no idea what its for but i tested it with a multimeter and it switches off when the car acc power is switched off so i just piggybacked a wire off it for my amp.

I already have a cheap ipod charger i bought in hong kong for around $8 nzd so im not too worried about hacking it up to fit. That charger on trademe looks like the ticket tho...

Question, why cut n splice all the wires from the charger when i could plug my existing 3.5mm to rca cable into the charger and recieve the same pre-amp signal it was intended for?

[rogan 1]

Question, why cut n splice all the wires from the charger when i could plug my existing 3.5mm to rca cable into the charger and recieve the same pre-amp signal it was intended for?

The signal you get from the 3.5mm jack on the ipod is post amp and the ipod amp isn't that flash. Basically the signal from the MP3 file goes into the pre amp and eq, gets munted a slight bit, then gets sent through the ipod amp where it gets even more munted. So to get the best signal, you feed from after the pre-amp ie at the dock. Ever wondered why they have docking stations for hooking up to home stereos and don't just do a 3.5 to rca lead. It's not all about selling another product, it's about getting the right signal.

And don't splice up your existing lead, that probably won't have the colour codes above. I've pulled apart two of the Belkin leads to attach it to a Pioneer ipbus from Aux in on Pioneer h/u so I know the colour codes of that specific model of Belkin cable. But any other cable and the colours could be completely different.

[Drea//Mer 30]

The signal you get from the 3.5mm jack on the ipod is post amp and the ipod amp isn't that flash. Basically the signal from the MP3 file goes into the pre amp and eq, gets munted a slight bit, then gets sent through the ipod amp where it gets even more munted. So to get the best signal, you feed from after the pre-amp ie at the dock. Ever wondered why they have docking stations for hooking up to home stereos and don't just do a 3.5 to rca lead. It's not all about selling another product, it's about getting the right signal.

And don't splice up your existing lead, that probably won't have the colour codes above. I've pulled apart two of the Belkin leads to attach it to a Pioneer ipbus from Aux in on Pioneer h/u so I know the colour codes of that specific model of Belkin cable. But any other cable and the colours could be completely different.

i was meaning the 3.5 jack on the belkin charger... that would be the one that the preamp wires inside are connected to wont it?

[rogan 1]

i was meaning the 3.5 jack on the belkin charger... that would be the one that the preamp wires inside are connected to wont it?

Right, forgot about that one. I was doing it to avoid having wiring running across the dash to the ciggie lighter, but yeah you could do it easily that way. The Belkin does have some sort of mini amp in it but if you kept it turned down on the volume control on the side of it I guess it wouldn't be a problem

[Nobimmer 694]

Can you take a picture of where the f**k you got your wire thorugh the firewall?!

I tried for about an hour today to shove 8g wire through an existing hole and gave up in the end.

If no success,it's going to be makita to the rescue.

[Nobimmer 694]

Never mind,force fed the firewall some 10mm Drill bit

[btccm3 1]

there is no need to drill.

just remove the glove box and there is a factory rubber bung.

or you can remove the panel under the steering wheel there is a factory rubber bung there also.

[Nobimmer 694]

Too late