Turn-on Relays

Do you need a relay?

Most head units have an output to turn on amplifiers, etc. These outputs are designed to
turn on a small number of devices, so they provide very little current.
On high-end systems, when many devices (amplifiers, crossovers, equalizers, processors,
fans, etc) have to be connected to this turn-on wire the current output might not be
enough. If the circuit is overloaded, it can blow a fuse or even damage the head unit.
There is an easy way around this problem: Add a relay.
How many devices are too many? Depends on how much current each device draws and
how much current the head unit provides. Check the specifications section of the manuals
to see. Typically, pieces of equipment such as amplifiers, crossovers and equalizers draw
very little current, since their turn-on switches are either solid state or small relays. If you
are hooking other devices that draw more current such as neon lights, fans, actuators,
motors, etc, then you definitely need to add a relay. An easy way to tell how much current
devices are drawing is to check with a current meter.
Connections

The diagram to the left shows the connections required to get the turn-on output. The relay
can be located either behind the radio, trunk, or elsewhere in the car. Usually, it is easier
behind the radio because wires going to the relay are shorter.
1. Terminal 87 goes to constant power (+12v). It can be obtained from the same wire
where the radios memory backup is connected.
2. Terminal 86 goes to ground (negative wire going to the head unit or to a metal part
that is connected to the chassis of the vehicle).
3. Terminal 85 is connected to the remote turn-on wire output at the head unit.
4. Lastly, terminal 30 is run to all the components that need to be turned on.

Amplifiers
Remote Turn-on Wire
The remote turn on wire goes to the head unit. When the radio is on, it puts out 12 volts that
turn the amplifier on. If you are using a factory radio that does not have a remote turn on (or
power antenna wire) you can tap into, hook it up to the ignition, so that the amplifier does
not remain on when you turn the car off. If you are using multiple devices (amplifiers,
crossovers, equalizers, fans, etc), you might have to add a relay, since typical turn-on wires
in a radio cant handle more that 300mA.
RCA Wiring
When running power wires to the amp, keep them as far away from the RCA wires (see
alternator noise section for more info), ideally on the other side of the car. It is OK to run the
turn-on wire from the radio along with RCAs, since it carries very little current.
Mounting
Amplifiers produce a lot of heat and need to receive plenty of fresh air. If the amplifier is to
be mounted under a seat, upside down, in a rack or enclosed, a fan or two might need to be
used to increase air flow.
To avoid noise problems, it is good practice to mount the amplifier itself to a piece of wood
or other non-conducting material. That way the only ground it gets is from the ground wire
and not the mounting screws.

Power Wiring
Even though amplifiers are easy to install, a lot of things could go wrong. The most
important thing to consider is where to get the power from: Straight from the battery.
ALWAYS put a fuse as close to the positive battery terminal as possible. If the wire going to
the back of the car shorts out, then the fuse will blow. If you dont install a fuse or breaker
and the wire shorts out, then the wire will carry so much current that the insulation will melt
and could catch your car on fire. The size of the fuse should be the same rating as the fuses
used by the amp(s) or less. The ground (-) should be hooked-up to a metal part of the car. It
is not necessary to run a ground wire all the way to the battery. It is not essential to spend a
lot of money in getting 99.999999% copper 0-gage wire and gold connectors unless you are
installing a competition system.

Table to help decide what gauge wire to use, based on total current draw and length of wire:
Power Cable Calculator
Total
Amperage
Draw of
System

Up to 4 4 to 7 7 to 10 10 to 13 13 to 16 16 to 22 22 to 28
ft.
ft.
ft.
ft.
ft.
ft.
ft.

0 20

14

12

12

10

10

20 35

12

10

35 50

10

50 65

65 85

85 105

105 125

125 150

00

The above chart shows wire gauges to be used if no less than a .5 volt drop is accepted.
Cable size calculation takes into account terminal connection resistance.

Alternator Noise
What is Alternator Noise?
Alternator noise is a high pitched whine caused by the cars electrical system. When the
engine spins the alternator around, the alternator induces an AC voltage that is converted
to DC and used to charge the cars electrical system. It acts pretty much as an inverted
electric motor (motion is put in, and voltage comes out). The problem is that a small
amount of AC voltage remains in the system. Frequencies change accordingly to the
engines RPMs. If the engine spins faster, noise frequency is higher. That is why you would
hear alternator noise coming from mids and tweeters, but not subwoofers, since
subwoofers only play low frequencies.
What causes alternator noise?
1. Induced noise through RCAs:
When a wire has current through it, a magnetic field circles around it (i.e electromagnets).
Conversely, if there is a magnetic field perpendicular to a wire, current will be induced. If
you have your RCA wires going from the radio or equalizer to the amp running in parallel to
your power wires, an AC current will be induced and added to the sound signal. The sound
signal travelling to the amp is a low voltage signal (in the mV range thousands of a volt).
The induced signal will be amplified along with the music.
Avoiding this problem is very simple: DONT run power and RCA wires together. If there are
points in which they do have to cross, try to place them perpendicular to each other. Run
the power wire from the battery to the amp on one side of the car, and the RCA wires along
the other side of the car. On most cars it is better to run RCAs on the passengers side, and
power wires on the drivers side. Note that noise may be also be induced by factory
harnesses, car computers and other electronic equipment.

2. Ground loops:
Your cars electrical system (and your stereo) use the car metal chassis as a ground (there is
always current flowing through your cars metal parts). If your battery and alternator are
(typically) under the hood, and you are installing an amplifier all the way back in the trunk,
then current flows through that power wire you ran from the battery to the amp, and back
through the metal chassis to complete the circuit.
Theoretically the cars metal has no resistance, and it should not matter where you tie
grounds for amplifiers, radio, battery and alternator. They all should look like the same
point, right? Well, the metal in your car does have resistance, and there is a potential
difference from the front of the car, where the battery is to the middle of the car, where the
radio is, and to the back of the car, where most amplifiers are. The potential difference of
the grounds makes the whole system act as an antenna, where they pick up noise. Measure
voltages at battery, amplifiers and radio. There should be very little difference between the
measured voltages. If there is a difference more than 1/2 volt, then you might have noise
problems.
To fix this problem, make sure that the amplifiers have a good ground first. Use at least 10
Gauge wires for the grounds (and power). If you have 2 or more amplifiers, DO NOT go from
the ground terminal of one amp to the other and then from there to ground, most likely you
will have noise. Ground each amplifier independently. Same thing if you have added
stiffening capacitors, go to a separate ground for the cap.

Troubleshooting
If you installed everything using the above guidelines and you still have noise, then try to
figure out what is causing the noise (a very LONG and tedious process). First, double check
grounds at amplifiers, crossovers, radio, etc. Make sure AM/FM antenna has a good ground.
Try to figure out what is causing the noise. For example, if you have crossovers, equalizers,
etc, bypass them by hooking RCA wires straight from the radio to the amplifier. If noise
went away, you know problem is maybe RCA wires or grounds hooked up to
crossovers/equalizers. If you have more that one amplifier and have noise only on one
amplifier try switching RCA wires around. If noise stays the same, then problem is the
amplifier, if it switches, noise is coming from previous components up the line. As said
before, it is very hard to find out what is causing alternator noise.
Dont get one of those noise filter boxes unless you have completely figured out that the
head unit or equalizer are causing the noise. 99.9% of the time you will be wasting your
money in buying noise filters.
If you have tried everything in the world, and still have that annoying noise, contact your
nearest car stereo shop. Some of them will be reluctant to fix something not installed by
them, or maybe will charge you a lot for something you could not figure out that only took a
couple of minutes for them to fix, so shop around first.