SA420

Hey Guys, just about to connect my new amp sub and cap, I'm pretty sure i have this correct but i want to doublecheck as i've never set up anything like this before. So here goes, I have 4GA + line coming fro the battery through a 60A inline fuse, going to the + terminal on the cap, then from the +on the cap to the AMP's + connection. Them amp Ground, connected to the Caps - Terminal and from there to the Battery - ( well i' going to use the same mount point as the battery GND in the trunk). This seems to be correct to me but I'd love someone to take a look and confirm. I also have a couple questions about charging the cap. I plan to stick the resistor in the fuse holder (instead of the fuse) to initially charge the cap and use the caps led display to tell when it is fully charged. What i'm not sure if is if i should have the amp in the circuit when charging the cap initially, and as the cap also has a voltage adjust where the best level to set it at is (i've read 13.8 in most places) the cap is adjustable from 12V to 20V and i have no idea what it is set at until i connect and charge it, since i don;t want to put anymore than 13.8V to the amp,i'm thinking i likely don't want it in the circuit while i charge the cap, any ideas?

The amp I am using is a Magnat Combat 4, not much infor floating around for it, but here's the basic stats
Maximum output 4 × 150W / 2 × 400W (4Ω) / 4 × 200W / 2 × 500W (2Ω) / 4 × 280W (1Ω) ● Frequency response 5-50000Hz (° 3dB) ● THD 0.05% below ● HPF, Built-in LPF 75 - 250Hz (-12dB/oct) continuous variable size 256 × 75 × 370mm

the Cap is 2F, and the sub is a 2ohm JL 10 W3v3.

Just hoping for a quick yes/no on the wiring, it's -13C outside so i don;t wanna spend a bunch of time out there messing around, I've got all the cables prepared and ready to the point where it'll be 5 mins to hook it up like this, i just want to make sure i'm not going to explode something or electrocute myself and freeze to death in the snow.

MP Cobalt

iTrader: (4)

Well im good with stereo but I'm lost in all those words. lol take a few pics of what its connected to

SA420

here's a quick ms paint pic of my intentions

MP Cobalt

iTrader: (4)

That should be fine. why do you have a cap? It really isn't needed, and you can use your battery as the ground

SA420

using the cap for cleaner power, and it looks cool,. the GND is pretty uch straigh t othe battery, just using the same mount as the batterires chassis GND for convenience and i don;t want to increase the slope in my trunk anymore as the battery is already too tall. last question i have before braving the cold is should i have the amp in the circuit when charging the cap, or does it even matter?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

sounds good. fyi the adjustment on the cap is for the display. the cap doesn't put out any more voltage then it receives

MP Cobalt

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, everything sounds good and what EmperorJJ1 said about the cap is also good.

SA420

awesome, thanks guys, i'll post up some pics when i'm done.

SA420

So it was cold and i was lazy and didn't get everything put in, but I'm close. Got the deck replaced, amp and cap mounted, and the sub hooked up, Man what a difference. I still have to, charge and connect the cap, run speaker wire to the doors for the new 5 1/4" speakers, install said door speakers and their crossovers, and hide the rest of the wiring. After a quick drive, as is, with just the deck and sub installed and working i can tell I'm going to be grabbing a bunch of dynamat and chasing rattles for a while as well.I said I'd post pics i nmy last post but i need to find the camera cord, hopefully later in the day.

09BlackLT

I got my subs in this weekend too, wow what a difference. But I'm in the same vote, when it gets warmer out I need to do some adjusting on stuff. What kind of cap did you get??

SA420

The cap i grabbed is a Power Acoustics(ebay) 2 Farad

09LS

Hey i'm new to the forums i just got my Cobalt 2 days ago and just wondering how hard it is to run remote wire and rca from Stock HU to amp if possible

stinkyfisherman

^^ Its not that bad at all if you've done it before. Just remember that the radio doesnt have switched power.

09LS

Alright so the dash is easy to take apart and get to the HU.... and what does it mean switched power

09LS

Alright so the dash is easy to take apart and get to the HU.... and what does it mean switched power

stinkyfisherman

Switched power is the +12 volt power that turns off when the cars off. There isnt one at the radio you'll have to tap that somewhere else, there are a few places to go. I dont like/use fuse taps but you can go to the fusebox for switched power if you want.

09LS

Oh ok thats the same way my friend did in his 07 LT but i couldn't figure out how he ran his RCA's to his amp

SA420

i used a fuse tap on the 10A wiper fuse in slot 15, works great

stinkyfisherman

Just like you'd run the amp turn on wire, along the runners under the carpet. You might have to pull the back seat out but thats not hard.

dabalt4556

it will work fine that way but for the ground your really suppose to run another ground straight to the amp not from cap to amp its really just to ensure strong ground

Spun

iTrader: (1)

^^x2

SA420

well the gnd wire between the cap and amp is only about 6" of 4GA and the cap has just the one neg terminal, i figure the difference should be negligable and even if the cap explodes and somehow dosn;t blow the fuse i should still have a good ground for the amp. is the extra few lbs of cable really worth it?

Spun

iTrader: (1)

Its not the wieght you should be worried about.
IMO every part of your stereo should have its own ground, and each ground be un-interupted.
When you use the cap as a ground, then you have to put a ring terminal on the ground and it has to transfer to the other wire then get to the ground point, plus the cap is doing the same thing on the same line.
If you run it to its own ground you make sure it has a clean path to follow, the more times you cut and splice a wire the less efficient it is at doing its job. The same idea can be apllied to the rest of the wires in your system,

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

ultimately like spun said a separate ground per component to the same location is the best way to do it but i have done it both ways before and its worked just fine