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Old 10-26-2021, 03:43 PM   #1
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12 volt for stereo amp

I would like to add an amp and subwoofer and was wondering where to get a good supply of 12 volts. I see there is 2 selenoids under the hood with a hot side. Anybody use these for power?
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Old 10-26-2021, 04:04 PM   #2
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I would think the best source of 12v would be connecting to the front's batteries. That's where I hooked up to my powered sub.
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Old 10-26-2021, 05:20 PM   #3
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If you are going to use the amp while parked I would recommend tapping off the house battery rather than the chassis battery. Running an amp can drain a battery and you sure don't want to drain your engine starting battery.

There may be a solenoid/relay on your firewall which connects to both batteries. When the engine is running it will connect the house battery to the engine's charging system. Easy place to tap for power. Just pick the side that runs to the house battery.
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Old 10-26-2021, 05:28 PM   #4
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No, havent used them for anything custom.

My Entegra has the same 2 breakers. The driver side is used by the power steps. The passenger side is unused. I "think" the passenger side is for levelers, which I dont have.

The passenger side would be a good connection if yours is unused as mine, if its powered of course; and if the power is from your battery of choice.

Understand what actually powers that dash radio is spaghetti wiring. Its a combination of camper and cab battery power.
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Old 10-26-2021, 05:42 PM   #5
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I pulled power off one of the solenoids on the firewall, the lug I pulled from has a cable that runs down to the battery. I went from there to a Bluesea fuse panel mounted on the drivers kick panel for any accessory power I need.
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:19 AM   #6
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You will need to route it from two places... Power for the AMP and then you will need the signal wire from your stereo unit to switch it on/off when the unit is on. On our Seneca, I tied into the Cigar lighter circuit which is 20A instead of splicing off the Radio power which is only 6.7A.
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Old 10-30-2021, 12:38 PM   #7
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You will need to route it from two places... Power for the AMP and then you will need the signal wire from your stereo unit to switch it on/off when the unit is on. On our Seneca, I tied into the Cigar lighter circuit which is 20A instead of splicing off the Radio power which is only 6.7A.
There are automobile amps now that have current sensors and automatically turn on when milli-amp current is sensed thru the audio circuits. Ask me how I know.
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:13 PM   #8
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There are automobile amps now that have current sensors and automatically turn on when milli-amp current is sensed thru the audio circuits. Ask me how I know.
will the Seneca be able to power that AMP with a 20A circuit that is already shared with other loads?

It's the Z-150.2 right? set up at 1x550w-bridged? no clipping?
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Old 10-31-2021, 05:15 PM   #9
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Thanks Rustynuts. You reasured me what i wanted to do in the first place. All done and works great.
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Old 02-06-2022, 04:13 PM   #10
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I pulled power off one of the solenoids on the firewall, the lug I pulled from has a cable that runs down to the battery. I went from there to a Bluesea fuse panel mounted on the drivers kick panel for any accessory power I need.
Where did you run the lead wire through the firewall? I see where you tapped it but can't see above it to figure out how you got it through.

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Old 02-06-2022, 04:39 PM   #11
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If you look behind the brake/gas pedal area there is a rubber area with circles/ dots on firewall. Just poke a hole thru with a drill bit. I did what rusty nuts did. I put an I line fuse right after the solenoid hookup for safety. I bought the subwoofer from O'Reilly auto parts and installed my Amp on top then built a wooden box around it for a table area between psgr and driver seats. Works awesome. See pics above.
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Old 02-06-2022, 07:50 PM   #12
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Thanks, I think I am going to run separate power lead lines in because I am running an amp and a separate powered sub. The amp is fairly powerful and I will run in line fuses for each. It sounds like the big red soleniod in Rusty's picture is what you ran off as well for power. All you have to do is tie right into that with a positive lead? Is that constant on? Sorry for all the questions, I appreciate your help!

I am going to run a front LED light bar below the bumper as well.
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Old 02-06-2022, 09:52 PM   #13
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Yes on the solenoid. Yes its constantly hot. Yes i ran a hot lead off of it thats why i installed an inline fuse for protection. Make sure you run a thick enough guage wire for your amp needs.I've had no problems so far. My sony stereo(piece of junk) is wired to stay on even when ignition is off so it doesn't shut the Amp off. With both on it doesn't seem to be a problem. I'm full time in our rv this winter.
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Old 02-07-2022, 04:05 PM   #14
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Yes on the solenoid. Yes its constantly hot. Yes i ran a hot lead off of it thats why i installed an inline fuse for protection. Make sure you run a thick enough guage wire for your amp needs.I've had no problems so far. My sony stereo(piece of junk) is wired to stay on even when ignition is off so it doesn't shut the Amp off. With both on it doesn't seem to be a problem. I'm full time in our rv this winter.
Thanks, I may eventually put a switch in to shut off the Sony and Amp if it looks like it drains the battery. I placed two additional solar panels up top for a total of 600 watts and the charger switches between coach and house so I don't think it will be a problem.

The Sony does turn off with the main power switch during storage. What I found interesting is that the plug for the theater seats does not turn off. Not sure if that was for people to adjust if you were driving down the road with the main off?

Back to the radio, my plan is to add an amp to run the dash separates I am installing and the 6.5" speakers I will put in the center console from Build5. It looks like the amp will mount to the back of the console. I will use RCA's for the front and rear to Amp. The regular speaker wire for the rear will still work and run the two speakers on the ceiling of the house. In addition, I will run a kicker 10" sub under the drivers seat.

Further down the road, I will change out the house speakers and the outside TV speakers.

This weekend I installed a sound bar, subwoofer, and rear surround speakers for the pop up TV.
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