Radio Wiring

[skin daddio]

My radio/cd player caused shorts the way it was wired. I disconnected it and haven't had any trouble since. My question is where to wire it in now that I need music again. My fuse box is full, no more available tabs.

I want the stereo on when the bus is off.

I am thinking what if i hard wire it direct to the battery with a fuse and a fat gauge 12-15 feet wire. Is that sacrilege? Is there a down side to that?

[zblair]

This probably won't answer your question, but I know of a few friends of mine who had more than one battery for a larger array of sound equipment in their vehicles.

[OB Bus]

Autozone/Kragen/FLAPS sell a splitter that slides onto one spade of your fuse box and gives you 2 or 3 extra spades to draw juice from. Keep the overall amperage in mind and make sure you draw the juice from the fused side of the box.

[skin daddio]

This probably won't answer your question, but I know of a few friends of mine who had more than one battery for a larger array of sound equipment in their vehicles.

Yep, I should do that while procrastinating on the bn4 heater I'm never getting to bench test.

Autozone/Kragen/FLAPS sell a splitter that slides onto one spade of your fuse box and gives you 2 or 3 extra spades to draw juice from. Keep the overall amperage in mind and make sure you draw the juice from the fused side of the box.

I am so spaded its ridiculous. In fact my naked non-rubbered spades were touching so much i believe that could have led to shorts and run down the battery. I was thinking of adding a separate, spare fuse box somewhere for this and additional stuff, but not just now. That's when I came up with the hard-wire-to-the-battery-with-fuse idear.

[spiffy]

My radio/cd player caused shorts the way it was wired. I disconnected it and haven't had any trouble since. My question is where to wire it in now that I need music again. My fuse box is full, no more available tabs.

I want the stereo on when the bus is off.

I am thinking what if i hard wire it direct to the battery with a fuse and a fat gauge 12-15 feet wire. Is that sacrilege? Is there a down side to that?

That will work, also buy a cheap on/off switch so that you can kill the power after the fuse so you don't get any parasitic electrical gremlins.

I am going to do the exact same thing on the '67 for a stereo in the back.

[Amskeptic]

My radio/cd player caused shorts the way it was wired. I disconnected it and haven't had any trouble since. My question is where to wire it in now that I need music again. My fuse box is full, no more available tabs.

I want the stereo on when the bus is off.

I am thinking what if i hard wire it direct to the battery with a fuse and a fat gauge 12-15 feet wire. Is that sacrilege? Is there a down side to that?

Keep it simple. A downstream split spade off the #7 fuse should do you. Keep a close eye on adjacent spades and metal surfaces. Clean the 13mm post/all wires at the solenoid thoroughly shiny and use DeOx gel. At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box. Check for heat at the #7 fuse/wires leading to the radio after a couple of hours of run time.
Colin

[skin daddio]

My radio/cd player caused shorts the way it was wired. I disconnected it and haven't had any trouble since. My question is where to wire it in now that I need music again. My fuse box is full, no more available tabs.

I want the stereo on when the bus is off.

I am thinking what if i hard wire it direct to the battery with a fuse and a fat gauge 12-15 feet wire. Is that sacrilege? Is there a down side to that?

Keep it simple. A downstream split spade off the #7 fuse should do you. Keep a close eye on adjacent spades and metal surfaces. Clean the 13mm post/all wires at the solenoid thoroughly shiny and use DeOx gel. At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box. Check for heat at the #7 fuse/wires leading to the radio after a couple of hours of run time.
Colin

Got'er done. That was a solid little chunk of time traveling with my crew and no radio, but now with the lights on we're there. We'll see how it goes for a while. Ultimately I'll go for having the radio on when all systems are off.

[Manfred]

Keep it simple. A downstream split spade off the #7 fuse should do you. Keep a close eye on adjacent spades and metal surfaces. Clean the 13mm post/all wires at the solenoid thoroughly shiny and use DeOx gel. At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box. Check for heat at the #7 fuse/wires leading to the radio after a couple of hours of run time.
Colin

I need to install a radio and I'd like to follow these instructions.

I don't know anything about electrical connectors. I Googled split spade and couldn't find a picture. I'm sure I've seen one of these before, I just don't know the technical name.

Also, what does downstream mean as far as where to make my connections? Where are downstream connections made on the fuse box?

What does "At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box" mean? Do you mean bolt them together on the solenoid? I also assume you mean the starter solenoid.

[dtrumbo]

I Googled split spade and couldn't find a picture. I'm sure I've seen one of these before just don't know the technical name.

They're called "spade splitters" or "quick-disconnect splitters" and they look like this.

What it does is allow you to remove the existing wire connected to your fuse block, put the splitter on, reconnect the original wire and add another to the second tab of the splitter.

Also, what does downstream mean as far as where to make my connections? Where are downstream connections made on the fuse box?

"Downstream" means 'after the fuse'. Think of it how water flows. The battery provides the 'water'. It flows to the fuse block where the fuses act like safety valves. If too much water (current) flows, the valve opens and stops the water from flowing. You want to make your connections on the other side of the valve (fuse) from the battery. On your fuse block, this is the side where all the fuses have an individual wires connected to them. The "upstream" side will have fewer connections so you'll be able to tell the difference.

What does "At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box" mean? Do you mean bolt them together on the solenoid? I also assume you mean the starter solenoid.

I'm not sure what Colin's driving at here. The alternator wire and the red/white that feeds the fuse box are already connected to each other at the solenoid. Perhaps he'll chime in with clarification.

[Manfred]

I Googled split spade and couldn't find a picture. I'm sure I've seen one of these before just don't know the technical name.

They're called "spade splitters" or "quick-disconnect splitters" and they look like this.

What it does is allow you to remove the existing wire connected to your fuse block, put the splitter on, reconnect the original wire and add another to the second tab of the splitter.

Also, what does downstream mean as far as where to make my connections? Where are downstream connections made on the fuse box?

"Downstream" means 'after the fuse'. Think of it how water flows. The battery provides the 'water'. It flows to the fuse block where the fuses act like safety valves. If too much water (current) flows, the valve opens and stops the water from flowing. You want to make your connections on the other side of the valve (fuse) from the battery. On your fuse block, this is the side where all the fuses have an individual wires connected to them. The "upstream" side will have fewer connections so you'll be able to tell the difference.

What does "At reassembly, I would place the alternator wire terminal immediately against the red/white wire that leads to the fuse box" mean? Do you mean bolt them together on the solenoid? I also assume you mean the starter solenoid.

I'm not sure what Colin's driving at here. The alternator wire and the red/white that feeds the fuse box are already connected to each other at the solenoid. Perhaps he'll chime in with clarification.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. So the top side of the fuse box seems to be where all the wires are coming from. O.k., I'll see what I can do this weekend and let you know how it goes.

[Manfred]

I hooked up my radio this weekend after reading Colin's instructions. The radio works great! Thanks guys.