I recently rewired my whole trunk. I had some design criterias that weren't being fullfilled, so I made some changes.

Here's what they are:

1.) Be able to remove the amp rack in under 5 minutes. (It adds about 100 Lbs to the car...not good for race track sessions)

2.) Be able to add, subtract, or swap amps fairly easily without having to redesign the amp rack or the power system.

3.) Be able to change which amp a specific speaker is connected to in under 1 minute.

4.) Be able to access and use my spare tire if needed.

These were my main goals, but I also wanted to eliminate some cluter, and in general have a really clean looking install. (even though it will never be done [img]smile.gif[/img] )

I recently posted a thread titled "Changes" where I outlined how I wanted to explore some new ideas. The above goals allow me to do this and live with the car as a daily driver.

I'll be posting pictures later, but I have achieved all of my goals, and it looks good.

A teaser:

-4 Anderson Power Products 350 amp connectors
-13 sets of machined 5 way binding posts
-All new custom terminated interconnect

Adam

 

Sounds like you have made your amp rack 'modular' by putting the connections all on easy to release fittings. The amp rack I just made for my truck has terminal blocks on the back for all the speaker, power and remote-on connections for easier installation and adjustment if need be. The Mustang GT I had, Dukk made it so the entire false floor amp rack and sub enclosure could be lifted out for when I was at college during the week by use of silver-plated quick-disconnects used in the RC car industry and a whole whack of additional RCA jacks, plus a large 4-ga. power connector. We would take it out at shows and rest it on the ground just for fun

 

Sux,

That is exactly what I've done, although the extent of the flexiblity can't be described in words. You have to see it to understand. Problem is, I've messed up my image posting/hosting thing. Going to get it sorted soon to share my little adventure...I hope!!

I ordered the power quick connectors without really seeing them in person, so when they arrived I was a bit surprised by their size. I spent an entire day rethinking the layout of the trunk/rack to accomadate their size and the cable routing. The connectors are actually designed for 2/0 awg wire, so it was a bit of overkill on my part. But, my plan to keep resistance down throughout the power system fits nicely with these connectors. Problem is...they are HUGE. I put one on my hand, and it reaches from my wrist to the tip of my index finger.

Cutting up the Kimber Cable KCAG was a bit nerve wracking. I kept double checking my lengths and wiring paths. The path from the H900 to any of the possible amp possitions is so short that it's decieving weather you have enough wire. My new batch of interconnect runs ranges in length from about 10" to 14". Chopping up wire to such short lengths made me cringe, but it's done now...and I can't go back!

For now I've used some connectors that were lying around to make the new configuration work. But at some point, I'm going to re-terminate everything in WBT product or an equivelent.

I've booked 3 weeks of space in a heated garage bay to work on my next phase. That should be starting in later Nov. early Dec. Till then, it's back to planning.

Adam

[ October 23, 2004, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: PEI330Ci ]

 

Good luck. Post some pics if you can, eh?...

 

Ok folks, here's the deal.

I can't seem to upload my pictures of this adventure to my image host. The company server keeps shutting me down when I try to use an FTP program.

So those that are interested in some pictures and a little story to go with them: PM me with your email address and I'll shoot something off to you.

I'm trying to accomadate a few of you people that share their projects quite generously with everyone else here.

Adam

 

Hey PEI330CI, I have been using Free Pic Hosting for a while now, they even let you link to the pics for free, check it out: www.freepichosting.com

 

I'm going to clarify my situation.

I'm in the Middle east, using a satelite uplink data line for internet access. The uplink is connected directly to our company server in a city about 600km away from me, which in turn is connected via a VPN to the main server in Houston. These servers have filters to maximize efficiency for WORK. My FTP program, no mater what image host I use, will cause the line to be disconnected.

I'm working on a way around this, but it may take some time.

For now, I'm able to email out a little "package" to those interested. It's Hotmail friendly in size.

Adam

 

Maybe someone can post Adam's little "package?"

That wasn't supposed to be an inuendo BTW lol.

 

I got things sorted out with with my FTP site, I’ll be posting the adventure here.

I’m going to start this off with a bit of history.

This is the 4rth time doing a trunk build in my car over the past year. My system has evolved as my knowledge has grown, and for this reason, I’ve started to learn to leave as many options as possible open when doing an install. I’m always asking questions, and searching for ways to improve upon my last achievement.


Here is where I last left off with the Aluminum rack. I actually cleaned the wiring up a little bit after this picture was taken, but over all it was pretty messy. I simply didn’t have the time or a plan to get everything arranged properly. The laptop was used for tuning the Alpine PXA-H900 processor during an RTA session with LMS.





Here is where I started, pulling the rack back out of the car to tear it down for a rewire/rebuild. The trunk was basically full of wire in need of a tidy home.




After a full day of scratching my head and holding pieces of wire at every odd angle, I got to work with the power system. The big red connectors are Anderson Power Products clones from a local trucking supply store. They are rated at 350 amps each. The 3 Monster Cable ANL fuse blocks hold 300 amp fuses each. I chose to use Monster Cable 1/0 awg wire for the positive run, and a smaller diameter 1/0 awg boating wire for the negitive run due to space concerns. I have some matching Black Monster cable 1/0 awg wire, but it didn’t fit as nicely as the other “plain” wire when I was playing electrician the previous day.


[ October 23, 2004, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: PEI330Ci ]

 

Next, I had to decide how to route my speaker cables. I use Monster Cable 10.2 speaker wire, which is quite bulky. So both the physical size and flexibility of them were a concern. I run separate cables for each driver of my 3 way front stage, so this gets a little tricky to route once you get to the trunk. My Audison amps have the speaker terminals next to the RCA connectors, but the Arc Audio amp has them on the other end next to the power terminals. This got me thinking. I wanted to figure out where the best place to put speaker wire in the trunk would be, yet maintain connection flexibility, and minimize signal crossfeed. I was staring at one of my Dad’s home speakers when I figured it out. Why not make the car chassis the speaker, where the amps connect to the car! All I had done was changed my point of view a little bit, and the speaker wire routing answer came pretty easy. Once again, I ended up raiding good old Dad’s lab stash. This time it was for 6 sets of 5 way binding posts. Below you can see how they were installed.