ToniH

Hi,

I've been surfing around but haven't found one yet, lots of ring type terminals available though.

I need a one (preferably gold plated) with additional outputs for my stereo power cables. The cables I will be using are 2 and 8 or 10 gauge.

Stinger offers side post extended terminals but that is not what I am looking for.

A thing that converts side pole to ring pole type would actually be ideal but does it exist?

Thanks,

toniH

ToniH

OK, I was e-mailed by someone and he said he does not know what I am trying to describe here. Sorry about that.

So, take a look here: http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/type/Battery+Terminals and it should become clear.

Basically a battery terminal which acts as a distribution block at the same time. They usually have several connectors for different gauges of wire.

My problem is that I cannot find one for my C4 battery which has side posts.

Greets,

ToniH

Admiral Fairway

Yes they do exist, you can get them in Pep Boys or almost any auto parts store. They have a male thread on the bottom and a post on the top.

92TripleBlack

I have a stinger on mine. It converts it to allow you to put rings on the terminal and locking them down with a screw. I then put a ring end on my 4 gauge power wire and bolted it on. I'm not sure what you are looking for. What are you looking to do? Run a power wire for amps to the rear?
92TripleBlack

ToniH

> What are you looking to do?

I want to run separate power wires for the head unit and the amps directly from the battery. To the connection in the battery end I would like to have one of those nice gold plated battery terminals with several screw in connectors.

Greets,

ToniH

-=Jeff=-

like this?


it is $5.95

here is the URL: http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...00&a=0&o=M&s=0


[Modified by -=Jeff=-, 8:08 AM 10/8/2001]

92TripleBlack

This is the piece you want. You would then hook a single wire onto it, then a fuse holder, then run the single wire to the rear of the car where the amps are. In the rear, split the wire with a splitter to each of the amps. Run a single 4 Gauge back and split to an 8 guage for each amp. For the head unit it is best to stick to the power from the stock wire harness. Less chance of introducing engine noise. Use the same size wires for your ground. No fuse holder, and instead of running to the battery, run straight to the frame as close as you can to the amps.

Hope this helps
92TripleBlack :cheers:

ToniH

Thanks Jeff and 92TripleBlack I think that might do the trick.

92TripleBlack, yes I have designed the wiring already and it is like you said exept that the wire to the amps is going to be 2 gauge and the wires from a splitter will be 6 gauge. Main fuse (near battery) for the amp wire is 60A.

I would like to run a new power wire to the head unit too (with 10A main fuse). I don't want to use any other stock wires in the car than the 2nd powerlead from the ignition lock. This way I believe there is less change in getting into trouble with the ecm or other stock electric systems. Basicly I am re-wiring the whole audio system.

Oh yes, ground wires will be like you said.

Thanks,

ToniH



[Modified by ToniH, 7:11 PM 10/8/2001]

92TripleBlack

You should be ok and not have any problems using the stock wires. You will need to hook into them anyway to get the ignition(turns off when you open the door), power antenna, and lights hookups for your deck anyway. If you are concerned about splicing, you can buy a harness that plugs into the stock radio harness and gives you labeled wires that are easy to crimp into. This way it stays totally stock and you know what is what. They cost about 10$ and most sterio installation shops have them in stock. It willl also minimize the chance for getting engine noise in your sterio if you use the stock wires.
92TripleBlack
92TripleBlack :cheers:

ToniH

I have heard some horror stories about using stock wires and don't want to risk it. There have been many stories about error codes being set after disconnecting the original tuner unit. I have not verified them but planned to avoid these possible problems by not touching it at all.

Like I said, I will use the turn on power lead from ingnition but hope that is it. I will use a separate switch to control the power antenna (bought the harness from MAD, I think).

I hope to avoid engine interference by doing the ground connections properly.

I also have the connector harness you describe, I bought it from Ecklers and it is supposed to plug into the original connector of the tuner unit.

Well, nothing is carved in stone. If you know of no such problems I described abobe, maybe I'll give it a try when I start the actual installation.

My biggest problem now is to build the front speaker boxes, after that is done I will take a day and tackle the signal and power wiring. Oh, yes I must decide how to install the amps and crossovers nicely into the trunk too without losing to much of the cargo space in the process...huh, what a big project this is!

ToniH

92TripleBlack

I haven't heard any horror stories about the wires. I installed professionally for three years and personally worked on dozens of C4 vettes. I've also put at least 5 different decks in mine using these wires with no problems. You should be fine. I would also use the stock wires because you won't be able to get the light or the delayed ignition without starting there. It might even be more dangerous or introduce a much higher amount of chance for engine noise if you get the ignition somewhere else. Also, the antenna switch isn't work anything if you are putting in an aftermarket deck. They will have an antenna wire that will only put the antenna up when the radio is used as a stock feature which is what the switch does. I would stick with the harness from Ecklers, your best bet. I haven't heard of anyone having any problems with this. The best way to do it is to attach the harness from Ecklers to the harness of the radio ahead of time. Then when you are ready, plug the harness into the stock one and then into the back of the radio. This way you aren't splicing with live wires. I'm gonna build my own custom enclosures for the front speakers as well. Let me know how yours turn out. We never did that when I installed in the vettes opting to just use the stock location. I'm planning on making boxes out of Medium density fibreboard and carpeting them to match. The biggest problem you may face is mystery engine noise. This occurs when a ground starts to go but hasn't completely gone. Very difficult to test for and will drive you nuts. They are also prevalent on older cars as the wires start to deteriorate and rust over time. The only sure cure is to hook every ground point to a single ground with 16 gauge wire to get rid of any ground loops.
Good luck
92TripleBlack :cheers:

ToniH

Thank you for you expertise.

> I would also use the stock wires because you won't be able to get the light or the delayed ignition without starting there.
Sorry, I don't understand this. What light do you mean?

> higher amount of chance for engine noise if you get the ignition somewhere else.
Like I said I will connect the stock ignition wire to my Pioneer deck. Only the constant on power lead was coming from the battery. But like I said I must give this more thought after your recommendations.

> Also, the antenna switch isn't work anything if you are putting in an aftermarket deck
Bugger...they didn't say anything about that. I have the 84-96 antenna bypass switch and I thought that it is installed between decks power antenna lead and the antennas power lead?? With it I control wether the antenna goes up or down when the deck is turned on. Am I wrong?

I am planning to connect all ground leads (8 or 10 gauge) to a spreader block and take a single 2 gauge lead from there to a ground point. The ground wires should be as thick as the power wires, right?

Thanks again.

ToniH

92TripleBlack

1. The headlights have a wire in the stock switch. When you hook them to a radio with a light input the deck's buttions will light up when you turn on the headlights.

The corvettes turn the radio and power windows on when you turn on the igntion with the key. When you turn off the car, the radio and windows stay functional until a door is opened or 10-15? minutes pass. The ignition wire on the stock harness will do this but a wire from the ignition or triggered by the key will not. Its a nice feature to have. For example, you stop to wait for someone to come out of a house. You don't have to leave the motor running or switch off the system to turn off the car, interrupting your cd and making the amps turn on and off, making your antenna go up and down, etc.

Every wire run has the potential to pick up or bleed of engine whine. The more wires you run through your system, especially ones with ignition power, the higher the chance that you will encounter engine noise, the bane of the corvette.

The power antenna switch is good for radios that don't have a power antenna lead or stock systems that automatically put the antenna up when you turn on the radio. This means you don't need to put up the antenna when you just want to play a CD.
This was a problem years ago. Now I don't know of any decent brands (like poineer, sony, alpine) that don't have a wire set up for this function already in the deck. The deck will automatically activate the antenna only if the FM is turned on. If you turn on the cd it will not put the antenna up.
Besides, most of the time the antenna fails is because the mast is bent, not the motor fails. This is a $30 mast replacement and is not caused by use but by abuse.
Your ground wires size wise should mimic your power wires. You really don't need to go larger than 4 gauge for most applications, say more than 3-4 large amps. It is a much easier wire to run that the 2 gauge. Get one that has a high amount of strands, good insulation, and is pliable for bending corners. I like the Phoenix Gold wires but Monster and others have good wires as well. Figure about $1 US a foot.
Hope this clears things up. I'll be off line for a few hours.
92TripleBlack :cheers: