how to turn on amp without remote wire

How To Connect Your Amp Remote Wire To Your Fuse Box

Why Connect Your Amp Remote Wire To The Fuse Box?
Connect Your Amp Remote Wire To Your Fuse Box Step By Step
- 1. Get The Right Wire
- 2. Key Off The Ignition
- 3. Remove The Radio Fuse
- 4. Extend The Remote Wire
- 5. Place The Fuse Back
Other Options To Hook Up Your Amp Remote Wire
- 1. Cigarette Lighter: How To Connect Car Stereo To 12 Volt Cigarette Lighter Socket
- 2. Find Another 12V Source
What Fuse Should I Run My Remote Wire To?
Conclusion

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In cases where the remote wire on your stereo head unit is not working or if you are using a factory stereo, you can connect the remote wire to your fuse box. This way, you can connect your stereo to the amp and get the radio to work without a remote. Remember, if you are trying to hook up an amp to a stock radio, you will need to know where to hook up the Amp's remote wire.

In this article, we will be showing you how to connect your amplifier to a stock stereo by connecting the amplifier remote wire to the fuse box. In other words, we will be showing you how to turn on an amp without a remote wire.

Why Connect Your Amp Remote Wire To The Fuse Box?

Connecting the amplifier remote wire to the fuse box is a quick and easy way to get your car radio to work.

car fuse box connect stereo to fuse box

This is also the best location to tap into the radio because it controls the power upon keying the ignition. This means if you take out the key, the amplifier will also shut off and on turning the ignition, the amplifier will turn on.

If you do not connect this wire in this way, the amplifier will not know when to turn on or off. It will simply remain on until it drains the battery.

Connect Your Amp Remote Wire To Your Fuse Box Step By Step

1. Get The Right Wire

The best wire size to use here is 18 gauge wire as this will be enough to carry the current.

2. Key Off The Ignition

Make sure the car is turned off. This will stop all the power going to the car's electronic systems while working on the system.

3. Remove The Radio Fuse

Now you need to remove the radio fuse from the box. Every car is different and so you need to refer to the user handbook or manual to locate the fuse box in your car. There should be a diagram of the circuitry.

Here is a basic diagram:

remote wire for amp diagram — Remote wire for amp diagram

4. Extend The Remote Wire

Check carefully in between your current RCA cable. If you look closely, you should see a small remote wire in between that's already there. What you can do is to simply splice the wire and extend it to the location of the fuse.

All you really need to do is to wrap the wire around the fuse. You may not want to solder the wires because in the future you may need to take out the system and the wiring if you are selling the car for example.

Alternatively, you can simply wrap the remote wire around one metal pin of the fuse.

5. Place The Fuse Back

Now simply place the fuse back into the holder and you should be all good.

Other Options To Hook Up Your Amp Remote Wire

Are there other options to hook up your amp remote wire than connecting to the fuse box? Yes there are and here are the options:

1. Cigarette Lighter: How To Connect Car Stereo To 12 Volt Cigarette Lighter Socket

You can actually connect your amp remote wire to your cigarette lighter. Here is how you do it:

Turn off the car's ignition and disconnect the positive terminal from the battery.
Find the cigarette socket location on the dashboard. Remove it from its housing using a flat head screwdriver.
Now solder two pieces of speaker wire cables onto each terminal on the back of the cigarette lighter (red and black wires) and run them up to the din slot for the radio.
Now you will connect to the stereo through the CD player. Check for the yellow, red and black wires on the wiring harness that are connected into the back of the CD player.
Now to connect the wires, connect the positive wire coming from the cigarette socket to the yellow and red wires on the stereo's plug. In addition, connect the black wire to the ground wire. This will be the same color on the back of the wiring harness.
Cover up all naked connections with electrical tape.
Now complete everything by pushing back the cigarette socket into the hole and push the car stereo back into its din slot.
Finally, reconnect the positive terminal back onto the battery and start your car. The headunit should startup with the ignition.

2. Find Another 12V Source

If you have a multimeter, just find another set of wires that will give you 12 volts. All you need to do in this case is to splice the wires and tap the remote wires to each one. Of course, you should match polarity (+ and -).

Only do this if you have some knowledge of electronics and know what you are doing!

What Fuse Should I Run My Remote Wire To?

The amperage off remote turn on is not very high. It does not require much to switch the amp on. A 3-5 amp fuse should therefore be enough to run the remote wire to.

Conclusion

Connecting up your factory stereo to your amplifier is quite easy. You can use one of three methods – connecting to the fuse box, the cigarette lighter or simply finding a 12V source to power the amp. Whichever method you use, we wish you all the best!