Wiring...non-brew Related

[pokolbinguy]

G'day All,

I realise this is not directly beer related but I know there is plenty of people on here that might be able to help me.

I bought some switches to switch my Amp but also the original rear speakers in my car. The idea is as the speakers that run of the amp are 6x9's in boxes i wanted to have the option to switch on the original speakers if I take the 6x9's out of my boot to give me more space (i have a wagon) but be able to switch them off when the 6x9's are in the car.

So. I have 3 switches,

1. Switches the AMP On/Off
2. Switches Orig RR On/Off
3. Swtiches Orig LR On/Off

Now the switches I got have an LED on them, so when grounded the light should come on when the load is active (turned on) but light should go off when the switch is off...now this works fine for switch 1 (amp) but switch 2 and 3 the lights stay on all the time whether they are turned on or off.

Is this because the CD player (head deck) is already grounded?? or am I not doing this incorrectly??

attached is a simple diagram of how I have it wired



Any help would be great. I am not too fussed that they stay on all the time but it would be nice to have them work properly.

Cheers, Pok

 

[Pollux]

mmmm, switches on speaker wires, can't say I've tried that myself.....

I assume you have placed the speaker wire somewhere along the +ve line to the speaker? My assumption would be that due to this the -ve connection from the HD to the speaker is still intact. so it wouldn't surprise me if some form on current is managing to pass along the -ve speaker connection, through the speaker, through the supposedly "dead" side of the switch, through the LED being used to show it's on and out the earth the switch is connected too....It may not be a full voltage but enough to allow the LED to light up.

My advice would be to rewire it so that the switches activate a relay, which would be the switch point for the speaker wire.

 

[pokolbinguy]

Hmm interesting...I'll see if anyone comes up with anything else but you could be right. My other thought was that for some reason I have switched the wrong side...switched the -ve not the +ve....i will have to check the wiring out of the back of the cd player to make sure I have the right wire. Would this cause a problem??

 

[Pollux]

In reality switching either shouldn't make a difference, you are simply breaking a closed circuit.

One thought though it that you may be introducing some form of interference into your factory rear speakers by having them in contact with the earth. A relay will eliminate that.

 

[pokolbinguy]

In reality switching either shouldn't make a difference, you are simply breaking a closed circuit.

Cool thats what I was thinking

One thought though it that you may be introducing some form of interference into your factory rear speakers by having them in contact with the earth. A relay will eliminate that.

sounds seemed to be clear, I'm not overly concerned as the original speakers get basically no work...I haven't used them in years..but decided I wanted to get this problem sorted. I had other switches in my glove box but they were rather dodgey and I decided that seeing I had to take the dash out the other day to fix my heater core I would tidy up the wiring and do this properly. Thus why I now have this issue. Then again one of the speakers has decided it does not want to co-operate and doesnt work (no sound) so I need to run a fresh wire to that speaker when I get some spare time....I think it can wait a while tho....interesting thing was the light on that switch comes on aswell...even though the speaker does not come on...

 

[Gulf]

Keep it simple!

How about using the same amazing technology used in headphone sockets on devices everywhere - the switched socket:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PS0160
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PP0154

So two each of those for your two speaker boxes.

1. Wire your original amp and speaker wiring through the socket, and mount the socket somewhere in a panel of your car.
2. Put plug on end of speaker cable running to your 6x9.
3. ...
4. Profit

The original speakers will run until you plug a 6x9 into the socket, which will then bypass the original speaker and feed your phat beetz into the 6x9.

 

[komodo]

http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/forums/index.php

If your leaving the stock rears in place why not just fade them out?
Personally Id just disconnect them - rear seat passengers dont matter, plus when you do have rear passengers you typically dont have the stereo on that loud - and passengers typically start to whine about the volume of rear 6x9s long before the front seat passengers can even really hear them.

Realistically front stage is where its at. I'd be running front splits off the amp in the doors. Sound deadening in the form of dynamat will give a better bass and will sound better than "sick by nines" any day. If you want more bass then add a 10" sub in the back of the wagon on one side firing across the boot space just behind the wheel arch. Or if your not so fussed about boot space most of the time then a box mounted along the back of the rear seat firing towards the tailgate will rear load gaining you at least 3db - more if you play with "throat" design and loading positioning.

I've been a dB drags competitor and built some fairly loud cars (mid 140 db's from a single 12" jaycar sub for example) I've also been a judge in Australias leading automotive sound quality competition (MEASQ). I know a little about this stuff.

 

[pokolbinguy]

If your leaving the stock rears in place why not just fade them out?

The head unit I have doesnt allow fade of rears wired in via the speaker wires independently of those running off Aux outputs on the rear of the unit...hope that makes sense.