See if anyone can figure this out

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I noticed the other day that my power wire is hooked up to my fuse box. Not directly into it but right next to it. This is in my 97 Tahoe. I was surprised that it wasn't hooked up to the battery like normal. I bought the Tahoe with an already existing aftermarket amp that the previous owner had installed. I can take a pic of it if anyone wishes to see....but just found that puzzling. Explain?!?!

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[kross 10+ year member]

So is it actually hooked up TO the fuse box, or is the power wire just routed by the fuse fox and into the engine compartment, and then to the battery? It's possible they were just using the existing hole in the firewall to route the power wire.

If not, if it's actually hooked up to the fuse box, well then I guess you have some rewiring ahead of you.

 

[squeak12 10+ year member]

Is this what you mean?

The fuse box has a positive lead going to it. The wire is attached to this lead.

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

many installers instead of dealing the the irritation of gm batt terminal wire amps to the positive lead going directly from the batt to the fuse box

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Well I dunno. I'll take a pic of it later and post it.

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

Some guy a CC wired up a power wire like that 8 years ago for my brothers car. I have no idea why not just connect it to the battery. So my guess is that the previous owner took it to a shop.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

many installers instead of dealing the the irritation of gm batt terminal wire amps to the positive lead going directly from the batt to the fuse box

Woah....Ok that prob explains it right there. In other words, they were taking a shortcut, is what I'm guessing. OR....unless they found that that situation is easier than running a few more ft of wire to the battery.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Here it is. The exposed red wire of course is the power wire. There's an existing bolt/nut combo connected to the fusebox as you can see in the pic.

 

[Safe-N-Sound215 10+ year member]

It's fine to connect to there. If you're not comfortable with it you can always move it to the batt. Mine is similar(gm vehicle) and it's easier for me to have it there, since my batt is under my washer fliud resivoir and other stuff. Have to pull a few things just to see the batt.

 

[kross 10+ year member]

Oh, the fuse box is in the engine compartment. I was thinking it was in the passenger compartment, under the dash.

In that case, it really doesn't make sense why they wouldn't just run the extra couple feet of wire to the battery. But, as long as the wire that goes from the fuse block to the battery is big enough gauge, I guess it's okay.

 

[350_regal 10+ year member]

some people dont like to pay the extra money for a battery tap so i just do that instead and it works fine.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Ah good. Never seen that before so thought I'd ask. The battery is like 3ft away from the fusebox.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

yeah it's just a GM thing, same way in my intrigue. Battery is like 2 feet away, but there is a labeled positive terminal on the fuse box that I use for running my wires. It's a ton easier to get to, I have to remove a big metal bar and move a bunch of wires to get to the actual positive terminal.