Senseing/REM wire???

[Kaos 10+ year member]

I hooked my REM wire to the solid blue wire coming from my factory radio but it isn't enough power to turn my amp on (RF 200x4). What can I tap into to get the 12-14v needed to turn the amp on? Right now I have it coming off my battery but I have to plug/unplug it every time I get in and out of the vehicle. Where would be a simple place to tap into to get the required volts? I thought of tapping into my powerpoint (assuming it cuts off w/ the ignition). TIA

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[nosaj070 10+ year member]

im pretty sure that in most cars the rem wire is blue with a white stripe, it should be gettin 12 volts.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

Umm, a remote wire doesn't need 12 volts to turn on your amp. An amp needs a minute amount of power to turn it on, i forgot how much power a remote wire puts out, but i know it is NOWHERE near 12 volts. Thats all the remote wire does, it tells the amp that the radio is on. Another option is to wire it into your fuse box so the amp turns on when you turn the car on.

 

[Kaos 10+ year member]

According to the troubleshooting part of the online manual (link at the end of message) the REM needs 10.5-15.5v to work. I had it attached to a blue wire coming from my HU and it was getting aprox. 3v and was not coming on until I switched it to a line directly linked to my battery.

Online owners manual:

http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39232

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

According to the troubleshooting part of the online manual (link at the end of message) the REM needs 10.5-15.5v to work. I had it attached to a blue wire coming from my HU and it was getting aprox. 3v and was not coming on until I switched it to a line directly linked to my battery.
Online owners manual:

http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39232

Well, i know for a fact that my remote wire doesn't put out 12 volts, and it turns on my amp just fine. The remote lead on your amp needs a small amount of power. Maybe what you think is the remote wire really isn't. Most remote wires are blue with a white line on it. My suggestion is to just wire into the fuse box so it turns on with the car.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Well, i know for a fact that my remote wire doesn't put out 12 volts, and it turns on my amp just fine. The remote lead on your amp needs a small amount of power. Maybe what you think is the remote wire really isn't. Most remote wires are blue with a white line on it. My suggestion is to just wire into the fuse box so it turns on with the car.

Your remote wire defintely SHOULD put out 12 volts. If it doesn't, something is wrong.
The CURRENT that a head unit remote can put out at 12 volts is rather small... on the order of 1/2 amp or less. If you draw any more than that from it, you'll burn out the transistor that does the switching. Fortunately, almost all amps draw much less than 1/2 amp on their remote input so that's not a problem. If you need to supply more than that (like multiple amps) you can run a relay off the HU and let that switch the higher current.

Kaos, unplug the remote from the amp and measure the voltage comming from the HU with no load. It should be 12 volts. If not, check the wire right at the output of the HU, maybe you have a bad connection. If it's 12 volts without a load and drops to 3 volts when connected, something's wrong. Either the amp remote draws more than the HU remote rating (numbers should be in the specs), or the HU has a problem.

Worst case you wire an external switch and get power from the same wire that feeds the head unit power. That wire will only be hot when the ignition is on or in accessory.

 

[Matador 10+ year member]

you need very little current in ur remote wire to turn it on. i didn't think that it has 12V but could be tru since pretty much everything is around 12v even when the car is off.