I need to run a few cables from the front of the car to the boot and am wondering if I have to seperate the power wires from the audio/video wires? In other words, do they have to be seperated by running them on each side of the car?

I would - incase there is any inteference

Not sure why but most ICE builders "in the know" do this.

p.s Dave only 6 more days to Jabba time.

Darn :(

Any tips for running the wires in that case? I take it the most lower plastic strips can be removed (I think they hold the carpets in place)? Or could I run the cables from underneath the car (say, inside the side skirts)? Or should I just panic and call in the professionals?

Q,

It's standard practice to run the power cables down the battery side of the car, and the audio connections down the other. In theory, having a cable carrying high current lying next to other cables carrying relatively "feeble" currents might mean some form of induction or interference takes place.

(I have to admit I don't buy into the above theory 100% - if it was an alternating current then you might have problems. Plus the lead from my multichanger goes the same way as the power cable for half the length of the car!)

More importantly, you don't want a power cable from the battery shorting out against an RCA lead and potentially blowing your H.U. and/or amp. V. unlikely, but is it worth risking?

AFAIK there's space along each side of the car (fabia anyway and no doubt its big brother) to run cables out of the way. But I chickened out and paid someone to do that bit, as I didn't want to mess with the carpets and stuff. I get the impression that it's pretty easy to do though...

And what sort of wire should I be looking at for the power (I will potentially run a mp3 player, a dvd player and a fridge of it), and what for the audio and video (future upgrade ) ?

See? You start off just wanting to put the mStation in your boot, and before long you end up with half of your lounge and the kitchen in there!

(If you want room for a DVD and fridge, why not just get an old vw camper van?)

If you're going to power lots of stuff in the boot, try and get really meaty wire run down there, and for god's sake use a proper distribution block to connect everything to it - that way each thing is on a separate fuse!

Example of a distro-block - lefthand side

Originally posted by Quinten in this post

Any tips for running the wires in that case? I take it the most lower plastic strips can be removed (I think they hold the carpets in place)? Or could I run the cables from underneath the car (say, inside the side skirts)? Or should I just panic and call in the professionals?

What I did (so it's just advise, not saying you should do it ),

was took a large flathead screwdriver in hand.

If you look at the plastic trim where it sits under the door, there's

like a rubber lip which sits over this. If you gently slip the

screwdriver under the lip and gently prise the plastic off gradually

and progressively, you should get yourself enough access along

to tuck a wire under it without needing to take it all out.

Paul (ffelan) advocates just pulling it hard, but then he's like

that...

Once done, you push the plastic into place then run the

screwdriver under the rubber lip again to get it back on top of

the plastic.

With the plastic at the side of the rear seats, there's a couple

of big plastic round things to unscrew, and also a screw - this

should give you enough movement in the trim to tuck the cable

through over the rear wheel arch.

Really, just find yourself somewhere good to work, take your

time and enjoy it...

Rob.

If you're going to power lots of stuff in the boot, try and get really meaty wire run down there, and for god's sake use a proper distribution block to connect everything to it - that way each thing is on a separate fuse!

I read somewhere that the fuse should be as close as possible to the battery. But if you have a distribution block like you have, does that mean that you still need the fuse at that end?

Rob, do I need to prise the screwdriver closest to the door, or closest to the centre? In other words, which side of the strip?

Q.

Q,

You have a fuse as close to the battery as possible, and ideally another in the boot itself (i.e. on a distribution block). Better to be safe than sorry and all that!

Plus - you have a high ampage fuse near the battery, but can have different rated fuses in the distribution block - so a low one for the mStation, and a higher one for, say, an amp...

Now thats what I call good advice

Thanks Stimps, I think a trip to Halfords is in order to see how much this will set me back :eek:

Originally posted by Quinten in this post

Rob, do I need to prise the screwdriver closest to the door, or closest to the centre? In other words, which side of the strip?

This is where descriptions get tricky! It's the bit on the inner side - I seem to recall on mine the lip overlaps the plastic only

on one side, the other being joined somehow or other to the

metal of the body.

You could mount a 12v socket in the boot, that would be handy

for a fridge, or creating a designated smoking area in the boot

Rob.

If your local halfords is like mine, then half of the ICE stuff they sell is also available on the other side of the store for half the price in plain packaging in the "electrical" section - so explore the store

Yeah, all the ones I've been in are the same Stimps - a bagged precut length of speaker wire

is somehow 3 times the price of uncut speaker wire! Personally, I'd buy it from a hifi shop...

Rob.

Q - you'll probably need a crimp tool and the biggest 'ring' bits to crimp onto the wire - especially for hooking up an earth lead in the boot.

Only fabia experience here, but the earth point is below the rear speaker (I used the left-hand side as you stand outside and look into the boot) - a plactic "crown" around a stud fixed to the body - should already be a couple of brown (?) wires connected to it, with the crown gripping the wires to keep everything in place.

Just came back after a visit to my local Halfords and I'm a bit wiser then I was before, but a long way from understanding it all.

I saw one of those distribution blocks, but it had 4 connections on one side, and 4 on the other side. How does this distribute then? And on the subject of earth point, do I run 2 cables from the battery (+ and GND) or just the one (+) and hook the GND to the earth point?

And the big fuse goes on the + near the battery?

Think that I'll give a few installers a call and see if they can do some nice prices for cable runs as I don't feel at all confident about the power wires...

Q.

The thick power cable runs from the positive connection on the battery all the way down to the boot. There should be an in-line fuse holder in this wire as close to the battery as possible (most power cables come with the fuse-holder already in place).

Did you look at the distribution block closely? There should be 1 or 2 ways to connect the incoming power lead (mine has one to the side, and another at the top of the left-hand block, depending on where the power lead is coming from) - only the right hand side has 4 indepent connections, all of which are fused.

Earth lead goes from the boot to the nearest available point - which is at the back of the boot roughly inline with the top of the back seat (An Octy owner will need to confirm this, I only have a fab to go on!)

Q - hang on while I go and take some pictures - a picture paints a thousand words after all!

Larger Picture

Forgot how mine was arranged!

The power lead from the battery is seen above entering the DB on the right hand side. Note that the metal "block" on that side consists of one piece.

Each of the four "outputs" on the left hand side are separate blocks. At present I only have the amp (bottom-left) hooked up. The fuse is 20A to match those used by the amp itself.

Larger Picture

Bit of an odd angle this, but it shows the back of the battery on my fabia - with the fuse-holder clearly visible. Note how the dealer carefully cable-tied everything in place

Ah, I actually couldnt take that close a look at the distribution block, so you might be right there. It had 4 connections on either side, which almost implies that it also had 2 connection on the top (or bottom, depending on which way you look at it)... Just that I couldnt see it.

So it might not be so bad after all then if I only have to run a cable for +ve. Didnt see a cable with the big fuse inline though, although they did have the fuseholder seperate.

Keep up the good work Stimps, I might change carreers in August . And pictures would be most welcome!

Q.

Doh! You take pictures quicker than I write replies

So what about fuses? You say that you've matched the one in the distr. with the Amp, but what about the one near the battery? The bigger the better?

Q.

My amp has a 20A mini-blade fuse in it, so I picked 20A fuses elsewhere.

The one by the battery is a large blade-type 20A fuse, as is the glass one in the distribution block.

Best way decide how to fuse the system is to look at whatever draws the most current - in nearly all cases (fridges aside) this is the amp. You'd then match the fuse at the battery end to that, as nothing else should draw more current than this...

There's probably some way of working out exactly what to do... hmmm...

About to have chinese takeway, but if I can find the manual I'm thinking of, I'll re-type what it has to say about fuses and stuff

Eet smakelijk... Sambal bij?