Alpine H/U Installation

[BRUN]

ive jus got my CDA-9812RR and ive quickly looked at what ive got, it seems it has an earth wire of its own and a 12v line which it says must be connected to the fuse block or the battery............how do i connect it to the fuse block ?....as it would be a pain i think to do it to the battery....

 

[KDF]

The yellow lead is the permanent supply, you should already have a permanent 12v supply to your old stereo.

The red lead is the switched supply this is a 12v line which becomes "live" when you key is in the acc possition or with engine running. again you should already have this wire for your old stereo.

If you are not sure which wire is your perm and which is the switched use a multimeter to volt test them.

 

[BRUN]

no mate this headunit has a seperate 12v wire which it states MUST be connected directly to the battery..........

i think most if not all of the 60W alpines have it....

been talkin to Malice on MSN............an i will need a fuse near the battery too......does anyone know what amp fuse i will need...

 

[KDF]

ah okay, if its a 60w alpine then you may have to route it differently, It will probably draw too much current at high volume and blow a fuse in the car.

RE: what fuse you will need

Amps = Watts/Volts

 

[KDF]

if you cant be bothered working it out thats 5 amp btw... heh..

So you will need a 6amp or slightly above fuse placed close to the battery (there is a reason for placing it close to the battery which I wont go into)

 

[BRUN]

so i need a 6 amp blade fuse then

 

[KDF]

doesnt need to be a blade fuse, you can put an inline fuse in. (quickblow preferably)

which brings me onto another subject.. there is nothing like a quick blow..

er...

 

[BRUN]

so all i need is some wire, fuse holder and fuse, and some connectors yea

the earth it has ive sorted with Malice on its location.....

is there anythin else im likely to come across/need with this HU ?

 

[KDF]

ear plugs by the sound of it.. heh..

 

[connor]

is that peak watts or RMS watts KDF? as in peak watts/volts or rms watts/volts? just outta curiousity!

 

[BRUN]

right that 12v wire i need to hook up to the battery, it has a little fuse holder on it, with a small 20A blade fuse in it..........

so are u sure i need a 5A ?......for the one near the battery

 

[KDF]

if its got a 20A fuse in it, keep it at 20A.

I was assuming it would just be running 60W amp inside the stereo but obviously not, put a 20A inline fuse near the battery to be safe.

 

[KDF]

Quote: Originally posted by connor on 25 July 2003
is that peak watts or RMS watts KDF? as in peak watts/volts or rms watts/volts? just outta curiousity!


Its (power, current etc.) watts !

 

[BRUN]

ive put a 10A fuse in and it seems fine

this headunit is f**kin powerful...........

 

[chris172]

Ive got the 7876 which too needed to be hard wired direct to the battery. It has 4 * 45w output and required a 20a fuse!!!! It must say what is required in the hand book!!! dont guess, it ring Alpine.....

 

[adiclio16v]

yeh i got that one too if you dont hardwire it when u turn the volume up it gets distorted and the display dims

there is a fuse on the h/u wiring harness anyway which is 20amp so i used the same near the battery

adi

 

[Bryan]

well i have the Alpine 7893RB (4x60w) also needed to be hard wired to the battery

uses a 20A fuse for the constant +ve feed (yellow cable)

 

[BRUN]

right i need this head unit brighter, in the day at the moment its far too dim

ive figured out i need the dimmer set to manual an i can do that, but once its in manual how do you adjust it like up or down ?

 

[adiclio16v]

if uve got an illumination wire (orange probably) when turning lights on when its set in dimmer auto mode the h/u will dim

if its set in manual mode when turning lights on it wont dim

im pretty sure u cant dim it manually u need a feed from the lights and im not sure the clio has this

at the moment urs should be in full brightness in manual or auto if lights are off, if its not there is something amiss

adi

 

[BRUN]

mine goes dimmer in manual mode mate but durin the day auto is dim, far too dim....

dont wanna dim it i want it at max brightness

 

[MaLicE]

told u this already but u arnt gonna listen, auto is the HIGHEST amount of light the headunit will display, it is the way alpine screens are made, they have a low viewingangle, and also because of the way the hu is mounted in your rt, the light is shining on it in the day time, so u wont get it ne brighter.

 

[KDF]

Auto should set it to the brightest setting as the alpine unit would be recieving 0 volts on its illumination line, when the alpine unit recieves 12v on the line it will activate "night" mode.

I would have to be said that unless you have the latest alpine HU (even then) the Alpine screens are not as good as competitors screens.

However, people dont buy Alpine for its screen quality. If you want fancy looking (and in my opinion still great sounding HU) then buy a s0ny.

 

[adiclio16v]

lmao sony gimmicky fukers dont buy a sony if u want sound quality

adi

 

[BRUN]

yea but i really expected better of Alpine, i mean yea i did buy it for the sound, i do like the look of it but it wasnt the looks i bought it for

its a big let down to be honest and i was about to kit out my whole car in alpine equipment............hmmmm

 

[connor]

yeah sony = great screens & look good but not the best sound quality!

 

[cliosportcraig]

dont give up hope on alpine ! remember its the sound u want ! otherwise youll end up wiv a girls car (no offence) wiv pink fluffy dice ( just to make it look nice) what model do you have ? I wouldnt have sony even if it was free ! Use the 4v preouts and listen to your quality sound , miles ahead of the rest !

 

[KDF]

Hmm people seem to dis s0ny stuff too much on hear.. they are all alpine lovers..

I have owned both sony units and alpine units.. the quality difference is small, and unless you plan on going mega loud (im talking spl comps here) then there really is no difference, the alpine units can normally be expanded to whatever level you want to go.

What I am trying to say is if you want a great sounding great looking HU then get a sony, if you want to do SPL and massive installs get an alpine.

 

[cliosportcraig]

you dont even need to goto spl level to hear the difference ! sony distort really easy ! the preouts are low voltage ! and as said before they concentrate on looks not there sound ! they are good for people who want simple speaker replacements and a bass box !

 

[klmillard]

Quote: Originally posted by chris172 on 25 July 2003

Ive got the 7876 which too needed to be hard wired direct to the battery. It has 4 * 45w output and required a 20a fuse!!!! It must say what is required in the hand book!!! dont guess, it ring Alpine.....

Whats this "hard wired direct to the battery" mean? I have a spankin Alpine HU and i wired it up as usual but am wondering what or whether to "hard wire" it.

Also I heard that the length of the earth will effect the power is this true?

 

[connor]

hard wired, means you take the power cable from the head unit straight to the battery via an inline fuse instead of going thru the original wiring loom that is already there!

Alpine head units need this type of wiring due to the power/volts it needs!

Not sure about the length of earth effecting the power....

 

[BRUN]

rang Alpine an they said they have never had a complaint yet about the screens being too dim, always too bright !!

mine couldnt be too bright if it tried !!

 

[connor]

thats really odd mate, can u get any pictures with a digicam of what it looks like to see if its normal or what???