Installation Tips for Accessories Audio Car

Installing accessories is something even beginning DIYers can do, particularly when it comes to capacitors and sound-deadening material. But make sure you carefully follow the directions given here and those included with the products. You’d better leave installation of backup batteries, isolators, and alternators to professionals, however. And remember: Whenever you’re working with a car’s electrical system, disconnect the negative lead of the battery. Otherwise, you could cause a short if a hot power wire accidentally grounds to a part of the vehicle and fries one of your car audio components or, worse, your car’s electrical system.

Capacitors 

Capacitors should be mounted as close to an amplifier as possible, and they should be wired before the amplifier, with the positive terminal in-line with the amplifier’s main power lead and the negative terminal attached to ground. Most caps come with a mounting bracket, which can be attached to the body of the car (as long as you know the screw won’t potentially damage anything behind the panel). Sometimes capacitors are installed on an amp rack also.

Because capacitors can store a large amount of energy, you’ll need to protect the terminals, usually located on top, because they are hot or carry current. Many capacitors come with a cover that protects the terminals. Use it. Otherwise, a significant spark could be generated across the terminals if they are shorted out, meaning some type of conductive material (such as metal) touches both terminals. Although this isn’t particularly dangerous, it could permanently mar the terminals, which are usually gold-plated.

A capacitor also needs to be charged after it’s installed. To do this, you need a resistor and a volt meter. (Most capacitors come with a resistor.) To charge the capacitor, replace the fuse in the power wire’s main fuse holder with the resistor while charging the cap. With the negative power wire connected to the battery and power flowing through the amplifier’s main power wire, carefully place the probes of the volt meter on the positive and negative terminals of the capacitor. After the volt meter reads 12 volts, the capacitor is charged and you can disconnect the negative wire from the battery and swap the resistor for the power fuse.

Auxiliary batteries

Auxiliary batteries are usually installed in a trunk or a hatch. If you’re using a traditional lead acid battery, which has become less common in car audio applications, it has to be isolated from the passenger compartment, which is almost impossible in a hatchback or pickup. Otherwise, the battery needs to be in a car’s trunk and vented to the outside of the vehicle with a forced-air system involving fans and vents. That’s because, while charging, a lead acid battery releases flammable gases that can possibly cause an explosion.

Because of these concerns, using dry cell batteries for car audio applications has become more common. The advantage of using a dry cell battery is that it doesn’t contain liquid, so you don’t have to worry about battery acid leaking the way you would with a traditional lead acid battery. In fact, dry cell batteries? can be mounted on their sides or even upside down. You just want to make sure they are secured to the vehicle.

When hooking up a backup battery to your charging system, you’ll need a battery isolator, as I mentioned earlier in the chapter. The isolator goes between the batteries and the alternator, and there must be a fuse between each battery and the isolator. If the second battery is mounted in the rear of a vehicle, such as in the trunk, and the isolator is mounted in the engine compartment, you’ll need two in-line fuses with the power wire, both close to the battery and close to the isolator.

Modifying a vehicle’s charging system is best left to someone who knows what they’re doing, such as a mechanic or a professional car audio installer. If you start messing with your car’s charging system and you’re not 100 percent competent to do so, you could cause thousands of dollars in damage to your car.

Sound-deadening material

Installing sound-deadening material is pretty straightforward, provided that you know how to take apart your vehicle’s interior — and properly put it back together again. 

To install sound-deadening material, you need

• Acetone and rags for cleaning the metal surfaces you’ll be applying the material to.
• A razor knife or large scissors for cutting the material.
• A roller tool for getting rid of any bubbles and making sure the material is fully adhered to the metal (see Figure 19-8). A roller tool can be found at any hardware store. The original sound-deadening supplier to the car 1 audio crowd, Dynamat, also sells them.

Before you begin, it’s a good idea to lay the sound-deadening material in the sun or some other warm spot to heat it up slightly so that it’s more pliable.

Here are the steps you’ll need to take to install sound-deadening material:

1. Remove the cosmetic panels of the car to expose the metal surfaces you want to apply the sound-deadening material to. Most panels are held in by clips, screws, plugs, and other fasteners or some combination all of these. You may need a special tool, such as a panel tool or clip-retention tool to remove some panels. These can be purchased online at Crutchfield (www.crutchfield.com), Installer, com (www.installer.com), and other sites. Take your time to figure out the correct way to remove a door panel, and make certain you know how it goes back together. Check online forums for information about how panels are removed in a given vehicle if you get stuck or you’re not sure. Better yet, ask someone, such as a professional installer, who has worked on one.
2. Clean the metal with acetone and rags to remove any dirt, grease, or anything that can affect the adhesion of the material.
3. Using the scissors or razor knife, cut the material into the shape of the panels you intend to cover. A paper or cardboard template is helpful in properly sizing sections before cutting the material.
4. After you’ve cut the material to the proper size, peel off the liner on the adhesive side and carefully apply the material to the metal panel. If you are using whole sheets on a large area, peel off the liner in sections so that not all of the adhesive is exposed at once.
5. After the material is in place, to ensure a good bond, use the roller tool to remove any bubbles that may have formed between the sound- deadening material and the metal. 
6. In places where there are ridges, such as in the doors, make sure that the material touches the metal and doesn’t just bridge these areas. For small air bubbles that can’t be removed with the roller tool, use the razor knife or scissors to poke a small hole in the bubble to deflate it and then press down on the material.
7. Reinstall the panels of the car.