Toms 22 Stereo build

[Wraith SRT]

Hey Tom...question - why did you go with a 3 Farad capacitor? I'm curious as your not drawing a ton of power from the RD500, especially with the TW3. I currently run an XD500 2/3 the way up on a 12W3 and there's plenty of efficient power to not draw on the electrical system that hard. Not saying its not needed as its always good insurance...just wondering. PS, I'm going to do the same thing with mine here in the near future - gearing up!

 

[TurboTommy]

Hey Tom...question - why did you go with a 3 Farad capacitor? I'm curious as your not drawing a ton of power from the RD500, especially with the TW3. I currently run an XD500 2/3 the way up on a 12W3 and there's plenty of efficient power to not draw on the electrical system that hard. Not saying its not needed as its always good insurance...just wondering. PS, I'm going to do the same thing with mine here in the near future - gearing up!

Hi Wraith. I am also running the 800VXI. The simple answer is some of the decisions are overdone. I could have used factory speaker wiring, 4 gauge, and skipped the cap. I wanted to ensure it was overdone.

Some of the decisions like running 1/0 along the frame rail, ground to the battery and back up through the drain plug then to the distribution blocks, and 1/0 back to the capacitor were to ensure proper ground and clean power. Some folks may have chosen to use a factory ground and 4 gauge. I chose the 3 Farad cap(20 bucks more than the 1 Farad cap) because I wanted to ensure clean power, and no lights flickering as well right now I chose to run the RD500 and stealth box with a single 10-inch sub, but honestly was not sure it would be enough. Now that it's in and running I can assure you it's plenty for me. This is especially true w the doors being packed w sound deadening and the back wall, the doors are dead. In the event, it was not enough I could swap the amp and change out for a different sub setup and the 1/0 and cap would handle the change.

As you mentioned just insurance for the build I did, maybe over-cautious. I only have 5k on the truck and the BMS has been finicky the Carplay update left my battery dead and have received a couple of Ford pass updates that have been sent " Remote Features Disabled to preserve battery". The dealer checked and no issues were found.

Keep the questions coming...

 

[Shane361]

What you really need is lithium if you have a 5k. Here is a 56ah and the my current 112ah in blue. I have it tucked away in the corner of the truck's bed with all my amps running wires to it through the cab flooring where there is a cutout and through the cut outs in the bed. The Mechman370 doesn't hurt either

 

[TurboTommy]

Nice. You have quite the system! I’d be deaf after hearing that video you posted!

The 5k is a reference to miles thus far.

 

[Shane361]

Nice. You have quite the system! I’d be deaf after hearing that video you posted!

The 5k is a reference to miles thus far.

Had to go back and reread it....I think I WANTED to see 5K AMP..hahaha

 

[Wraith SRT]

Keep the questions coming...

Fair enough and I will! Any particular reason you grounded @ the battery vs. right to the frame once you came out of the cab? I typically ground to the largest steel source as close as possible, as well as to try to keep my runs as short as possible to not cross signals. Not that it's a big deal, but there's so much going on in the engine bay, space is at a premium (not to mention all the battery corrosion over time). I haven't checked into it yet, but would also look into the "Big 3" upgrade for the electrical system as well.

 

[TurboTommy]

Fair enough and I will! Any particular reason you grounded @ the battery vs. right to the frame once you came out of the cab? I typically ground to the largest steel source as close as possible, as well as to try to keep my runs as short as possible to not cross signals. Not that it's a big deal, but there's so much going on in the engine bay, space is at a premium (not to mention all the battery corrosion over time). I haven't checked into it yet, but would also look into the "Big 3" upgrade for the electrical system as well.

Wraith typically I'd do the same. There are a couple of reasons. Although there is a factory ground behind the seat the trucks are aluminum panel bonded bodies and even sanding the factory ground and going straight to the body on these isn't the best option. The biggest reason I made a straight run, with matching gauge 1/0, is because it is what is called for using the Zen A2B box in the instructions You are looking for less than 1 ohm of resistance. If you check some of the threads folks have run into issues with a humming noise from an improper ground.

On the power and ground runs I used a loom to wrap them which I shrinkwrapped at the ends and on the 1/0 lug terminals make sure you use a healthy dose of Permatex between the connection and lug. I believe you can see it in my pictures.


Check out page 2 https://navtv.com/media/products_file/2019/07/24/DSP12A-A2B_Installation_Manual_rB12.pdf

"if engine noise is introduced through the system with the ZEN, match the interface’s ground wire to the aftermarket amplifier’s ground."

 

[Littlefx4]

@TurboTommy, are you running an active or passive system? Asking as I see crossovers mounted to your amp rack with the JL VX800 dsp. Do you have the crossovers mounted for aesthetics?

 

[TurboTommy]

Passive / active. I am using passive crossovers but preactively filtering. I am sure some of the high-end shops may forgo the passive crossovers and deal directly with the AMP/DSP. I felt more comfortable using the crossovers supplied with the FOCAL K2's and using the dip switches then was also able to set limits in the TUN software as well with my laptop. You can make endless adjustments.

 

[rlj676]

Do you have enough channels to try bi-amping and fill active? Would be curious if you could try comparing what you can achieve… of course would take more time haha.