Hey I installed a Wetsounds Soundbar in my 2016 Hot Rod Gem. Super easy install & the Wire hook up for mine is Temp. But I just hooked the power and ground to the cars Constant 12v power & Ground. Well after I installed the bar I had to crank it up and “pop gos the 5amp fuse under the hood” marked Constant. I’m sure the sound bar pulled more power than the tiny 5am could handle. My question is! Any danger in swapping out that 5 Amp for a 10-15 amp fuse?
I know the real fix is adding a Dc Converter for the stereo so it’s independent of the cars 12v DC system. Just seeing if I can get by for a bit, keep the volume low UNTILL I build up the Stereo 12v system
The amperage rating of the fuse is designed to protect the wiring and ultimately the clown trying to draw 15 amps through a 14 gauge wire 20 feet long. That being said….. the bean counters always allow a margin of safety. In reality if the length of the wire is relatively short, you could probably get away with a 7.5 amp fuse for relatively short periods of time. Probably not a bad idea to equip your car with a fire extinguisher just in case .
Hey bub, 14 awg wire is rated for 15 amp at that length and then some.
Youre obviously not a golfer…
But i get what you ranting about. I just want to know, were your feet on the floor when you wrote that?
If the wire is 16 ga, 7.5 amp shpuld keep you protected, but best bet for audio is to.run a new 12ga wire. Its usually not the constanst draw with audio amps its the momentary loud hits that cause electrical issues
Yeah, ok. Ratings aside, my main reaction was to him having blown a five amp fuse and wanting to increase amp rating of the fuse. Lots of reasons for a fuse to blow on older cars, but I think his is fairly new.
Yeah, I hear you, and, I get what you were trying to get across.
Grant is one of those guys whose vehicles, etc, are in the top echelon of build / modification quality once he starts working on it. There are a few others on here too. Having seen the pictures and info they posted on here of their builds over the last few years, saying their vehicles are in the top 10% may be an understatement,
Looking at Wet Sounds webpage, that sound bar appears to be one of the larger ones, possibly the Stealth-10. The Stealth-10 and the other larger bars are listed as having 300 watt amps. At full power that’s 25amps at 12V. Which, if you follow code, is going to be 10 or even 8 ga wire, Of course ear and possibly rectal bleeding may be a side effect at that power level
I’m not a car audio installer though, so maybe someone with more experience in that area would have a better idea what would be practical. I just do industrial machinery.
Just curious I know the right way to do things is.
Get a 2nd dC converter and Pull power directly from the My 98v traction battery and them Make a power distribution block pull from their. But that’s a Month or so down the road. I’ll get there just wondering what Band Aid options exist?
Depending on the wire size, you may be able to get away with a 7.5amp, but check the fuse block for it’s max capacity so it doesn’t scorch or melt. 20% safety margin on the overhead will usually keep you out of troiuble.
Got an extra 12v pack or battery lying around? Wire direct. Charge with stand alone charger.
I have Dave’s old ammo can 12v LFP4 pack that he used to move carts around with - It’s the green cells though, only like 90Ah IIRC? Not sure it would be any lighter than an FLA though. I think you are only like an hour or so from me. Lmk if you want to borrow or whatever. Its just sitting; i was going to use it for service vehicle stobes on emmy, but not working for the company where i need them anymore
If it’s only going to temporary, just run a piece of ten gauge from the fuse block then the you can use a bigger fuse. I’m assuming that the existing 5 amp is for protection after the block. Going into the block should be a non issue. Actually if it were me I’d run a piece of 10 gauge off of the #1 battery with an inline fuse, but I’m still running 6 lead acid batteries. Not sure what you have for a power pack.. (temporarily). Actually, now that I think about it and the power draw of your system, why not just buy or build a small 12v battery and leave the stereo with its own dedicated power source, then you’re not robbing power from your main. A small deep cycle trolling motor battery from Walmart would do it and you’d just have to charge it once or twice a week
Definitely not an expert here. My initial thought was if the dc converter might get overloaded or damaged if too much load is applied to it. Big wires and big fuses might do that? I say that because the new GEMs have a second dc converter as an option and I think it’s standard equipment if you get options that suck up power like power steering or air conditioning.
Ok I’m going Ghetto for now. Got the 7.5 Amp fuse in. I’ll just wing it untill I figure out a 2nd DC power supply and sided distribution and do it right. Honestly the sound bar sounds like complete ■■■■ with no sub so it’s easy to keep the volume Down for now. It’s built to be mounted on a UTV that’s super loud and where a dude in a helmet & blasting down a trail at 60mph in a UTV with one hand holding PBR, can hear his Hank Williams. The thing is ear bleeding loud. With no low end it’s easy to keep the volume at 2-3 That will change soon
Your Thoughts 2 ways to add a Heathy sound system to the gem. My car is a 2016 with 24 Cell ID-4 Lithium some 98v. Gonna add a few subs to the rear and an Amp to power them. The wetsounds sound bar has a Built in 300w amp figured the Sub amp would be 300-500 watts so a 50 Amp Draw should be my max. Was thinking of 2 different ways of Powering the system.
#1 Add a group 31 Battery as a (power supply). And then add a small 12v trickle charger to keep that Stereo battery topped off. I can tie the trickle charger into the cars stock charge port so each time I charge the car the stereo battery gets topped off as well. With this way of doing it you are not Tapping into the cars stock harness & or effecting the cars reliability or range sort of a stand alone system. And no way of accidentally leaving the stereo on & draining down my Expencieve lithium pack. Con’s/ adding a $300 heavy group 31 battery and adding a Trickle charger
#2 Adding a DC converter sized for the Amp draw of 50 Amps is gonna cost Like $150. pretty simple to tap into the cars pack and give yourself 12v power supply. Down side I could dip at times into the 50Amp draw limit. And also the Risk of leaving stereo ON and drawing down the Cars main Battery.
Grant, what about #2 with the addition of a relay that closes when the “ignition” is on. When you turn the key to off, the relay opens and the second dc-dc converter no longer gets power.
Btw, it a second amp in the bar or is it just an output for the sub that cones from a single amp in the bar that powets all the speakers? When i glanced at the spec the other day, i took it as a single 300w amp, which is 25A draw at 12V.
If my vote means anything….. I think option 1 is best. Give the system its own power source. If it dies, so what…. At least you can still drive and sing…
Yeah, I’m leaning towards the battery. It looks like I can get 100 amp 12 V lithium battery for like 150 bucks only weighs 26 pounds and I can mount it up under the dash where the factory 12 V battery used to be this way. I don’t think I’m going to run into overdrawing the power supply. A battery can take a pretty good hit as far as amps go versus a power supply. Then I could just add a small trickle charger to maintain the 12 V stereo battery
Jar jar , that’s a good idea with the idea with the Relay. But that means I’d have to have the key on. The other night we went out to dinner and used the Gem Car sound system to listen to music as we ate outside close to the car and that scenario I need to leave the key in the ignition with it on. But you could always use a toggle switch. Still going over my options but for now adding a 12 V battery seems like a pretty simple solution.
On the streets, the hotrod sound systems have dedicated 12 volt lithium battery packs to dump HUGE amperage into the amp when you want to shake the Richter scale. Those packs are about the size of a standard car battery. Do you have room to tuck one under the seat or elsewhere? IF you went that way, you could charge the pack when you charge the cart (separate charger of course). IF you want to get more sophisticated, then get a drop down 72 volt to 12 volt charger, OR run an inverter 72 volt DC to 120VAC so you can run your margarita blender when you’re not plugged into your 12 volt charger for the sound bar battery pack. In a power outage, that inverter can make you a hero!
Yea I’m leaning that Direction. I have plenty of room under the dash. I could put a full Group 31 battery under the dash. Looks like the standard 100Amp Lithium Battery is right around 13inches
