I'm making a box that will contain amps, caps, dist blocks, etc. The idea is to be able to remove the box for extended offroad trips freeing up storage space. Plus, I didn't want to bore holes in the back of the rear seats. The box will be bolted to the tie downs just behind the rear seats.

My box is made of pine and is 39"L x 16"W x 5"H. It has several vents on one of the 5" sides providing finger access to the electrical and speaker wire connectors on each amp -- and fuses. The other 5" side is on hinges and provides a door to access the front of the amps for tuning gain, etc.

I installed 2 12V fans in the box to force air circulation. I think they came from surplus PC's and, at this point, I'm not even sure if they they will work in my application.

I don't want to power the fans 24/7. I want to rig them up so that they're enabled when the 'remote' from the deck is triggered and turned of when the deck is powered down. How would I go about doing this? I know it would involve a relay but that's as far as I can think right now ...

I'll post pics when the box is completed.

 

Seek and you shall find. I found the answer I needed:
http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp#rtol

An excerpt from that site: "Using a 30 amp SPDT relay, connect terminal #87 to constant 12 volts positive with a fuse rated to the sum of the additional accessories you've added and the components you need to turn on. (If you have two fans rated at 5 amps each and a neon light rated at 10 amps, you would use a 20 amp fuse plus 200 ma for each amplifier and processor.) Connect terminal #85 to ground, terminal #86 to the remote turn on lead from the head unit, and terminal #30 to each accessory with an appropriate fuse. ..."

 

yeah, definitely use a relay... it's pretty easy

 

yes, relay.

easist one is like 7$ at Radio Shack

 

Relay was installed on the weekend. Works like a charm.

 

Where's the beef?!! I mean Pics!




Erich