Wiring advice ---- or not needed

Folks,

A while back, I wired up my stereo system as shown here:

http://www.4runners.org/image/stereo/layout.jpg

The writeup is here: http://www.4runners.org/writeups/stereo/index.html

As you can see from the bottom left hand corner, I wired from the battery's positive terminal to an inline fuse then to the amp itself. There is a small remote turn on/off wire running from the amp to the head unit.

So here's the problem: When I would drive the biodiesel Benz to work, my 4runner would sit on the street. Sometimes for weeks. However, the battery would drain. I determined after a short time that it took less than 4-5 days to completely drain.

The temporary fix was to pull the inline fuse between the battery and the amp. I also did the same for a secondary circuit I made for my accessories (another culprit).

Once I did that, no more battery problems.

So my plan is to re-install the stereo system and secondary circuit (like frohbego is currently doing).

Question: Is wiring the amp the way I did the standard way of wiring an amp? If not, what can be done to make sure that the amp turns off so that it is not draining the battery?

I am assuming if I've done this amp wiring correctly, it might've been the secondary circuit.

Yup. Normally amps are directly wired to the battery and the blue wire from the head unit turns it on and off. How old is the amp?

May want to stick an amp meter (using a VOM in amperage mode) between the battery and the amp and measure how much power is being drawn when everything is completely off. It should be next to nothing. Then I'd turn the head unit on, make sure you turned the volume down to zero before you do all of this, and see how much power you're pulling. It should go up once the amp turns on. If nothing changes then your amp is simply staying on. If it is turning on and off, but still drawing power when it's off, then maybe it's time to buy a new amp.

I hope this made sense...

x2 to what Jason said.. as long as your inline fuse is within 18" of the battery, you wired everything correctly. definitely check power draw with the VOM and see what you're dealing with

bob, that is the way my amp is wired.

for me, any vehicle that sits for more than 2 weeks will end up with a low battery, especially in extreme temperatures. i always go and start the sitting vehicle and let it run for 15 minutes, or drive it around for a while. this seems to be enough to keep the batteries up.

if the amp is the problem, which it seems that it is because removing the fuse solves the problem, then i would inspect to see if your amp is actually turning off with the stereo, or if the blue wire is somehow getting +12V from somewhere else.

That's wired correctly as long as the turn on lead is a switched lead (or an actual turn on lead per the headunit wiring)

Did you pull both the amp fuse and your aux stuff fuse at the same time? Maybe try pulling one or the other to isolate the issue.

Is there anything else wired into the amp power wire?

Do you have an alarm on the Runner? Some alarms have more current draw than others (those that hold relays open when armed vs those that hold them open when running - had old Clifford that was like that)

Hey guys,

Ok, i'll hook up my multimeter set to VOM when I get to it possibly this weekend.

Mike: nothing wired off the amp power wire. And I do have an alarm wired to it. I will try the VOM idea on the alarm too. I don't think its the alarm though as I've left it armed (after unhooking the amp) and the battery didn't drain in a few days.

Thanks gents.