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Hi,

So I have been running my amp without a fuse for a while (forgot to do it at installation, and just never bothered to put it in), and recently I switch cars, and want to put the amp/sub in the new car.

New car is a 2002 Civic (EX in US, or SI in Canada).

Now, I re-read the amp install docs last night, and it mentioned repeated to "put the fuse within 18-inches of the battery terminal".

Here comes my stupid question: what's the fuse??

The gold/red thing seems to fit great with the power wire (so I cut a piece to connect to the battery terminal and one end of the gold/red thing, and connect the rest of the power wire to the other end of the gold/red thing and to my amp),

but the black thing seems to fit a fuse that i've seen before... except the power wires don't fit through the holes...

which should i use??

Thanks,

-jp

 
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You wanna use the gold and clear fuse holder, and might I suggest finding someone that knows a bit more about car audio to assist you, so you dont hurt yourself or your car.

 
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the gold red one is fine. the other one is a fuse for a smaller gauge wire.

 
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Both of them are fuse holders. They just use different types of fuses and have different types of connections to the power wire.

The one w/ the gold ends is a common fuse holder. The fuses are round. Has the screw terminals on the end so in installs quite nicely. The fit and finish is a little more showy.

The other is a blade type fuse holder. It uses common blade fuses. It requires crimp style connectors on the ends to connect to the power wire. It isn't as showy .... and its budget oriented.

Personally if you can afford it I prefer circuit breakers. If you do a no no and blow a fuse you need to go to the store and get a new one. For a circuit breakers there is none of that, you simple reset it. Plus when you wanna work on it you simple flip the switch to kill or restore power. They work exactly the same as one in a house, but are made specially for a car stereo. You can probably get one cheap off ebay.

 
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Thanks for the info! Good to hear before I start working on it...

Cheers,

-jp

 
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Another thing that you NEED to think about is making sure you use a fuse that matches the amperage of your amp. An easy way to do this is to just look at the the fuses that are actually on your amp, add them up, and that is the about the proper size fuse you should run in your power wire. I've been an amaturer of installing car audio for a few years now, and if you have any questions i'd be happy to help.

 
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Alright, thanks everyone! I finished installing the amp/sub this weekend, and everything is running sweet! The wires are cleanly hidden under panels/carpets, and i'm pretty happy with the way it looks.

Cheers,

-jp