HALP! Am I wiring my toggle switch correctly?

[ecom]

EDIT: Yes, that's how you measure voltage. The voltage at the battery should be 14.4 when the car is running. Ideally, you want about 14 or so at the inverter.

EDIT 2: Highly doubtful that sub is a real 188W RMS. Just sayin'

At idle speed, I'm not sure he'll see 14V, fast idle maybe. I think my Toyota outputs 13.6-13.8 at idle.

Measure the voltage when nothing is running and when the inverter is loaded, probably it'll drop by 1V or so if the wiring is 12AWG.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ok, I've got everything wired with 12GA and I'm reporting back.

I think I'm going to stick with 12 gauge because:

1. I noticed no heat buildup even after running the sub for a few hours.

2. I didn't realize this before, but since the Fit is a hatchback I can have my bass turned a *lot* lower than in my old Echo and still have the same thump. Less power consumption.

3. I actually don't listen to bass all that loud in the first place anyway. Maybe for short spurts and particular songs, but definitely not for periods over 5 minutes straight. Other times I use the sub to provide a pleasant fullness to the music.

4. The Logitech sounds great

One thing I noticed:

When my car was turned off (inverter running off of the battery) I would crank up the bass to almost max and the sub would turn itself off after a couple seconds. The same does not happen when the car is turned on. So my theory is voltage drop, correct? With the car off the voltage going to the inverter drops too far below, which in turn shuts off the subwoofer.

 

[ecom]

Is the inverter shutting off in addition to the sub? It's possible that the inverter shuts off due to low voltage but I cannot say that for certain.

You have a switch, in your original plan is that connected directly to the power source and inverter -- considering the amount of current, personally, I would have used a relay of some sort. Switch may only have 10 to 20A rating.

Use a meter and check the voltage...I don't know why the sub shuts off.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Is the inverter shutting off in addition to the sub? It's possible that the inverter shuts off due to low voltage but I cannot say that for certain.

You have a switch, in your original plan is that connected directly to the power source and inverter -- considering the amount of current, personally, I would have used a relay of some sort. Switch may only have 10 to 20A rating.

Use a meter and check the voltage...I don't know why the sub shuts off.

No, it appears that only the sub shuts off. The inverter stays on. Is it possible for the inverter to get too low of a voltage but still keep on going while the sub shuts off as a result?

My switch is not rated to a very high amperage. I don't even know what a relay is.

Do they even make switches for 8GA wire?