i bought an amp and i was wondering if when i wire up the power & ground leads can i just splice them into the existing leads running to the radio or do i have to run new wires back to the battery?

 

Run power back to battery. You can run the ground back to the battery also or use the ground on the triple tree.

 

Power wire to battery...

Ground wire to battery...

Neck bearings have caused issues with grounding to the triple trees...

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/audio...y-from-rf.html

 

Interesting. Tried telling some people that months ago and I was told I was wrong.

 

You do not want to power the amplifier off of the radio feed. The wire is to small of a gauge and also could cause the wiring to melt and or fuse to blow.

You can buy an amp wiring kit for a car cheap. Comes with wire, fuses, and misc mounting supplies. What I did was feed a stiff wire thru under the tank and verified it was where I wanted it. Pulled the two wires and hooked into the battery. Took a little while but worked out.

 

Absolutely run wires to the battery.

 

Definitely run the hot wire to the battery, but you'll also need to size it properly. I used 12-gauge wire that's rated for 28A, but not all 12-ga. wire is rated that high. My amp is rated at 125W x 2. Some amp manufacturers recommend as large as 8-gauge wire, so do your homework before slapping just any wire into your application.

 

Definitely run the hot wire to the battery, but you'll also need to size it properly. I used 12-gauge wire that's rated for 28A, but not all 12-ga. wire is rated that high. My amp is rated at 125W x 2. Some amp manufacturers recommend as large as 8-gauge wire, so do your homework before slapping just any wire into your application.


Yeah, the installation sheet recommends 10 AWG. Thanks.

 

There are no wires in the fairing with the capacity to power an amp. Run hot power lead to battery with proper gauge wire and fuse/holder. The ground should be the same gauge wire grounded to the frame. Running the ground to the battery can cause interference issues. do not ground through the triple tree/head bearings.

 

Maybe you should get someone who knows what they are doing.