Alpine head unit question

[Holty]

I will be getting my new Alpine CDA-7894 tomorrow. It is the new HU with the "vdrive" internal amp which the say is putting out 60wX4(27wX4 rms). Now, my questions is:
somebody told me that Im gonna have to run a power wire to my battery, plus do the regular wiring harness that a normal HU has. Is this true? If so, can I just skip that power wire since i'll be using an external amp for all my speakers, or is this required for the HU to turn on and function? thanks.

 

[Rscotts1]

Alpine HU

I have the CDA-7892 which allows me to turn off the internal amp when using the RCA's (external amps). Yours should be pretty much the same. As far as running a power wire directly from the HU to the battery, I have never heard of that. Anybody else?

 

[Holty]

When I called crutchfield about a HU mounting kit they told me I needed an amp installation kit to wire up my HU and it needed a power wire to the battery...sounded kinda weird to me too.

Rscotts1, The feature you are talking about...is it called the "blackout" feature?

Anyway, it looks as if I'm stuck buying the mounting kit with the big open space above the HU....i can't find any other ones...?

 

[Rscotts1]

Alpine HU

....No, I am not talking about the blackout feature. The one I am talking about is the ability to turn on/off the internal amp depending on how the system is run. For example....If I should decide to run the front or rear door speakers straight off the Head Unit's internal amp while at the same time using external amp's to power other speakers then I could do that. (keeping the internal amp on). If I strictly use the RCA's to run external amps then I simply switch off the internal amp. Guess this reduces the HU's heat output/power consumption.....thats the only thing I can think of.

 

[Brian's98XLT]

Yes Alpine tells you to go either to the battery or a main power feed at the fuse box. The battery lead is fused at 20 amps. I have had many customers come back to me who tried installing these on ther own. They complain that they keep blowing there fuse in the fuse box. When I check there install they are using the factory lead and did not run one to the battery. So if you are using the internal amp to run your speakes then go to the battery. If you are using seperate amps then turn on the internal amp and you can use the factory Batt lead

 

[Holty]

I'm confused...

So if you are using the internal amp to run your speakes then go to the battery. If you are using seperate amps then turn on the internal amp and you can use the factory Batt lead

do you mean turn "off" the internal amp if using seperate amps and I will not have to run a special power wire to the battery and connect it like a regular head unit?

 

[Brian's98XLT]

That is correct

 

[Holty]

o.k., i don't mean to be a pain....but i just ran down to circuit city to check out some stuff....i asked the installers down there about the head unit wiring and they said they never heard of doing it that way. they wire them up just like a normal HU with a normal wiring harness.....

 

[Brian's98XLT]

Well I guess they were not paying attention to Alpine if they had product training this year. If you look at the battery lead for the Alpine there is a big tag on it that states this in plain english. Have someone from Circuit take one out of the box and read the tag.
Call Alpine at 1-800- ALPINE1 and ask one of there techs and see what they say.