I am putting a subwoofer in the trunk of my 850. The sub manual suggests 12 gauge wire with 25 amp fuse. I was thinking of finding an unused fuse in my fuse box and wiring through there when I noticed the power antenna is on a 30 amp fuse. Wow! I'm thinking, maybe I can use existing wiring and just tap into the power antenna wire in the trunk to power the sub.

This seems too easy. Am I missing something? I get that the sub running at high power at the same time the antenna is going up/down could blow the fuse but that seems unlikely.

FWIW the sub is an Infinity Basslink. It is not a big high-powered amp that needs a battery cable-type power source.

The fuse box explanation for the fuse I am talking about says that in addition to the antenna it serves "power to caravan/trailer". This sounds like the circuit has capacity beyond what the antenna needs, for connecting to a trailer. Maybe there is even a trailer connector in the trunk, just waiting for me to use it (where?).

Thanks for your ideas,

Terry

I bet that a 30 amp flow will melt the power antenna wire. It will certainly create enough heat to melt the insulation. IIRC, it is about 20 ga, way too thin for that much current.

That is a short cut that I would not take. It is not difficult to lift the carpet and lay new wires for the sub woofer and put it on its own fuse. The trim at the door sills just pops off and the rear seat just pulls up.

Thanks for the feedback. Agree running wires inside the car is not
difficult. I was avoiding going through the firewall and also looking for
the elegance of using the factory fuse box instead of an inline fuse in my
own wire from the battery to the trunk.

How about running a new wire from the factory fuse box, using an available
fuse slot. I don't have the car with me to check but I have a base 850 so I
assume there are fuse positions free that are for options I do not have.

Could I run a new wire from the fuse box on a new fuse?

This is not a huge deal, I can certainly run a new wire all the way from
the battery, but I do think this would be cleaner to use the fuse box.

Maybe it is a nutty idea.

Thanks for your help,

using a blank fuse is fine, so long as it is switched at the ignition and not always live like some of the wires are.