I have a 2012 Honda Accord that I would like to install a radio transceiver in. At peak, its current draw is 22A @ 13.8VDC. Generally, the wisdom is that it should be connected directly to the battery (e.g., from the radio's manual). I generally know my way around electronics, but I don't know a lot about cars.
I did some looking under the hood, and I noticed that the negative terminal is connected directly and exclusively to the chassis, so I think that connecting the negative lead of my radio to a good chassis ground in the trunk (where I plan to mount it) should be sufficient.
The positive lead is a bit trickier, and I've come up with 3 options of where to connect it:
- Directly to the positive terminal of the battery. My gut feeling is that this is no good; for starters it has the protective cap and is covered in grease, and all of the vehicle wiring goes out via a single line to the engine compartment fuse box/directly to the engine.
- Terminals in the fuse box. I opened up the fuse box and noticed two terminals that I could attach to. These would certainly be easier to access (not covered in grease + protective cap), and they're closer to the grommet in the firewall.
- Somewhere completely different. :)
I know that my car has an ELD device that helps control the battery, so I want to make sure I'm not doing anything bad in that regard, and also make sure the radio is getting the appropriate voltage. The leads already have an inline fuse box, so I'm not to worried about that aspect.
So, in summary: where is the appropriate place to connect the leads of this device?
