UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

got my v-drive alpine head unit on the way. before i get it, i need some advice - it needs hooking up to the battery for the extra power, but i don't know much more than that about connecting it up.

its going into a mk4 polo, and i need to know whether it needs to go through the fuse box (if so how do i do that!), what gauge wire will i need and will the connectors on the back of the alpine unit just fit into those to the stock speakers of my car?

it needs more power :S

Until you actually have it, the guage and rating of the cable cant be decided as it may be too big for its job.

Whys it need extra power!?

The connectors should match up fine...you may just get a problem where the HU wont have a memory - this is fixed by switching the red and yellow wires on the back of the radio

yeah, it's a v-drive unit, and i have read a few times on t'internet that to get the full power out of it (cause i'm not using an external amp yet) i need to connect it to the battery. it's a 60w total rms. i'll wait till i've got the unit installed and have a listen before i start hooking it up to the battery.

okidoke. the mk4s have ISO connectors then?

ye - lol 60W isnt that powerful. My amp is 2x250w and thats powerful

My HU is a 4x65W and works perfect through the standard wiring.

And yes, they have ISOs

yeah i know it's not that powerful, but it only cost me £50 off fleabay, and it's reasonably powerful as far as head units go haha. its just till i can get an amp!

cheers, so i should be able to wire it in no problem

thanks for the advice!

It'll connect up fine.

Also it'll be 60w MAX not RMS

I had my v-drive in a mk4, and I ran a slightly thicker wire through from the battery direct. It also needs to be earthed separately too - this is an easy enough job.

the reason it wants another supply is because of the high power compared to the wire that supplies the headunits in VWs as standard.

so just run a thick wire through from the battery - nothing too stupid, about 2x or 3x the thickness of the current supply wire would do it.

You will be fine using just the ISO connections for your Alpine. I have a CDA 9835 which is the dogs and have no prob running it through the ISO.

sorted, should just be a straight swap over of the connections then.

i'll wait till i've got it fitted before i decide whether or not it needs hooking up.