04r1belgium

Hi all,

Some of you may know I'm in the (long) process of adding a sub and amplifier to my E60. The amplifier (1000W RMS Rockford Fosgate) will be in an amp rack, covered by an engraved plexiglass cover, lighted on all 4 sides by high intensity blue LEDs (7000 mcd) to make the engraving light up.

The plexi is done now

Now on to the fiberglass and MDF part...

PS: Don't mind my daughter's toys in the background

subterFUSE

I did a similar sandblasting job on the plexi cover in my last car.

Except with a Precision Power logo

Breae60

sweet!!!, So did you just tap in to existing speaker lines and power from the battery in the trunk??? Any cutting or tdid you use a wire crimps (like the one for V1)...More pictures and how did you do it, I got a couple of 10" mb quart subs to install

Jimbo

Take some pics as you go through the process.
Pretty cool!

subterFUSE

Let us know how much amplifier power you end up adding.... at what impedance load.... and what you do to supplement your power.. (ie new battery, capacitors, etc....)


Then let us know how the iDrive responds to the increased current draw.

garehaan

I am curious too how allmighty i-drive responds to this.
Don't know if anyone already tried to ad an amp.
Good luck, keep us informed.

04r1belgium

The alternator for the E60 kicks out 160A. My RF amplifier is rated at 1119W RMS @ 4 Ohm @ 13.8V according to it's birthsheet. At full tilt should draw no more than 100A. I will almost never have the volume knob wide open, so let's say in "normal" conditions the amp will draw about 50A. That would mean the stock alternator is more than enough to supply the amp and the car. I don't have any of the power-hungry E60 features (heated this, heated that,...).

Besides, there is a lot of discussion on whether caps are of any use. If your alternator has enough oomph, it wouldn't do any good anyway. If you plan on doing a lot of high volume playing with the engine off, then a cap may be beneficial, otherwise...

The sub is 4 Ohm single voice coil Boston Acoustics Pro 12.5LF

I will run a fused (100A) 4 gauge wire from the battery positive directly to the amp. Find a switched 12V somewhere and run it to a relay (and also another wire directly from the positive of the battery to the relay) from which I will power LED's, fan for amp rack and amp remote.

I will find a nice piece of shiny car body to attach the 4 gauge ground wire to after checking if the ground is OK with a MM.

I'll get my signal from the speaker wires going to the stock subs, and hook a line level converter up to that giving me RCA output to the amp.

I have all supplies needed, just waiting on my Stinger 4 gauge wiring kit that seems to be on eternal backorder...

I will fiberglass a sub enclosure on the left side of the trunk and a ventilated (Stinger Crossflow fan) & lighted (high intensity LED's - blue) amp rack centrally located against the back seats.

I don't see why the Idrive should have anything to do with this.

I think I have it all pretty much figured out

heezy545i

Word man, don't waste your money.

alohalc

can't wait to see more pics .

subterFUSE

I'll have to disagree with you on the capacitor not being necessary comment..... just my 10 years of competition car audio speaking.


But anyway.... sounds like you know what you're doing. So just keep us posted about how your iDrive responds to the increased current draw.


I guarantee you this, however. Your estimate that you'll only be drawing 50 amps with your setup.... that's fantasy land. If that amp is rated 100 at a good output, you will certainly be close to that at normal levels.

Example, in my last car I went with 2 amplifiers... Precision Power. .... 1800 watts combined, although I had gains turned almost all the way down. The both of them drew about 150 amps realistically. And that was just the amps. Let's not get into the headunit, preamp, two 1/3 octave Equalizers, active crossover, phase shift controller, DVD navigation, etc... It was all my alternator could do to keep the current flowing at times. The saving grace was my 15 farad capacitor. Without that, the current draw was so great that the car's onboard computer would shut off while driving.

Needless to say, I will be impressed if the iDrive doesn't go on the fritz with a serious aftermarket audio system installed.

If you don't go with a capacitor, you may want to consider an AccuVolt. Anything to keep the car's voltage somewhat level. Computers do not respond well to voltage fluctuations.