Hello everybody,
I am utilizing the factory power antenna circuit in my car to act as the remote turn-on wire for my aftermarket amplifiers. I need to keep the factory radio because it is integrated with the climate control, and it would be too much work to integrate an aftermarket deck.
Anyways, the power antenna circuit seems to have no capacity for amperage at all. It is in fact a 12v dc signal according to my multimeter. I also checked how many amps the power antenna itself draws from this wire, and 0.00a registered on the multimeter when switched to DC amps.
I've tried numerous 12V pc style relays with coil resistances from 90 ohms up to 720 ohms. 720 ohms at 12 volts is about 200 milliwatts or 17 milliamps. That little amount of current is still too much for the factory circuit to handle. The relays didn't make a sound when hooked up.
I think Ford designed this circuit to cut mass-production costs. The power antenna module uses some sort of solid state device that reads the signal and raises and lowers the antenna based on when the radio is on or off. Thats exactly what i need to control my amplifiers, except the current capacity just isnt there. Not even using a 700 ohm relay.
I'm not familiar with solid state devices, so maybe you guys can help me.
I am utilizing the factory power antenna circuit in my car to act as the remote turn-on wire for my aftermarket amplifiers. I need to keep the factory radio because it is integrated with the climate control, and it would be too much work to integrate an aftermarket deck.
Anyways, the power antenna circuit seems to have no capacity for amperage at all. It is in fact a 12v dc signal according to my multimeter. I also checked how many amps the power antenna itself draws from this wire, and 0.00a registered on the multimeter when switched to DC amps.
I've tried numerous 12V pc style relays with coil resistances from 90 ohms up to 720 ohms. 720 ohms at 12 volts is about 200 milliwatts or 17 milliamps. That little amount of current is still too much for the factory circuit to handle. The relays didn't make a sound when hooked up.
I think Ford designed this circuit to cut mass-production costs. The power antenna module uses some sort of solid state device that reads the signal and raises and lowers the antenna based on when the radio is on or off. Thats exactly what i need to control my amplifiers, except the current capacity just isnt there. Not even using a 700 ohm relay.
I'm not familiar with solid state devices, so maybe you guys can help me.