Hello all-
Newbie here with a bose q that I could not find in the archives. My speaker amps are not getting the +12V from the switching relay, I can get them to work by manually putting power to them, but otherwise there is no sound. Does anyone know the location of the switching relay or have a link to a site that discusses the bose system a little more in depth? Thanks and happy civic hunting
Matt

 

The Bose relay is mounted on a bracket (with an other relay) behind the driver's side kick panel. You may want to listen carefully if you hear it click on and off with the radio on/off. The relay is steered by the head unit, but the circuitry can fail. If that happens, the radio no longer triggers the relay and...no amp action.

I fried the circuit in my head unit by letting the head unit switch too many amps and equalizrs without a relay. So I hardwired the relay into the accessory circuits of the car. You can do the same. Your Bose amps will be on all the time that your ignition is on. In my case, I rarely drive with the radio off, so for those few times the amps can be on and be silent. No great loss. It stretched the use of the otherwise fine head unit without the need for an expensive repair.

Good luck,
John

 

Thanks for the tip John - is there any way that you could be more descriptive? Could you say what color wires are used for that particular relay? Thanks alot-
Matt

 

There are three blue relays in that area (on my 93SE). There are two on one bracket, the bose is the one closest to the OUTSIDE fender panel. Four wires . I am checking my shop manual as I can't remember the exact colors.

Black is ground for the relay coil, G/W is the steering wire from the head unit you want to cut and connect to acc 12 volt somewhere, BR/B is power coming from the fuse block, and red is switched 12 V going to your Bose amps.

The wires are kind of short and a bit tricky to work with, but not impossible. It helps when you take the bracket and two relays off the body, and twist them into the cabin for a little more slack.

Good luck,
John

 

Hey John-
I figured it out and wired it to an ign. wire and it all works fine now - thanks for the help!
Matt
'94 SE 5-sp

 

Congrats, that's great. Glad to be of help.

I wired mine to ignition as well (it was a temporary quick fix that is still this way after many months). The only downside of using ign +12 is that the radio will only play with the ignition on, or with the engine running. So playing the radio with the engine off is impaired.