Pacific Accessory Corporation
®
Santa Ana, California 92705 | Ph. 866-931-8021 | support@pac-audio.com
©2011 Pacific Accessory Corporation
www.pac-audio.com
4
Pacific Accessory Corporation
OWNERS MANUAL
Installation Guidelines (Cont.)
WIRING INSTRUCTIONS
Ground Connection (GND)
The main ground connection should be made between the Gnd terminal on the unit and a metal part of the
vehicle close to the mounting location. This wire needs to be as short as possible to minimize the possibility
of induced noise. You should use 18 gauge wire or larger for the ground connection. The metal point on the
vehicle where the ground connection is made needs to have all paint removed and be scuffed down to the bare
metal. The ground wire should have a ring terminal soldered to it and be bolted directly to the vehicle with the
use of a star washer. Do not ground the unit near existing (factory) ground points. These areas generally have
multiple devices ground- ed to them and can cause induced noise.
Power Connection (+12V)
The main power connection should be made at the battery. This will ensure that the unit receives the best
possible connection to minimize noise. There must be an inline fuse (1 amp) placed in series with the unit. The
fuse should be within 18” of the bat- tery. You should use 18 gauge wire or larger for the power connection.
The power wire should have a ring terminal soldered to it and be bolted to the vehicles battery. Do not install
the fuse in the holder until all the systems connections have been made.
Remote In (Optional)
This PDLC21 unit is turned on by ap12 VDC to the remote turn-on terminal. This terminal should be
connected to the remote lead from the car stereo. This remote lead from the source unit will trigger a +12V
output only when the car stereo is turned on. If the source unit does not provide a remote turn on you can use
the accessory terminal in the cars fuse block. This will however turn the unit on and off with the key, regardless
of whether the source unit is on or off.
Remote Out (Optional)
This PDLC21 unit is equipped with a signal sensing circuit that can detect a signal on its input and provide a
+12V output signal to turn on an aftermarket amplifier. Connect this to the remote terminal on an aftermarket
amplifier.
Quick Setup Procedure:
The following steps should be done with RCA outputs DISCONNECTED.
1. Connect all power connections
2. Connect input connections
3. Preferably with a test CD or MP3 track playing pink noise. Adjust volume of source unit to just below full
volume. ( If no test track is available, normal program material can be used)
4. With volume almost @ full, adjust gain on PDLC21 up until the clip light flickers on slightly,
Output gain is now adjusted.
5. Turn volume down on source unit and turn system off
6. Connect RCA outputs
7. Turn gain on amplifier(s) all the way down.
8. Turn system on and test, and make adjustments as needed.
NOTE:
Full output volume from an amplifier should be achievable with these settings. The PDLC21 has 10v @ full output and is more
than adequate for the majority of amplifier(s) input sections and will allow for the best possible sound quality and noise free operation.
Turning up gains on an amplifier may give the appearance that the system is louder, but you will only be driving your amplifier into
premature distortion. Slight deviations from this procedure for dissimilar amplifier sizes, multi-channel amplifiers, multi amplifier setups
and different speaker sizes may need to be made.
Examples would be using a 4 channel amplifier with only 2 channels of input signal. There may be a desire to have the front channels
louder than the rear. By slightly reducing the output of the PDLC21 and then raising the gain on the front channels of the amplifier to the
desired output, the differential in volume and retention of proper input levels can be achieved.
