Just wondering how many other car audio installes are on here. I just started at a place that mostly does Alarms, Remote starts. They use T-taps for all the connections. Which I had always been told was wrong...from my circuit city days. Any truth to them being bad or good? Also I noticed today I had a very hard time getting a T crimp on the thicker 12v wire, any helpful tips? Thanks.

 

ive installed a lot of audio, and can tint, but havnt done any remote starts or alarms yet.

you can see one of my installs on my cardomain

 

ive installed audio in many cars, but never an alarm/remote start. scotchlock connectors are used by almost every shop installing alarms and remote starts, because its just so much easier and faster to do so. is it the best way? probably not. but im not speaking from experience, so id rather let someone else say so.

i know the guy who installed the remote start on my old car only soldered the under-hood connections, as he said he would never trust a scotchlock with under-hood temperatures.

 

I have been installing profesionally for almost 15 yrs and been in a few different shops from big box to mom-pops. Thankfully I have never been forced to work with T-taps as they are a big NO-NO for security. I am sorry to tell you that your shop cares more about getting in and out quick then sending out a car that has had the proper time needed to be spent on it. Shops like this never have time to get it done, but always have to make time to fix it. Take what knowledge you can get from this place as they are often great examples of what NOT to do which is a great way to learn as long as you are not held responsible....

 

I have been installing for 7 years now and I refuse to use t-taps and scotchlocks... Big no no like stated above. I have worked on everything from chevy to lamboghini and from ford to ferrari. I always solder all of my connections and have never hadany problems. I work for best buy and we are one of the few stores that are allowed to build subwoofer enclosures and fiberglass. I love my job especially when the customer doesnt care about the cost. I am MECP certified and I am working on my Master MECP Certification.

 

I don't do it for pay, but I've worked around electronics both in and out of the car for about 10 years, and the only place where I've used T-taps are the landscape lights around my house... Soldering has become like second nature to me. Strip the cable, twist the wire, solder, solder, heat shrink tubing, NEXT!

Ahitz24: I didn't know certain BB were allowed to do that. And I gotta ask... What's a respectable MECP certified installer like you doing at BB? You're kinda like bigfoot you know? Many people have tried to find one, but there's no conclusive evidence that such a creature exists...

 

its actually required by best buy to be MECP certified basic, I am first class certified and I am about to take my masters test. I like the job and the company. Many people have the common mis-conception that best buy is a company that does shotty work and I will agree that some stores lack were others excel. I work in a store that is full of great installers and we do alot of high line work. I love doing custom jobs because its much better looking to have custom kicks and a sub enclosure with a functioning amp rack. we get crazy request all the time and we always deliver.

 

Go figure...
Of course it deppends on the employees, but from my experience a store like yours is the exception rather than the norm...

Anyway, back to topic!

T-taps SUCK!@

 

I started at BBY unfortunatly and took most of my experience there as an example of what not to do. I took my mecp cert that they paid for and forgot about it years ago when I got into custom shops and started to enjoy installing again. BBY was good for a paycheck and for pissing off customers.

We had a guy on here this week who's BBY supervisor had no idea about the 5v amp turn on causing the speaker pop. Maybe you should make a tech sheet about it, I thought everyone knew this stuff.

Can you show some pics of your work? I am super curious what a custom BBY system looks like?

 

An ape can get MECPbasic certified.

And if you are I call BS because there are only about 2 dozen guys on the planetMaster certified. 3/4 of which are all lead teachers at install schools. The jump from Advanced to Master is rediculous, actually I have only worked with one guy that even was Advanced certified, this was back when it was all bronze, silver and gold.

The best shop I worked at everyone was ASE and MECP Basic certified, hell the boss was making everyone who worked there get certified in both, even sales. But that was all happening the same time I was leaving the company.