Wiring Help

[rodney]

I am finishing up my install, and have a few wiring questions. Here is what my system consists of:

Alpine cda-9857
polk db6500 and ex369 running off a profile ap1040 at 80x4 rms
polk mm104 off a kenwood kac-7251 at 460x1 rms

I need to pick the fuses for my 2 way dist block. What size would I need for my 2 amps?

Also, is it better to run RCAs for the sub amp from the HU or out of the profile amp?

Will 12ga and 18ga wire be ok for the sub and speakers respectively?

Thanks for the help!

[MacLeod]

Look on each amp, they will have a fuse in them. Whatever the value of that fuse is, thats what you should get for your dist block.

If you can, run the subs RCA's from the head unit. That way you can have some control over their output level.

If youre talking about power wire, those will be way too small.

You will want at least 8 guage wire for power AND ground and no less than 16 guage for speakers.

I would run 4 guage from the battery to the dist block and then 8 guage to the amps. And I would also recommend 14 guage speaker wire for that amount of power. I use Radio Shack's flat wire. You can pick up 50' of 14 guage for $20. Its much easier to negotiate around the confines of a vehicle's interior.

[rodney]

If youre talking about power wire, those will be way too small.

i meant as speaker wire, 12 from amp to sub, then 18 from amp to the crossovers. do you think 4 to the dist block and 8 to the amps will be ok for power wire? both the amps call for 4 gauge wiring. i was gonna do 1/0 to the block then 4 to each amp. will that be overkill?

thanks man.

[MacLeod]

Wont be overkill. There is certainly nothing wrong with using bigger wire as you can never really use too big a wire. If the amps call for 4 guage then stick with that. Id just run 4 guage all the way from the battery to the amps.

12 guage is fine for speaker wire although I wouldnt use the 18 AWG. Id stick with no less than 16 and preferable 14-12 would be best.

[rodney]

will 4 gauge from the battery to the block be ok for 780 watts rms? if so, ill use that then 4 to the amps too. and both amps have dual 30a fuses, so i need 60a for eah on the block, correct? would it hurt to go 1 size up on the fuses?

[1996blackmax]

4ga should be fine.

Just stick with the fuse rating the amps have.

[mopedbob]

Thanks!!!

[MacLeod]

will 4 gauge from the battery to the block be ok for 780 watts rms? if so, ill use that then 4 to the amps too. and both amps have dual 30a fuses, so i need 60a for eah on the block, correct? would it hurt to go 1 size up on the fuses?


Yeah, like Max said, just stick with the amps fuse ratings. Those are maximum ratings anyway and its likely the amp will never draw that much current so youll be ok.