a simple wiring question

[mb2005 10+ year member]

I am about to do a major renovation of my system and right now im buying wiring online and I wanted to ask about how much power wire (length in feet) do I need to run from the battery to an amp under the driver's seat in a full size pickup? Thanks for any suggestions you could give

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[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

Well it depends on what type of truck you are talking about. Measure the length and add about 6 inches for every turn you are going to make. If it is a straight shot, (depending on where you put it through your fire wall at you will need to add anywhere from 6 inches to 18 inches. So measure the distance at about 2 or so feet, and then add another 2 feet for your ground wire. (yes I know your ground should be shorter than that, but its always nice to have extra) It is hell to come up about 8 inches short, because you cannot add wire, but you can always take it away. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Is your battery on the driver or passenger side of the truck??? I would not get any less than 15 feet or so. Make sure you use the SAME size power and ground wire.

I am not sure you are going to save a lot of money buying it online. I have only found it to be a few cents cheaper online, and after the shipping it equals out to be about the same. You can buy pretty inexpensive amp kits, and i do believe if you get a quality one you still are going to save money buying a prepackaged install set. The only thing with these is the power and ground are not always the same size. It is not a HAVE to, but it helps stop problems down the road.

 

[mb2005 10+ year member]

yeah, thanks, its a ford f-150 single cab. ive guessed right before but I forgot how much I bought. I was thinking of buying it online because I found someone who ships for free when buying over ten feet. Could you please elaborate more on why the ground and the power wire should be the same size? I was actually planning on ending up with a 4 gauge power and 8 gauge ground because of a previous installation and me not wanting to redo the ground ( I finally got rid of my engine noise.) Also, im thinking of buying a fused distribution box. I already have a distribution box with a four gauge cable going into it and then two inline fuses, but to save money I am considering running the four gauge cable into the fused distribution terminal and then having a 4 gauge and an 8 gauge power wire coming out. Will be optimal, or should I go to a bigger input wire. Finally, my power wire is not wired directly to my battery, but to a power distribution point of some kind above the battery. A friend of mine did this a few years ago because my positive battery terminal is in a difficult place to reach. Does this negatively affect performance? Is this something that I should alter, should I hook the power wire directly to the battery, or leave it like it is? Sorry, I know this is a loaded question, thanks again for any help you can offer.

 

[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

The reason I asked is my ford expidition has its battery on the passenger side, and my Dodge ramm has it on the driver side. I run the same size power and ground for a few reasons. 1. If you need 4 ga going in why not 4 ga going out. Your ground is your weakiest link in most systems. I say do it big and right the first time. It cuts down on the possibility of ground loop problems down the road in my opion. I guess from what you said you are going to run 2 different amps. A 4 Ga should be big enough, but this depends on the size of the amps you are running. As for the wire direct to the battery this is the best way. YOU SHOULD wire it direct. I have seen that distro point be the cause of problems in the past. I like to get all the middle men (or parts ) out of the way, so I know they my system has all the power it needs. I hope this helps

 

[mb2005 10+ year member]

yeah that helps a lot, thanks. yeah im wiring two amps, an alpine that i think is about 200 watts and a jl 500/1. my battery is in fact on the passengers side, but i have run a distribution block to the drivers side, therefore i need a little less power wire. I understand what you are saying about the ground and I think I'll go ahead and reground it. Id probably cry if the ground loop noise came back