big 3 ??

[95Prober 10+ year member]

hi guys. just wanna get some opinions. i got 4 10"premier subs (total 1600 RMS watts), 2 JL500.1 amps and 2 pioneer GM-X922/924 amps in my car. now im going to do the big 3, but should i go with the 4 or 1 guage wiring? i thicker is better, but is it REALLY necessary to go with 1 guage and is there THAT much of a difference? thx!

Click to read more...

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

1 guage.

http://www.weldingsupply.com

dont tell me that $1.25 is too expensive.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

yeah.. for that many amps.. do 1/0. Besides, its almost pointless to do anything smaller.

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

actually req it comes to about $3.50 American a foot up here in Caanda, compares to a place where i can get 15 feet of 4 guage for 8.00 U.S haha! dont know why its so cheap. i already have wires running to all my amps. its just the big 3 left to do. i heard that its not a good idea and that you can run into damage running 1 guage from "ALT. to BATTERY" . is this right? most people say 1 guage is overkill. then again everyone doesnt have the same setup.

what do ya think?

 

[deaf tones 10+ year member]

actually req it comes to about $3.50 American a foot up here in Caanda, compares to a place where i can get 15 feet of 4 guage for 8.00 U.S haha! dont know why its so cheap. i already have wires running to all my amps. its just the big 3 left to do. i heard that its not a good idea and that you can run into damage running 1 guage from "ALT. to BATTERY" . is this right? most people say 1 guage is overkill. then again everyone doesnt have the same setup.
what do ya think?

Keep in mind, the distance from the alt to the battery is like 4ft? How much

voltage drop will you honestly get in a 4' run? Depending on the size of the alt I wouldn't run anything too big. As long as there is a constant need for power to the battery...it will **** up as much as it wants from the source (alt). So if you have a major power draw from all those amps the battery will soak up everything your alt will dish out. If you allow a demand for say 300 amps on a 200 amp alt, with the wire to back it up, the life of the alt will drop significantly. The size of the wire (between the amp and the batt) is basically a cheap alternative to a regulator.

Now connecting from battery to battery is a different subject...or battery to amps. The concern of TOO BIG wire is mainly between alt - battery.

Basically...don't run bigger than what you NEED from the alt-batt.

I know this may sound backwards to some...but rule of thumb I go by is start at the GROUND! Not power! Power is important, don't get me wrong...but no ground = no power! Bigger ground the better and there is no limit to the ground size to run.

If you have a stock alt 4ga from batt to alt will be fine.