Boat power & ground wire question

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

odds are it will be fed with a small ground
IMO 4ga will be ok

Fed by a small ground? I'm going to run the ground wire all the way back to the battery's negative terminal.

 

[TNTR70 10+ year member]

that wire wll be fine just be sure to use liquid electrical tape on your ends and connectors, that will keep moisture out from getting to the exposed wire and oxidizing it. my boats amps have been in it since 2000 when i bought it new and my 4 gauge has had no problems running my system

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

pic of this wire next to a quarter?

Here's a zoom:

 

[TNTR70 10+ year member]

lquid tape...example

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/46842?&cid=chanintel&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=46842

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

that wire wll be fine just be sure to use liquid electrical tape on your ends and connectors, that will keep moisture out from getting to the exposed wire and oxidizing it. my boats amps have been in it since 2000 when i bought it new and my 4 gauge has had no problems running my system

OK, will do the elec tape. Thank you.

 

[TNTR70 10+ year member]

you will be fine..stop overthinking this already..two runs, 4 gauge, 1 pos, 1 neg, plus fuse, to and from battery, done

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

100% copper? 1.5k+ strands in 4g? $50 a roll of 100ft?am i tripping or is that a hell of a deal?

from the link:

1568 STRANDS .12mm 100% OXYGEN FREE

it just says "100% oxygen free"... for that price, its unlikely thats 100% oxygen free copper

but whatever... 4 awg wire is generally rated around 100amps for 15 feet (probably a little bit higher) 1 run will probably be fine, but i'd definitely keep an eye on it at first and think about adding another run if it gets warm

FLEXABLE LIKE A WET NOODLE //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

you will be fine..stop overthinking this already..two runs, 4 gauge, 1 pos, 1 neg, plus fuse, to and from battery, done

Just trying to get it right. Being out in the middle of the water & finding out I don't could be a bad scenario!!

I also now realize that while this Kicker amp may have a max power draw of 90A, there are more factors that would keep it below max:

- Music content recorded lower than max. I think only a 0 dB test tone would allow the power to draw to hit the max 90A.

- Powering 4ohm speakers instead of 2ohm.

Am I right about these?

- What about operating with the engine off, with more like 12V instead of 14.4V? Does that equate to a lower amp power draw ... or higher?

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

using the .12mm and strand count I came up with a total cross section for that wire just below 4 awg -- it's basically 4 awg. It should work fine for the 700.5.

I'm sure it's OFC, as that is the standard wire mfg process.

OFC vs non-ofc is not a characteristic that effects use for car audio anyway, but mktg depts realized a long time ago that the term OFC sells for some reason, so they market the hell out of it.

OFC was developed for high demand industrial applications. It's not a corrosion issue.

But that's all beside the point. The IMC wire will work fine.

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

using the .12mm and strand count I came up with a total cross section for that wire just below 4 awg -- it's basically 4 awg. It should work fine for the 700.5.
I'm sure it's OFC, as that is the standard wire mfg process.

OFC vs non-ofc is not a characteristic that effects use for car audio anyway, but mktg depts realized a long time ago that the term OFC sells for some reason, so they market the hell out of it.

OFC was developed for high demand industrial applications. It's not a corrosion issue.

But that's all beside the point. The IMC wire will work fine.

OK, sounds good, tks. I guess the labelling police haven't caught 'em yet, calling it "oxygen free" when the two ends are wide open!! Gotta love marketing ...

 

[McIntosh 10+ year member]

(2x 4ga > 1x 1/0)

What? FYI wire size doubles every 3 gauges. So 2x 4AWG=1AWG, not 1/0 (let alone greater than 1/0). Where do you get your (false) information?

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

OK, sounds good, tks. I guess the labelling police haven't caught 'em yet, calling it "oxygen free" when the two ends are wide open!! Gotta love marketing ...

??

OFC designates a manufacturing process -- it has little to do with the actual content of oxygen in the copper. The oxygen content difference between ofc and non ofc copper is less than a tenth of a percent, and their electrical properties are about identical.

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

??
OFC designates a manufacturing process -- it has little to do with the actual content of oxygen in the copper. The oxygen content difference between ofc and non ofc copper is less than a tenth of a percent, and their electrical properties are about identical.

Ah, I see. So it does mean something, it's just meaningless //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif