Dealing with voltage drop on heavy hits better?

[csu87 10+ year member]

The 2/0 gauge they had was rated for 300A, which is what quality 1/0 gauge OFC is rated for.
Also no my ground is not attached to my frame. It's just attached to the sanded off chassis of the trunk. Which I know is not ideal when dealing with 1500W+ systems, but it's getting my by for now. And my yellow top is a fair size. It's the D34. Like I said in the OP. My voltage drop with quick hits is much better but I still get larger than ideal dips with EDM and Rap music. I would say it dips to about 12.8-13.2, which with a 310A alternator and 2 batteries on 1500-2000W seems pretty unacceptable, even with a bit of clipping.

A lot of times the rating for Welding cable is for much longer runs than you would actually use. And car audio cable usually rates their cable for shorter runs that are seen in car audio. Here is a good chart to go off for just welding cable.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

A lot of times the rating for Welding cable is for much longer runs than you would actually use. And car audio cable usually rates their cable for shorter runs that are seen in car audio. Here is a good chart to go off for just welding cable.

Interesting. And welding cable is the same as OFC right? It's 100% copper, or is it somewhere between CCA and OFC?

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

Its 100% copper

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Its 100% copper

Good to know.

Now if I were to start using it though...Would it be more beneficial to switch all my wiring to the 1/0 welding wire? Or is it fine to have the Welding cable and CCA mixed in the system?

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

Its ok, not ideal but ok. The Welding Cable can handle more amperage than the CCA

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Its ok, not ideal but ok. The Welding Cable can handle more amperage than the CCA

Well considering I'm not actually drawing 300A right now with 1500-2000W I would assume it should be fine? Although eventually I'm going to be upgrading my subs to either a pair of HDS300 12's or HDC3.0 12's. Nothing's set in stone yet with the brand but I'm leaning towards the SQ HDS300's. Seems like a really good bang/buck deal and should murder my SA-8v2's in output and SQ (I hope lol)

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Wierd how your volts still are under 14v. Heaviest drops and I'm still getting 13.2+ volts on a stock alt with only a group 31 agm in the rear with stock batt under the hood. Running two power hungry brx 2400s at 1 ohm each. You could be having a soft clip or something is creating a lot of resistance along your power runs. Test ohms on every connection.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Wierd how your volts still are under 14v. Heaviest drops and I'm still getting 13.2+ volts on a stock alt with only a group 31 agm in the rear with stock batt under the hood. Running two power hungry brx 2400s at 1 ohm each. You could be having a soft clip or something is creating a lot of resistance along your power runs. Test ohms on every connection.

With the car off every one of my ground points gets 0.3-0.4ohms reading. Resistance between leads is 0.3-0.4ohms meaning that's a 0ohm reading when I get 0.4ohms. With the amps powered is a different story. My AQ amp (for the fronts) will read about 0.9-1.0 ohms while turned on (making it 0.5-0.6ohms), but the T2500 reads 1.4-1.6ohms at BEST meaning its sitting at 1.0ohms minimum. And as it runs the resistance sometimes goes higher (3-4ohms). I think because after so long the set screws vibrate and loosen off slightly over time (amp is screwed to box). And if I reseat the cables in the amp the resistance goes back down to 1.4ohms. Weird thing though is if I take the resistance reading between the two ends of the neg cable it reads 0.8-0.9. But take the reading from the ring terminal that it's attached to and it's 1.4ohm? It's really tough to try and explain what's going on exactly. Hopefully that made some sort of sense to you. I've been battling voltage drop for months.