Do I need to upgrade my 4ga power wire?

[jacko 10+ year member]

I have 4ga wiring powering the amps in my Bonneville right now, it's about a 19-20 foot run to my amps, with a distro block at about 15feet splitting the power between the two amps. The first amp is a Power Acoustik LT 980/2 that is going to be bridged(rated at 560wrmsx1), the 2nd amp will be a power acoustik LT480/2 in 4ohm stereo(rated100wrmsx2). So 760wrms total. Are these amps Effiecient enough where the 4ga wire will be fine for that long of a run, or should I upgrade my current wire to 2 or 0/1 ga. Thanks.

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[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

You'll be fine with 4awg, but you may just want to run the 1/0awg to leave room for upgrades.

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

^^^x2 on that. now i havta pay money to run wires //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif dont make the same mistake

 

[creater 10+ year member]

yea...1/0 guages and you're good in the long run

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

Go 1/0 and be done.

I've been flamed for suggesting THE SAME THING. It happened to me, I don't want it to happen to you.

I had a small 8ga kit when I started, then when adding on another amp, the guy suggested 8 or 4 gauge. So I bought a 4 gauge. After reading wire gauge vs. amperage draw charts on some sites, I went with 1/0 and did the big 3. Heck, the kid at CarToys ran it for $50. I had the breaker, connectors, and distro block already.

Just be sure to plan ahead and get your wire somewhere cheap. knu or somewhere.

 

[jacko 10+ year member]

Thanks.

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

http://www.darvex.com = cheap

 

[RandyJ 10+ year member]

arwe you planning on upgrading in the future? we really cant tell you right now if 4awg is fine because we dont know the current draw of the amps. if they are working fine right now and wire isnt getting very hot then you should be fine.