Grounds and Power for Multiple Amps

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

couldnt you run a ground wire back to the trunk from the batt? if 1/0 will fit through my car there has to be a way to make it fit in your car. plus, having a wire fail is not fun, caught my old car on fire from using too small of a wire....
Matt

I could, but why would I when the strut mounting top plates are less than 36" away on either side?

 

[gearhound17 10+ year member]

Is it safe to use a distro block for 3 amps to ground them?
I have a main 4 gauge run of power wire. I cant fit 1/0 in my car the moldings are too tight against the car. I have my sub amp (Cadence Z1200) and Ill have 2 Kicker ZX150.2 or a Kicker ZX150.2 and a Kicker ZX200.2 depending on what I can find. The Kickers only accept 8 gauge. I was wondering if its safe to have a distro in the trunk where my ground is to run that to each amp and also have a distro for the power wire.

What moldings are in the way?

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

The door moldings all the way to the back of the car. They have extruded holes to guide the screws that hold them in through the carpet.

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

add up current draw for all amps(fusing) and see if that's more than 125A. If it is, 4ga is NOT gonna cut it.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

How do I find current draw for an amp?

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

How do I find current draw for an amp?

look for fusing. the amp won't draw more than that.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

I dont think my Z1200 has a fuse. The Kicker ZX150.2 has a 25a fuse and the 200.2 has a 30a fuse. So at most it would be my Z1200 and 55a fusing from the Kickers. Otherwise it will be the Z1200 and 50a fusing from the Kickers.

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

I dont think my Z1200 has a fuse. The Kicker ZX150.2 has a 25a fuse and the 200.2 has a 30a fuse. So at most it would be my Z1200 and 55a fusing from the Kickers. Otherwise it will be the Z1200 and 50a fusing from the Kickers.

the z1200 will have a spec for an external fuse, add that in.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

you can run the 1/0 under the carpet when you take the door modling off, lift carpet a little and shove the wire down there, then replace

 

[Sarthos 10+ year member]

Don't run wire under the car, that'd be no fun. You'd have to drill new holes into the trunk floor to get it in and you live in Michigan? Snow+ice=bad for the underside of your car. Your wires could start to corrode and if you run over an ice chunk you could tear up your wires. Probably wouldn't be fun to run over some ice and start shooting flames out from under your car. Also, if you're not careful it's easy for a wire that isn't completely tight to move around a little and you don't want wire to touch your exhaust. And if you pull it too tight the tension can break the wire.