help on batteries,fuses,ground installation

[wmdtib05 10+ year member]

Can anybody help me through this installation? Just added an odyssey-pc1500 upfront. plus i have a kinetik-1400 and a batcap-800 on hand that i want to put in the rear. i'll be using 1/0 gauge for my power from front to rear and will be using the rear chassis for all my grounding. my total rms on both of my amps are 1500.can anyone guide me through the installation and the correct fuses and the grounding? thanks

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[soydeedo 10+ year member]

Well you'll be running everything parallel [+ to + and - to -] to keep the voltage at 12 so just keep that in mind. If it were me I'd try and keep the 1400 and 800 extremely close to one another so I could save a fuse, but you'll need two, possibly three total: one up front by the + terminal of the odyssey which you probably already have and another on that same length of wire close to the + terminal of the kinetik. For 0/1 I'd use 250a fuses, though I think it can handle a little more. With 1500w I don't think you need to worry about that, however.

So for a crude schematic it'd be:

odyssey+[fuse]+++++++++++++++++++++++++++[fuse]+kinetik+batcap+?+distroblock+++amps
odyssey-chassis>-----------------------<chassis-kinetik-batcap---distroblock---amps

The ? after the batcap on the top line is for where one more fuse could go. Personally I'd go ahead and put it in just to be safe, but people rag on me all the time for it, so as long as you keep it short and your amps are internally fused you can probably get by without it. Just make sure everything is extremely stationary. If you do decide to put one in you can again stick with 250a even though in this case it could probably handle a lot more and be ok. Hope this helps.

PS - the length of the string of ---'s and +++'s is meant to be somewhat proportional to the lengths of wire you are to use.

 

[wmdtib05 10+ year member]

Well you'll be running everything parallel [+ to + and - to -] to keep the voltage at 12 so just keep that in mind. If it were me I'd try and keep the 1400 and 800 extremely close to one another so I could save a fuse, but you'll need two, possibly three total: one up front by the + terminal of the odyssey which you probably already have and another on that same length of wire close to the + terminal of the kinetik. For 0/1 I'd use 250a fuses, though I think it can handle a little more. With 1500w I don't think you need to worry about that, however.
So for a crude schematic it'd be:

odyssey+[fuse]+++++++++++++++++++++++++++[fuse]+kinetik+batcap+?+distroblock+++amps
odyssey-chassis>-----------------------<chassis-kinetik-batcap---distroblock---amps

The ? after the batcap on the top line is for where one more fuse could go. Personally I'd go ahead and put it in just to be safe, but people rag on me all the time for it, so as long as you keep it short and your amps are internally fused you can probably get by without it. Just make sure everything is extremely stationary. If you do decide to put one in you can again stick with 250a even though in this case it could probably handle a lot more and be ok. Hope this helps.

PS - the length of the string of ---'s and +++'s is meant to be somewhat proportional to the lengths of wire you are to use.

thanks for the help, but i just want to make sure i"m doing it right since i have extra fuses and holder on hand. is this correct?front battery-fuse with 250a,kinetik fuse 250a,then from kinetik 1/0 to batcap fuse 250a to a twin distrobution block fuse with 100a for 1000w amp and 60a for 500w amps then i"ll add 4 gauge from both amps to distribution block.

on the grounding 1/0 from chassis to kinetik- 1/0 from kinetik to batcap-1/0 from batcap- to a ground distribution block then add 4 gauge from both amps direct to distribution block. thats mean ill have only a single 1/0 at the chassis for the main grounding does this sound correct?

 

[soydeedo 10+ year member]

There should be a picture above. Let me know if it doesn't show up for you. If you see it, that's what I would do, but it's late so I might have made a mistake.

Keep any segment of wire coming from a + terminal short enough to where there is little risk of it being severed and touching a grounded piece of metal. Any wire after a fuse is safe and can be as long as you want, though keep it reasonable so you don't introduce extra resistance.

I lowered the fuse requirements to 200a-250a since you won't be drawing more than 160a anyways, right? And you don't need another big fuse after the batcap since you'll be using a fused distribution block. Again, just make sure it's not a real long distance to that distro.

If you'd rather not use so many terminals you can always get a 3 prong terminal set and throw them all on one of the back batteries if you want. Then you only have one lead going from each terminal on the second back battery. I would put the batcap in direct contact with the amps since it's designed to discharge the fastest so that's why I illustrated it like I did above.

One last note: I hope you've done the Big 3 before doing all this because I think your alternator will hate you otherwise.

 

[bumpin buick 5,000+ posts]

dnm that is a cool drawing

 

[jrobb 10+ year member]

you only need one fuse on the power wire from the front batt to the back batt and 150A's will be plenty, and you dont need a distro block on your grounds, connect them directly to the battery...

just fyi, just a general rule of installation, don not use a fuse on your power wire bigger than the total amperage rating of the onboard fuses in your amplifier(s)...

 

[soydeedo 10+ year member]

you only need one fuse on the power wire from the front batt to the back batt and 150A's will be plenty...

And what happens if that wire grounds out? The fuse up front busts so that battery is OK, but the back two batteries are going to short and potentially cause a fire. That's the same reason you fuse the front one.

EDIT: You don't need to fuse the back batteries only if you are using a dedicated run for the ground wire back to the front battery since there wouldn't be a return path. Maybe you were thinking about that instead, but in this case he's grounding to chassis so IMHO he does need one.

...and you dont need a distro block on your grounds, connect them directly to the battery...

You're right, he doesn't. I forgot he was using 4ga for the amps and there are plenty of cheap terminals that accept 2x 4ga and 1x 0/1. I wasn't thinking apparently. =)

just fyi, just a general rule of installation, don not use a fuse on your power wire bigger than the total amperage rating of the onboard fuses in your amplifier(s)...

I wouldn't use one that's lower either, though. I know it will probably never reach that peak during normal use anyways, but it's good to have. Also 200a [or even 250a] won't really hurt the 0/1. It's also good for possible later upgrades, but yeah if you went with a 160a it would be fine too. Not really a big deal.

 

[wmdtib05 10+ year member]

There should be a picture above. Let me know if it doesn't show up for you. If you see it, that's what I would do, but it's late so I might have made a mistake.

Keep any segment of wire coming from a + terminal short enough to where there is little risk of it being severed and touching a grounded piece of metal. Any wire after a fuse is safe and can be as long as you want, though keep it reasonable so you don't introduce extra resistance.

I lowered the fuse requirements to 200a-250a since you won't be drawing more than 160a anyways, right? And you don't need another big fuse after the batcap since you'll be using a fused distribution block. Again, just make sure it's not a real long distance to that distro.

If you'd rather not use so many terminals you can always get a 3 prong terminal set and throw them all on one of the back batteries if you want. Then you only have one lead going from each terminal on the second back battery. I would put the batcap in direct contact with the amps since it's designed to discharge the fastest so that's why I illustrated it like I did above.

One last note: I hope you've done the Big 3 before doing all this because I think your alternator will hate you otherwise.

oops! u right! my altenator will hate me and im trying to add two more batteries off my stock wire plus alt 95-max 120, i never really think about all the load im adding, is it ok to just add one battery in the rear?and just maybe sell one, and of the two battery. which one should i keep?

on the installation for my main power wire, is it safe to run 1/0 from front to rear ?my max distance on the wire will be 10 1/2 feet from front to rear.

 

[wmdtib05 10+ year member]

i"ll just run one battery in the rear. is my installation correct? 1/0 from front fuse 150a to rear battery positive. do i add a fuse since it a power source add 1/0 to twin distribution block should i use a fused block? add 4 gauge from both amps to twin block.

my grounding ill still use the rear chassis 1/0 to rear battery negative and add 4 gauge from both amps direct to the rear battery negative.

 

[soydeedo 10+ year member]

There's really nothing wrong with the number of batteries, I was just making sure you had solid wiring in your alternator loop as well. You can keep them all if you want since the kinetik and batcap are both designed to have low resistance it shouldn't be a big deal. Just make sure you do the big 3 - it's easier than all the stuff you're going to do with the batteries so there's no excuse not to do it.

And as for running 1/0 to the back, yeah it's fine. Thicker wire can never really hurt anything, it just might be a little harder to squeeze around corners and into panels.

I'm not really sure exactly what you're saying in the second post, honestly, but it sounds reasonable. Just try and think this stuff through. http://www.bcae1.com is a great reference if you need more info.

 

[wmdtib05 10+ year member]

There's really nothing wrong with the number of batteries, I was just making sure you had solid wiring in your alternator loop as well. You can keep them all if you want since the kinetik and batcap are both designed to have low resistance it shouldn't be a big deal. Just make sure you do the big 3 - it's easier than all the stuff you're going to do with the batteries so there's no excuse not to do it.
And as for running 1/0 to the back, yeah it's fine. Thicker wire can never really hurt anything, it just might be a little harder to squeeze around corners and into panels.

I'm not really sure exactly what you're saying in the second post, honestly, but it sounds reasonable. Just try and think this stuff through. http://www.bcae1.com is a great reference if you need more info.[/quote

thanks for the info this site really help.