Installing two amps without a distibution block?

[Mills561 10+ year member]

How would you go about doing this? I am going to be installing two amps-one for lows, one for highs. Right now I already have the high amp hooked up, but the power wire is connected to the fuse box under the hood... I was unaware of this at the time of installation, I didn't install it, but everything I've read says I need to connect it to the battery. Is this correct?

But besides that, how would you connect two amps to one battery without a distro block? Would you run one wire and use a wire splitter (essentially a distro block...), or two separate power wires? Thanks for any replies.

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

yes direct to the battery ,and you can run a separate wire for the second amp if its easier for you .

 

[knightsdaze 10+ year member]

yes direct to the battery ,and you can run a separate wire for the second amp if its easier for you .

This ^^^^^^^

 

[butterMilk 10+ year member]

If you want you can have 1 run of 0 gauge wire to a dist block in the car. The have 2 runs of 4 gauge wire coming off the dist block, one for mids and one for subs.

 

[Mills561 10+ year member]

The highs amp is 4x100 but I'm only using 2 channels. Is it possible to bridge it to get more power to my component speakers?

The low amp is 200 @ 4 ohm. So the whole system will only be seeing ~300-400 total watts.

Should I: Run one 4 gauge power wire and then split it or run two power wires- one 8 gauge and one 4 gauge. 8 is what is already connected to the highs amp...

Do I need to worry about any inline fuses?

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

The highs amp is 4x100 but I'm only using 2 channels. Is it possible to bridge it to get more power to my component speakers?
The low amp is 200 @ 4 ohm. So the whole system will only be seeing ~300-400 total watts.

Should I: Run one 4 gauge power wire and then split it or run two power wires- one 8 gauge and one 4 gauge. 8 is what is already connected to the highs amp...

Do I need to worry about any inline fuses?

actually, 4 ga is almost 2x as big as 8ga. You would run 2ga or 4ga back to a distro block and 8 ga to the amps(or the largest they accept). And yes, a fuse within a foot of the battery is essential. Figure up what both amps require and fuse accordingly. Then you will have to fuse again between the distro block and amp(unless the distro has fuses) using the appropriate fuse for that amp.

so, are you saying you have a 400w 4ch amp wired to a fuse panel and no inline fuse?? I have seen a few jake leg installs, but not one like that in 20 years..lucky your car has not burned slap to the ground....saw that happen about 20 yrs ago to a guy who wired up using 8ga wired to the battery and no fuse..the wire shorted under the carpet and caught the car on fire.

 

[knightsdaze 10+ year member]

The highs amp is 4x100 but I'm only using 2 channels. Is it possible to bridge it to get more power to my component speakers?
The low amp is 200 @ 4 ohm. So the whole system will only be seeing ~300-400 total watts.

Should I: Run one 4 gauge power wire and then split it or run two power wires- one 8 gauge and one 4 gauge. 8 is what is already connected to the highs amp...

Do I need to worry about any inline fuses?

A single 4 gauge run to a Fused dist block is fine for ur application.. And you can get a 1-4 gauge in, and 2-8 gauge out block for cheap..Fuse to spec

 

[knightsdaze 10+ year member]

actually, 4 ga is almost 2x as big as 8ga. You would run 2ga or 4ga back to a distro block and 8 ga to the amps(or the largest they accept). And yes, a fuse within a foot of the battery is essential. Figure up what both amps require and fuse accordingly. Then you will have to fuse again between the distro block and amp(unless the distro has fuses) using the appropriate fuse for that amp.

so, are you saying you have a 400w 4ch amp wired to a fuse panel and no inline fuse?? I have seen a few jake leg installs, but not one like that in 20 years..lucky your car has not burned slap to the ground....saw that happen about 20 yrs ago to a guy who wired up using 8ga wired to the battery and no fuse..the wire shorted under the carpet and caught the car on fire.

lol... fuse or lose. Why gamble, right?

 

[Mills561 10+ year member]

so, are you saying you have a 400w 4ch amp wired to a fuse panel and no inline fuse?? I have seen a few jake leg installs, but not one like that in 20 years..lucky your car has not burned slap to the ground....saw that happen about 20 yrs ago to a guy who wired up using 8ga wired to the battery and no fuse..the wire shorted under the carpet and caught the car on fire.

Wow. That is disturbing news. Right now it's only pushing 50 watts at 2 channels- so 100 total... but wow. Going to hook that wire to the battery asap!

 

[OmegaBunny 10+ year member]

Make sure you install a fuse when you do!

 

---------- Post added at 08:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------

 

2 Way Distribution System

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

How would you go about doing this? I am going to be installing two amps-one for lows, one for highs. Right now I already have the high amp hooked up, but the power wire is connected to the fuse box under the hood... I was unaware of this at the time of installation, I didn't install it, but everything I've read says I need to connect it to the battery. Is this correct?
But besides that, how would you connect two amps to one battery without a distro block? Would you run one wire and use a wire splitter (essentially a distro block...), or two separate power wires? Thanks for any replies.

you can connect 2 amps to 1 batt by using ring terminals for the wires

 

[Mills561 10+ year member]

you can connect 2 amps to 1 batt by using ring terminals for the wires

Thanks for the reply. This is what I was really wondering but I appreciate all the other replies trying to help out. Would I use one terminal or two?

EDIT: Stupid question... two, obviously.

 

[Mills561 10+ year member]

Make sure you install a fuse when you do! 

---------- Post added at 08:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------

 

2 Way Distribution System

I already have this distribution block: Fuse Block, Fuse Blocks

But I was confused about how to properly use it. I have some 4 gauge KnuKonceptz wire that fit perfectly into the 4 gauge terminal... but the other 1/0 I have was a little too small for the bigger terminals. So I basically said **** it, and want to run separate wires.

Would I be able to use that distro block for the ground wires?

 

[OmegaBunny 10+ year member]

The 1/0 should fit in there. Did you pull an extra 1/8-1/4 through and fold it over before screwing it back in?

You can also use it as a ground distro you just need a fuse in it to make a completed connection

 

[Mills561 10+ year member]

The 1/0 should fit in there. Did you pull an extra 1/8-1/4 through and fold it over before screwing it back in?
You can also use it as a ground distro you just need a fuse in it to make a completed connection

I have no idea how to use it... I took off the plastic casing and took out the screws with a hex key but that's about as far as I got. Is there more to it? It doesn't seem like there is anyway to fully secure the wire. What am I doing wrong?