Massive voltage drop at amp but not at battery? Help

[Side Show 10+ year member]

so bigger is better no matter the pwr or length of the cable? think I may have just learnt something new

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

no. just NO. smaller wire is NEVER better. the bigger you can go the better. bigger wire has less resistance. less resistance means less heat and less voltage drop. obviously you dont need to run 4ga to your mids and tweets, but when it comes to feeding amps BIGGER, always. for subs i try to use 8ga whenever possible.
Matt

For regular speaker wire 8ga is NOT necessary until you start feeding like 2000W+ to a single sub. My subs currently are only getting around 500-700w a piece and are wired with 14ga I think which is more than enough to handle 500w. But all the wiring is 0 gauge into and out of the distro except for to the AQ amp which only accepts 4ga. That's why I bought this distro was because I could have 0 gauge going in AND 0 and 4 coming out. Rather than 0 IN and 2x4 out. Because I needed 0ga for the RF and 4 for the AQ

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

so bigger is better no matter the pwr or length of the cable? think I may have just learnt something new

yes, obviously you dont need 3 runs of 0ga to power a 50X4 4ch amp, but it wont hurt anything. my Mmats amp has 4ga inputs. i run 0ga to it and use a reduce to fit it into the amp.

Matt

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

so bigger is better no matter the pwr or length of the cable? think I may have just learnt something new

Almost 1900 posts and you thought using smaller cable would be better? Tell me. What do you think would be better and more efficient? Running water through a syringe? Or through a pipe?. Using 0ga is ALWAYS going to be better regardless of power. If you send 500w of power down a 8ga piece of wire it's going to become choked off easier than if u sent it down a huge wide piece of 0ga.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

For regular speaker wire 8ga is NOT necessary until you start feeding like 2000W+ to a single sub. My subs currently are only getting around 500-700w a piece and are wired with 14ga I think which is more than enough to handle 500w. But all the wiring is 0 gauge into and out of the distro except for to the AQ amp which only accepts 4ga. That's why I bought this distro was because I could have 0 gauge going in AND 0 and 4 coming out. Rather than 0 IN and 2x4 out. Because I needed 0ga for the RF and 4 for the AQ

get a 0ga in 2 0ga out distro. strip twice the 4ga wire that the distro accepts. fold the stripped wire over, insert into distro, secure with set-screw.

and i know you dont need BIG wire for subs. but i prefer to go bigger rather than smaller when i can. in reality you can use 12GA for 2K subs. it all depends on what impedance you are running at. higher impedance needs less current = smaller wire. lower impedance needs more current = bigger wire.

Matt

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

get a 0ga in 2 0ga out distro. strip twice the 4ga wire that the distro accepts. fold the stripped wire over, insert into distro, secure with set-screw.
and i know you dont need BIG wire for subs. but i prefer to go bigger rather than smaller when i can. in reality you can use 12GA for 2K subs. it all depends on what impedance you are running at. higher impedance needs less current = smaller wire. lower impedance needs more current = bigger wire.

Matt

Well I'm gonna try unwiring the distro tomorrow and see if it helps. Another reason I got that distro is because I could use a single ground wire to the block and the split it off to the amps in the right gauge as well.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

Well I'm gonna try unwiring the distro tomorrow and see if it helps. Another reason I got that distro is because I could use a single ground wire to the block and the split it off to the amps in the right gauge as well.

i dont like using one distro for power and ground. never sat well with me. i ghave 2 ground wires that run into one distro for my amps. one grounds under the seat-belt bolt the other the rear strut tower.

Matt

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

i dont like using one distro for power and ground. never sat well with me. i ghave 2 ground wires that run into one distro for my amps. one grounds under the seat-belt bolt the other the rear strut tower.
Matt

Seat belt bolt isn't a good grounding spot I've read. Pretty much anybody who's ever used that spot has been told it's no good and must be grounded to the chassis or the team after it's been cleaned and sanded.

Frame*

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

say I put water through my 20m garden hose, it'll take 5 seconds for the water to come out at a strong consistant stream, now if I were running it into a storm water drain over the same distance how long do you think it'll be befor I get any water out the other end, and would it be a constant stream? I understand with more power you need bigger cable, I always thort there was a reason you'd match your system needs with the correct size wiring to get the most out if it...... seems I got a bit confused somewere. thanks for correcting me

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

say I put water through my 20m garden hose, it'll take 5 seconds for the water to come out at a strong consistant stream, now if I were running it into a storm water drain over the same distance how long do you think it'll be befor I get any water out the other end, and would it be a constant stream? I understand with more power you need bigger cable, I always thort there was a reason you'd match your system needs with the correct size wiring to get the most out if it...... seems I got a bit confused somewere. thanks for correcting me

thats not how current works. Think of the pressure thats built up in that garden hose compared to the storm drain and relate it to electrical resistance. resistance is bad in situations where your supplying power because we want a free path for the electrons to flow to where theyre needed. I think you need a serious primer in electrical theory. Basic Car Audio Electronics First like 10 pages or whatever are basic electrical throry

 

[phemps 10+ year member]

Fuse holder up front is set screws and the KNF-60 Distro block doesn't use either. It uses special compression fittings and mini-ANL fuses and buss bars to make it's connections.
This is the distro I'm using. Knukonceptz product detail for KONFUSED 2 WAY POWER AND GROUND DISTRIBUTION BLOCK

Ive found these compression fittings to be very good connections if you use them properly

 

[DRS0105]

You have a bad ground. I guarantee it. I know you said you changed your ground already but if you're just moving it around in the trunk, depending on car style, it might all be essentially the same spot, and that spot may be bad.

You need a dedicated ground run to your main battery. If you're going to run another ground wire to the front you can install a second battery and use the battery as a distribution block or if you don't want to do that just buy an actual ground distribution block. I found some nice rockford ones on amazon for like $5 shipped. Either way you need to be grounded to that front battery (or waste time finding a proper ground in the trunk).

I had the same issue. I had my voltmeter connected to my main battery and hardly ever seen voltage drop but my amps were heating up like crazy. Ieeventually connected the meter to the amp inputs and seen a completely different story. Major voltage drop. I ran a dedicated ground run from the front battery to the rear and my voltage is what it should be now not to mention my amps no longer heat up.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

I really hope that's not the case because I REALLY don't want to have to spend all that money on another 20ft of 0ga. That aint cheap.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

Seat belt bolt isn't a good grounding spot I've read. Pretty much anybody who's ever used that spot has been told it's no good and must be grounded to the chassis or the team after it's been cleaned and sanded.
Frame*

on my car (1999 chevy malibu) the center seatbelt bolts to one of the thickest parts of metal in the trunk area. measuring the resistance of that ground i get 0 resistance. my DMM probes read .01 ohms and that ground reads .01 as well. the strut tower reads .02 which is why when i do my amp rack its comming out.

Matt

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

I really hope that's not the case because I REALLY don't want to have to spend all that money on another 20ft of 0ga. That aint cheap.

if you have a DMM do this for me:

run a wire from the battery ground to where your trunk ground is. measure the resistance of that peice of wire and write that number down. now take that wire and your DMM. put the + probe on the ground in your trunk and the - side on the wire, read the resistance. if the second number is any more than .1 higher(honestly you should aim for .01 if your DMM reads that low) you have a ****** ground.

Matt