New to this. Help Please.

[zbone1 10+ year member]

First time. Help please

hey guys this is kind of my first time wiring my own entire system. I have messed with existing cables before, but I kind of want to do it correct this time. I'll tell you what I'm working with so somebody will know how to wire this correctly.

Right now I just have a normal car started battery from wal mart, it won't cut the job for the amps I am wanting to install. So I have purchased an optima yellow top d34/78. I purchased a Stinger SGP32 200 amp isolator. I also have a 2 farad capacitor. My amps are a jbl 1201.1 and a fosgate 400.4. The Fosgate is for my kicker speakers and the jbl is for kicker subs. Everyone I have talked to recommends 0 gauge for what I have. It's only about 1600 watts of rms power so I think I could pass with 0-2 gauge. Anyways I am wanting to know how to wire this up... Will I get shocked doing this? I know not to hold on to the power and touch something metal, but I would really like to save the installation money.

From what I understand it would go something like this.

Main car battery

Battery --- fuse --- isolator-----fuse---battery---fuse---cap---amps

My questions are;

Do I need to have 3 fuses and if so, do they all need to match the isolators 200amp fuse?

Is it safe for the yellow top battery to be mounted in the trunk?

Which areas do I need to ground to the chassis? Each battery goes to the chassis, or does the isolator and cap go to chassis as well?

I appreciate the help and I know you guys know what you're doing... I just don't want to die installing some amps...

Also, is there a special way to install the cap? Or can I just hook up the ground and power and it works, or should I eliminate the cap... I have it for voltage drop.

The car were working with is a 2002 dodge intrepid se 2.7L with only a 130amp alternator.

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[All_Logix 10+ year member]

No worries my friend I really doubt your going to kill yourself with this install haha, your main concern should be destroying your equipment. Let me start off by saying that I would recommend you replace that under the hood battery but for the time being you were right to isolate a secondary battery. You do not necessarily need all those fuses, I would locate one close to your under the hood battery and get the amp capacity that your main power wire is rated for. Next, you have the right idea in wiring...bat to isolator to bat to cap to amps, but the cap is more than likely going to make absolutely zero difference. Ground everything to the chassis, the metal frame work in your vehicle is directly attached to the alternator housing which is the main power source....If you want my personal opinion here is how I would do it.

replace the under the hood batt with the yellow top and do a nice big 3 with some 0 AWG, then run 0 back to the amps in the trunk, through a distro block of course, but throwing in a whole lot of stuff like an extra battery and isolator and cap is going to clutter your trunk and make the whole thing complicated. With a 130 amp alt, a good big 3 and a good battery under the hood I think you will be ok