Question about 4 gauge.

[cooldudejz 10+ year member]

right now i have 4 gauge wire running from my battery powering one 600w amp. i plan to add another amp to power my speakers. i think it does 75w x 2. my question is, is it ok to buy a fused distribution block and do 4 gauge in and then 2 4 gauge out. i guess my real question is how many amps can the 4 gauge take before is melts and my car catches on fire. right the the one amp is fused at the battery with an 80a fuse and the second amp will probably be like a 60a fuse. so do i have to take th plunge and buy 0 gauge or am i ok.

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[mikeyboc 10+ year member]

It doesn't depend on the number of amps, but the current the amps draw. It would be better to not take one 4ga in and 2 4ga out. You should either:

A) upgrade the power run to 1/0

B) keep the 4 ga, but run 2 8 ga out of the distro. The second amp has no need for 4 ga wire anyway, just try to keep the power and ground to the 600W amp as short as possible.

 

[seg_representin 10+ year member]

You should still be good with 4 gauge if you don't wanna upgrade. People will tell you to opgrade because the bigger the wire the cooler it runs. But with amp you have now and the amp your going to get you should be fine. But i don't think you can get a distro block thats gonna go 4 gauge to 2 4 gauges....your gonna have to go from 4 gauge to 2 8 gauges.

 

[thugpassion 10+ year member]

you'll be just fine. At a constant 13.8-14.2V i run (my sig) amps totalling 160 fused amps 4ga from the battery to a distro w/ 2 4ga outs. it is difficult to find that type of distro though.

Also be sure youre using quality wire. i've got knu kollosus, very very nice wire!

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

It doesn't depend on the number of amps, but the current the amps draw. It would be better to not take one 4ga in and 2 4ga out. You should either:
A) upgrade the power run to 1/0

B) keep the 4 ga, but run 2 8 ga out of the distro. The second amp has no need for 4 ga wire anyway, just try to keep the power and ground to the 600W amp as short as possible.

x2

 

[cooldudejz 10+ year member]

my current 4 gauge wire is also knu kollosus. i want to buy this distro block

http://cgi.ebay.com/KnuKonceptz-1-0-Gauge-2-Way-4-AWG-Mini-ANL-Fuse-Block_W0QQitemZ220009849035QQihZ012QQcategoryZ50550QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

just an fyi i am not sure if this means anything but the amp i want to power my speakers with has 3 10a fuses on it, so i think i should be ok. also the manual does not say what size fuse i should use on the actual power wire, can anyone help me out on this, the amp is a zapco cs 2.0. thanx

 

[jacka 10+ year member]

i have that block. awesome and easy to use. changed my input wire from 4 to 0 and it was easy as pie.

 

[96civ 10+ year member]

Just use 2 gauge from battery to distro block into 2 4 gauge. 1/0 is expensive per foot compared to 2 gauge when your application doesn't really require 1/0.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Welding supply? I would go with 1/0 just incase you upgrade....