Question about wireing-cables etc. =)

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

I am gonna amp my front components. Alpine SpR 17S powered with Alpine pdx 2.150.

This is the deal.. I drive an Opel Astra G,and i already deadend the metal and am out of material,there are two ways to put the wires but both are very ''dangerous'' and i can mess a lot more stuff up so after many tryes and frustrations i decided to stop the sharade.

Instead of that i hooked up on the stock wireing at the doors,and in the end hooked out on the same. Amp cables are 2.5mm2,and the stock ones are 0.5-1mm2.

Amp cables go about 4 metars,than the stock ones go 40 cm,and than again amp cables for about 50 cm to the crossover.

My question is next: What do i potencialy lose with this move? What is the downside of this if there is one?

I am really warried so please help,and i am SORRY for puting the measures in METRIC,i know u dont use it in the USA,but i know u'll get the point.

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[PaulD 10+ year member]

you will lose very little to nothing using such a short run of the smaller speaker wire

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

bcae1.com

If you don't overexceed the amp capacity, to where the wire would overheat, and you don't suffer major voltage losses, then you should be fine.

 

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

I wont overxceed the power of the amp,as for the voltage losses that also aint going to happen.

Also this arent the power cables,only the signal cables from the amp to the speakers.

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

I wont overxceed the power of the amp,as for the voltage losses that also aint going to happen.
Also this arent the power cables,only the signal cables from the amp to the speakers.

I don't mean the amp itself - I mean the amperage - it's essentially the amount of power flowing through a wire.

If you have too much power going through a wire, it will cause a loss in voltage going to the speaker. It will also cause the wire to heat up, and if it heats up too much, it'll burn off the insulation, at best only frying the wire, at worst starting a fire in your car.

The manner in which a wire works, the shorter the distance, the smaller the wire you can use, because it won't heat up as much. I don't know how much power you are running - but it is unlikely you'll have any damage.

The wire section on the website http://www.bcae1.com has several calculators useful in determining whether you will have a problem.

I wouldn't be worried in your case though - unless you're running 200 watts or more to the speakers, you should be fine.

 

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

Hm.. Its true the site has many calculators,but it doesnt have calculators for my problem.

Edit: the cable is 14 AWG,its like that for 13 feet,after that the cable is i think 20awg for 1.5 feet,and after that 14awg for one feet to the crossover.

I will try to shorten the cable as much as possible,so it would be about 10-11 feet at first.

The amp is rated at 2x150 rms,but i am going to run about 120-130 rms.

I am very scared now when u mentioned fire =(

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

Alright - with 150 rms, you'll be pulling approximately 6 amps through the wire - I'm not sure of the amperage capacity of a 20 gauge wire.

Estimating, you'd be cutting it close. With that short of a length, chances are you'd be fine if you choose to leave it. It's very unlikely you'll have a fire, unless the wire is run next to carpet. But if at all possible, I would replace it with thicker wire, and not leave it to chance.

The 14 gauge lengths will be just fine, I wouldn't worry about shortening it. The only question is of the shorter length of wire.

 

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

Thnx a lot man for your help! I will be geting the doors off tommorow,and drilling some holes! Hope i wont mess something up!