results of using too small power wire

[xluben 10+ year member]

i have a new amp and new subs coming soon (hopefully this weekend).

the subs are arsenal 12's and the amp is a soundstream 1700d.

right now i have 4awg power and ground run.

i plan on getting 1/0 from knu when it comes back in stock,

and doing the big three in 1/0 and a dedicated run of 1/0 for the amp.

in the meantime, what is gonna happen if i just use the 4awg for the new amp?

what is a safe level i can set my gains at?

and what will happen if i just go all out and do 1500W, or so, through 4awg?

i'm guessing i'll probably pop a fuse (80a agu), but can i actually damage anything?

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[Lil_KB 10+ year member]

sounds like you need a bigger fuse...but i wouldnt really hesitate to run 1500 watts through 4 gauge....if its high quality 4g.

 

[squeak12 10+ year member]

Dont up the amp rating on the fuse. Its there to protect the wire from running more current than it can handle. If you did that, you run the risk of melting the wiring and starting a fire.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

i had a 80a fuse but i had to upgrade it to 125a, and btw i blew the shit outta my 80a fuse and melted the fuse holder with about 1500w, but right now i havnt had any probs and ive got 4awg welding wire with my soundstream pca 2000d

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

i had a 80a fuse but i had to upgrade it to 125a, and btw i blew the shit outta my 80a fuse and melted the fuse holder with about 1500w, but right now i havnt had any probs and ive got 4awg welding wire with my soundstream pca 2000d

oh, the newer bigger version of my amp on 4awg! sounds promising for me!

i don't think they make agu's any bigger than 80a (that i've seen).

maybe i'll looks for and anl holder locally (but there's no car audio shops around me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif).

if not i'll just set it to around 1200W (80a fuse should handle that) and wait for the knu 1/0 kit.

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

according to this it looks like i can get away with 4gauge if i get a bigger fuse:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166038

i didn't realize 4gauge could handle that much current.

but i'll probably just keep the gains low until i get the 1/0 kit.

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

anyone know where i can get a larger AGU fuse for cheap?

i found a 5pack of 100amp AGU fuses on ebay for $5 shipped, is that going to be big enough?

i was thinking at least 120amp or 150amp, but do they make AGU's that big?

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

Remember that a fuse doesn't blow at it's rating.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

i hate agu, goto http://www.darvex.com and get a mini anl fuse holder and 125a fuse 3pk and i also think knu has them, cuz i just got the 4awg kit for my gf's car and it came with mini anl fuse holder and i think a 125a fuse

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

Remember that a fuse doesn't blow at it's rating.

yeah, so you're saying and 80A fuse will handle a 1700W amp on music for daily use?

i hate agu, goto http://www.darvex.com and get a mini anl fuse holder and 125a fuse 3pk and i also think knu has them, cuz i just got the 4awg kit for my gf's car and it came with mini anl fuse holder and i think a 125a fuse

yeah, i'll be getting two anl fuse holders when i do the big three and re-wire the amp with 1/0, but until then i was hoping for something to hold me over (and cost ~$5).