speaker wire & battery help?

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

I just got a focus zx3. I'm gonna be running a concept 1200rms amp. Probly won't be using the whole 1200 right now. Do I need a bigger battery? Am I gonna need an ho alt? And will 10 gauge speaker wire be enough? I wanna do it right the 1st time. I don't know what amp alt is has now. Thanks for ur help

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[jnewnam88 10+ year member]

I just got a focus zx3. I'm gonna be running a concept 1200rms amp. Probly won't be using the whole 1200 right now. Do I need a bigger battery? Am I gonna need an ho alt? And will 10 gauge speaker wire be enough? I wanna do it right the 1st time. I don't know what amp alt is has now. Thanks for ur help

What year is the focus? What subs are you going to be hooking up and what size installation kit? 10 ga should be alright for the actual speakers but not the amp! Your stock battery and alt will be just fine on that. Don't play it will the car off if you like your battery though!

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

How much can 10ga handle?

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

2000 focus. I have 0 ga to run. Right now I'm gonna have 2-10s running about 700rms. I'm probly gonna get a single or pair of 12s in the future

 

[jnewnam88 10+ year member]

How much can 10ga handle?

Enough for your speaker wire I am not sure on actual numbers its just the current you are worried about. It looks to me that it has three 40 amp fuses thats alot of current for a 10 ga wire. I would buy a nice little 4 ga installation kit and only use the 10 ga for sub to box terminal and box terminal to amp.

 

[jnewnam88 10+ year member]

2000 focus. I have 0 ga to run. Right now I'm gonna have 2-10s running about 700rms. I'm probly gonna get a single or pair of 12s in the future

Well thats even better run the 0 ga for power and ground. How are you wiring your subs? and how many voicecoils are they

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

The most 1 wire will see is about 600 rms. What do people recommend: inline fuse or circuit breaker? Never had a breaker but I like the idea of no fuse

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

Right now series parallel. They r 2ohm dvc. And the amp has 4x40 amp fuses

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

When I do the big 3 can I just add 4ga or do I need 2 replace the stock wire?

 

[jnewnam88 10+ year member]

The most 1 wire will see is about 600 rms. What do people recommend: inline fuse or circuit breaker? Never had a breaker but I like the idea of no fuse

I live by inline fuses. I would never buy a breaker! Whay are you running series parallel? So you have one of the voice coil on one sub going from positive to negative on the other voicecoil on the other sub? 1 wire of what? 10 ga wire?? If so that is from speakers your amp is not drawing watts from the battery it is pulling amperage. Do you know .1 amp can kill you if it passes through your heart? Basically one hand to the other? I do not want some 10 ga wire carrying at least 40 amps maybe that is just me though

 

---------- Post added at 10:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

 

When I do the big 3 can I just add 4ga or do I need 2 replace the stock wire?

DO NOT replace the stock wire just add the 4 ga wire!

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

The subs r dvc. Each sub is wired series. Then both subs r parallel. Its a 2.8 ohm load

 

[jnewnam88 10+ year member]

The subs r dvc. Each sub is wired series. Then both subs r parallel. Its a 2.8 ohm load

Sounds good so you are only getting maybe 300 watts a sub. sounds like you have it under control

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

What about the big3? I've never done it before

 

[babsuhl81 10+ year member]

Ok thanks for the help. I won't be able 2 do any of the install til I get some work done 2 the car. Hopefully about this time next week I can get started

 

[garretttt4 10+ year member]

Just do the big 3, and do 0 gauge power wire and you'll be fine. 10 gauge is definitely enough for 5-600 watts each sub.