Two +12V and Grounds wires to one amp?

[palmfish 10+ year member]

I'm going to re-install an a/d/s PQ20.2 into my car (I removed it for repairs). The previous owner of my car who originally installed the amp used a single 10 ga. wire for the 12v line (fused at the battery) and another 10 ga. wire for the ground. It ran this way for years without any problems.

I downloaded the owner's manual and after reviewing it, I see that a/d/s states to use two +12v lines and two ground wires because of the amps "high power output." The amp does have two terminals for each, so it's obviously designed to be wired this way.

Should I add these second lines?

Click to read more...

 

[DDeitz 10+ year member]

it cant hurt

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Looking at the manual, definitely.

 

[DD_Dave 10+ year member]

i would

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

that amp needs 2x10ga, or a single 6 ga+

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Gotta remember that when that amp was made 8-10ga was about the norm for power wire.

 

[Paaco1981 10+ year member]

I used to have an old Rockford Amp with 2 8G grounds and power connections. I used both. One day somehow one of my power wires got pulled out and after a little while of bumping I started smelling burnt wire. The shield on the single power wire was melting lol. So I would say definitely use both.

 

[budget76 10+ year member]

yesl, i would use both. I had 2x8ga power, and ground, on my pq20. Nice amps, don't risk hurting it with insufficient power

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

I appreciate the responses - I will definitely follow your advice.

Is there anyplace in particular that is a good seller of wires, fuses, etc. or should I just get an "installation kit" from Amazon.com or Best Buy? Also, what do you use for spacers to keep the amp raised off the mounting surface?

Thanks

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

I used aluminum spacers, available at home depot in their "specialty" drawers. 1/4" long, wide enough for the screw to go through.

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

I'd do a single 4ga. run and then distro to 2-8ga. for the power.

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Aluminum spacers and 4 ga. wire. Perfect!

Last question...

The amps and subwoofer are mounted to a board that's bolted to the rear seatback in the trunk. I know I can fish the power wires through, but I can't find where the previous owner grounded the amps (I'm guessing hidden behind the board). rather than remove the board, I'd like to just find another place to ground the amps that's easy to access. What parts of the chassis provide a proper ground? Shock tower mounts? jack or spare tire mounting plates?

Finally, thanks again for the advice. I was going to pay a shop to do this work for me, but the more I read, the more I see that I can do it myself - I get a lot of satisfaction from that. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Update...I got the amps re-wired and re-installed.

Here are the old power wires (one for each amp) with spliced in fuses:

Here are the new power wires (2 for the PQ20.2 and 1 for the PS5.2) with in-line fuses:

And the amps re-installed:

Thanks again for all the good advice!