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<blockquote data-quote="old_dude" data-source="post: 5718716" data-attributes="member: 608305">Hey there!&nbsp; I&#039;m new to this forum, and this is my first post/reply.&nbsp; I&#039;m no expert by any means, but I do have a bit of knowledge based on asking questions, reading, and mostly experience.&nbsp; I&#039;ve experienced all the &quot;not enough voltage/too much draw&quot; from my battery stuff in the past, even frying wires right off the alternator!&nbsp; So this time, on my current setup, I decided that since CURRENT DRAW is more important than VOLTAGE (to me, anyway) I wanted to know exactly how much draw my sh*t was pulling from my battery.&nbsp; So I invested $163+ (list at $260) for an AutoMeter Cobalt Amp Current Gauge, meaning &quot;amps&quot; in 3 ways to me: it measures AMPS being drawn from AMPS and will be (when I&#039;m finally done) hooked to my AMPS.&nbsp; I chose this route for several reasons.&nbsp; Being a former auto mechanic, I&#039;ve had bosses and coworkers always tell me to buy a Ammeter to monitor current draw rather than a Volt Meter to worry about voltage draw when it comes to car audio.&nbsp; Made sense to me!&nbsp; It&#039;s the amperage current draw that is basically making headlights flash and stuff from the beat of your thumpage.&nbsp; Oh, don&#039;t get me wrong, we all want to make sure we keep our battery voltage at around 12-14 volts to make our systems perform to their peek expectations.&nbsp; But myself, I worry more about how much current is being sucked from my electrical system.SO... (I&#039;m getting to my point, sorry)//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gifI would recommend to anyone who can afford one to get the gauge I got.&nbsp; As mentioned above, they are NOT cheap by any means.&nbsp; But this investment, not only being cool to look at, can help keep you from drawing too much current from your vehicle&#039;s electrical system.&nbsp; It has several modes of display, but the coolest and most effective is where it monitors current draw and displays it 10 times a second, which is best in my opinion.&nbsp; Very simple logic and install, too!&nbsp; You simply run your main power cable (0g, 1g, or whatever you choose) through a little &quot;current transducer&quot; that mounts with 2 screws.&nbsp; The transducer &quot;picks up&quot; the amount of current being drawn through it and displays it on the gauge.&nbsp; Cool and functional at the same time!Check it out.&nbsp; This is where I got mine:<a href="http://www.fixthisride.com/showproductdetail.jsp?prod_id=759&amp;amp;mid=A48&amp;amp;pid=6390" target="_blank">http://www.fixthisride.com/showproductdetail.jsp?prod_id=759&amp;amp;mid=A48&amp;amp;pid=6390</a>I think this is going to be a VERY wise investment I made.&nbsp; Just think I&#039;ll install it in the amp rack instead of in or under my dash.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="old_dude, post: 5718716, member: 608305"] Hey there! I'm new to this forum, and this is my first post/reply. I'm no expert by any means, but I do have a bit of knowledge based on asking questions, reading, and mostly experience. I've experienced all the "not enough voltage/too much draw" from my battery stuff in the past, even frying wires right off the alternator! So this time, on my current setup, I decided that since CURRENT DRAW is more important than VOLTAGE (to me, anyway) I wanted to know exactly how much draw my sh*t was pulling from my battery. So I invested $163+ (list at $260) for an AutoMeter Cobalt [I]Amp Current Gauge[/I], meaning "amps" in 3 ways to me: it measures AMPS being drawn from AMPS and will be (when I'm finally done) hooked to my AMPS. I chose this route for several reasons. Being a former auto mechanic, I've had bosses and coworkers always tell me to buy a Ammeter to monitor current draw rather than a Volt Meter to worry about voltage draw when it comes to car audio. Made sense to me! It's the amperage current draw that is basically making headlights flash and stuff from the beat of your thumpage. Oh, don't get me wrong, we all want to make sure we keep our battery voltage at around 12-14 volts to make our systems perform to their peek expectations. But myself, I worry more about how much current is being sucked from my electrical system. SO... (I'm getting to my point, sorry)[IMG]//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif[/IMG] I would recommend to anyone who can afford one to get the gauge I got. As mentioned above, they are NOT cheap by any means. But this investment, not only being cool to look at, can help keep you from drawing too much current from your vehicle's electrical system. It has several modes of display, but the coolest and most effective is where it monitors current draw and displays it [I]10 times a second[/I], which is best in my opinion. Very simple logic and install, too! You simply run your main power cable (0g, 1g, or whatever you choose) through a little "current transducer" that mounts with 2 screws. The transducer "picks up" the amount of current being drawn through it and displays it on the gauge. Cool and functional at the same time! Check it out. This is where I got mine: [URL="http://www.fixthisride.com/showproductdetail.jsp?prod_id=759&mid=A48&pid=6390"]http://www.fixthisride.com/showproductdetail.jsp?prod_id=759&mid=A48&pid=6390[/URL] I think this is going to be a VERY wise investment I made. Just think I'll install it in the amp rack instead of in or under my dash. [/QUOTE]

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