What wire do you use?

[suprapimpa]

I'm running a wal-mart special wiring kit with phoenix gold 12 gauge running to my subs. What's everyone else running?

[Notladstyle]

I'm running a wal-mart special wiring kit with phoenix gold 12 gauge running to my subs. What's everyone else running?

8ga electrical wire I stole from a power pole on highway 19. Its thick, its beefy, and its 10x better quality because its designed to survive hurricanes.

I twisted 14ga wire and soldered on RCAs from radio shack

and my speaker wire is just your average 14ga wire.

I havent noticed a big difference with the walmart kits against the monster and stinger kits - BUT the walmart kits usually use off size wires EX 5ga instead of 4ga and 9ga instead of 8ga. and the RCAs break incredibly easily.

[bigerb6969]

are you running 12 ga to your subs from the amp...or from your battery to your amp???

[TIM TIM TIM]

i have kicker 0 guage going to a dist block going to 2 4 guage wires into each amp... with kicker 7mm RCA's

[suprapimpa]

are you running 12 ga to your subs from the amp...or from your battery to your amp???
from my amp to my sub. I have a wal-mart amp wiring kit for the battery to amp and rca's. I'm switching everything out with phoenix gold amp wiring kit, 12ga PG for wiring the subs, and PG speaker wire.

[integralsgreen]

wal-mart power cable, monster rca's

[samakaballer]

i have 4 guage stinger wire from amp to battery,, and 12 guage stinger wire from amp to subs ,,, i used to use 12 guage wire for my ten inch woofer about a year ago lolol,, and i found out that was even 2 small,, then i moved to 8 guage and just threw that shit out and got 1 12 then got 2 12's and got 4 guage,, soon to get 2 guage if i get the 15's i want not sure if im gonna invest money though

[Notladstyle]

i have 4 guage stinger wire from amp to battery,, and 12 guage stinger wire from amp to subs ,,, i used to use 12 guage wire for my ten inch woofer about a year ago lolol,, and i found out that was even 2 small,, then i moved to 8 guage and just threw that shit out and got 1 12 then got 2 12's and got 4 guage,, soon to get 2 guage if i get the 15's i want not sure if im gonna invest money though

the size of your subs shouldnt motivate you to upgrade the wiring, the size of your amp should do that. 8s 10s or 12s at 4ohms the amp pumps the same wattage into each.

[suprapimpa]

the size of your subs shouldnt motivate you to upgrade the wiring, the size of your amp should do that. 8s 10s or 12s at 4ohms the amp pumps the same wattage into each.
I'm getting an idmax and running it off a zapco 1100.1 reference series amp, what wiring do you think I should use? I read somewhere that if the wiring is too big it will draw away power just like if the wire is too small, so I really want to get it just right since I'm spending all this money on a sub and amp.

[TIM TIM TIM]

to big of wiring??? the only way i see it making a noticable differance is in your pocket

[Eclipse99RS]

stinger everything

[TBSpyder]

I'm getting an idmax and running it off a zapco 1100.1 reference series amp, what wiring do you think I should use? I read somewhere that if the wiring is too big it will draw away power just like if the wire is too small, so I really want to get it just right since I'm spending all this money on a sub and amp.

Thicker wiring has no negative effects. It's like water running through a pipe.

[Notladstyle]

I'm getting an idmax and running it off a zapco 1100.1 reference series amp, what wiring do you think I should use? I read somewhere that if the wiring is too big it will draw away power just like if the wire is too small, so I really want to get it just right since I'm spending all this money on a sub and amp.

AC current is affected by wire length and volume. But the energy loss would be neglegable when dealing with such a short distance at such low frequencies in a vehicle. The reaosn is the wire itself has a capacitance which must be caneled before current can flow in the opposite direction. This most affects high frequencyies and very voltage sensitive applications. If you want to be sure, just dont use something ridiculous like 10ga wiring.

In home electrical systems, an extra 50ft of wiring can reduce home voltages by 5 volts depending on the type and quality of termination.

[Notladstyle]

Thicker wiring has no negative effects. It's like water running through a pipe.

water doesnt alternate direction several hundred times a second. It does make a difference.

[TBSpyder]

water doesnt alternate direction several hundred times a second. It does make a difference.


I'm referring to power cables.

[passfan]

AC current is affected by wire length and volume. But the energy loss would be neglegable when dealing with such a short distance at such low frequencies in a vehicle. The reaosn is the wire itself has a capacitance which must be caneled before current can flow in the opposite direction. This most affects high frequencyies and very voltage sensitive applications. If you want to be sure, just dont use something ridiculous like 10ga wiring.

In home electrical systems, an extra 50ft of wiring can reduce home voltages by 5 volts depending on the type and quality of termination.

Would you be so kind as to provide your source for these new theories so that I might take a peek?

[Notladstyle]

Would you be so kind as to provide your source for these new theories so that I might take a peek?

new theories? AC current isnt a new concept. if you dont understand the principle behind how AC current works google it. My reference is one of my college textbooks: Electrical Theory by Mike Holt. You can find it by taking a peek into low level EE classes at USF.

[passfan]

water doesnt alternate direction several hundred times a second. It does make a difference.

Current doesn't change directions in the wire either. AC Current alternates around a zero pole point in the generator hence the name alternating, and it's 60 cycles not several hundred.:-o

[Notladstyle]

Current doesn't change directions in the wire either. AC Current alternates around a zero pole point in the generator hence the name alternating, and it's 60 cycles not several hundred.:-o

Umm guess how many times AC current changes direction in one cycle? Twice!

[passfan]

Umm guess how many times AC current changes direction in one cycle? Twice!

And two times sixty is several hundred?:lol: You've got a long way to go and a lot to learn and your quoting an entry level book used to introduce high schoolers into trade school. Good luck

[passfan]

new theories? AC current isnt a new concept. if you dont understand the principle behind how AC current works google it. My reference is one of my college textbooks: Electrical Theory by Mike Holt. You can find it by taking a peek into low level EE classes at USF.

I understand them perfectly and have been using them daily for 25 years and when you post something that resembles them I will congradulate you for it. I'll bet your a great installer.

[Notladstyle]

And two times sixty is several hundred?:lol: You've got a long way to go and a lot to learn and your quoting an entry level book used to introduce high schoolers into trade school. Good luck

like I said, low level courses ;) you can do your best to insult me but I am but a humble college student and have weathered much worse than any wanna be E-thug could throw at me so after you have checked my original statement that wires carriying AC current will lose voltage as the wire size and length increase you can continue the bashing.


Wheres your evidence to the contrary?

[P057]

I understand them perfectly and have been using them daily for 25 years and when you post something that resembles them I will congradulate you for it. I'll bet your a great installer.

That is really rather uncalled for. If he's wrong just correct him, you dont have to call him a dope while doing it..:roll:


I too was under the impression that the thicker and shorter the wire the better it is. So what would be optimal for certain general applications? such as a general gauge amount for power leading to an amp and a gauge for wire leading to the speakers or subwoofer, so far i think i have 4ga from power to amp and 12 or 14 from amp to subs. I think it's sufficient but what gauge should i do for say a 4 channel amp? thinking about putting in a 400-500 rms watter.

[TBSpyder]

I too was under the impression that the thicker and shorter the wire the better it is.

It is.

[Notladstyle]

I too was under the impression that the thicker and shorter the wire the better it is. So what would be optimal for certain general applications? such as a general gauge amount for power leading to an amp and a gauge for wire leading to the speakers or subwoofer, so far i think i have 4ga from power to amp and 12 or 14 from amp to subs. I think it's sufficient but what gauge should i do for say a 4 channel amp? thinking about putting in a 400-500 rms watter.

Heres a nice site that will help with the Battery to amp calculations with voltage drops due to resistance:
http://www.stealth316.com/2-wire-resistance.htm

As for the AC current loss by using larger than needed wires, ill wait for the guy with 25 years of experience to post before I waste time smashing his argument.

[passfan]

like I said, low level courses ;) you can do your best to insult me but I am but a humble college student and have weathered much worse than any wanna be E-thug could throw at me?

Then you should have kept your mouth shut when I posted some thoery about imedances in that other thread. No, you jumped all over my info like some kind of electrical engineering know it all and your not even through your first book, and now you want to play the victim like some little punk???



so after you have checked my original statement that wires carriying AC current will lose voltage as the wire size and length increase you can continue the bashing.


Wheres your evidence to the contrary?

Really, let's go back and look at your original statement:

AC current is affected by wire length and volume.?

That doesnt sound anything like:

that wires carriying AC current will lose voltage as the wire size and length increase you can continue the bashing.

Which is partially wrong, you increase the wire size to overcome the wire length.

I don't need to bash you or argue with you, you seem to be doing pretty good arguing with yourself. Perhaps the next time you decide to punk slap the new guy on the board you'll know what your talking about.

[Notladstyle]

Volume as in gauge and no its totally correct.

You may decrease the line resistance by using a larger gauge wire but unless you are using superconducting wire you will increase the current required to supply the same amount of energy at the other end due to loss of energy to heat.

[jriggs]

i'm running double zero power and everything is monster gotta love it

[Miles]

fosgate power and ground, monster RCA's, waiting for an amp. :verysad:

[TIM TIM TIM]

double 0?? wtf are you running

[Notladstyle]

double 0??

A king size vibrator for those lonely nights home from the club ;)

[jriggs]

double 0?? wtf are you running


its ran in my yukon xl, it has a power inverter in the back that car run big screen tv's and pa systems it is our tail gate party truck and instead of running multiple power wires for the amp pushing the two 12 w6 jl's and the inverter. we went a little (ok someone who knows about this shit would probably say a TON) over kill and ran it to a distribution block and out to everything, this way we have room for expansion with out running more wires through the truck