hello everyone so i purchased my prelude with all the wiring set up for an amplifier and a subwoofer. right now i have 2 p2 12 fosgates running off of a sony xplod 1200 watt amp (peak i assume), and my components are just running off my head unit for now. I am thinking of purchasing a 4 channel 60 watt rms at 4 ohm amp to run my components.
My question is that i have scosche 5 gauge wiring from my battery to my amp, and my car came with a little distribution block to split it to perhaps 8 gauge wire (i assume?) for another amp. Im wondering if its OK to split this 5 gauge wire with 8 gauge, or if i should replace the 5 gauge with 0 or 4.
I would not really enjoy re-wireing my lude, so hopefully i can split it without any power drops or problems. thank you!
Read this: Cable Gauge Chart . 5 gauge is not one of the common wires sizes used in car audio, so you kinda have to guess where it fits in on that chart. Sounds to me like it's a heavier gauge than what you really need.
Typically the wires on the output side of the distribution block are going to be a smaller gauge than the input power wire. My distribution block goes from a single 2 gauge input to 2 8 gauge output wires IIRC. My distribution block has 2 fuses in it, and my primary power wire is also fused about a foot from my battery. Make sure you don't forget to fuse those wires.
hmm okay, sounds good so far ha. And yeah thats what i had figured. What is IIRC? oh okay, 2 fuses in the block? Id guess i need a new one, because mine a scosche with no fuses, it just splits it. And yes my 5 ga is fused about a foot from my battery as well. my block looks alot like this, just with only 2 holes out and not 4.
IIRC = if I recall correctly...it's been a few years since I installed my system, but I'm pretty sure those were the wire gauges I used. I actually have 3 amps hooked up, one for the front channel, one for the rear, and one for my sub.
You don't have to use a fused distribution block, but it can't hurt. Mine looks like this one:
I have it mounted in my trunk, so there is quite a bit of wire between the block and the fuse by the battery. It's definitely not absolutely necessary to put a fuse there, but fused blocks cost about the same as solid ones, so I figured I might as well.
Even without knowing all the details, with those small amps you posted, I'm pretty sure 5 gauge is going to be more than enough. Double check it against the chart to make sure you're in the ballpark.
My amps are all grounded separately. Once upon a time, I had two of them grounded to the same spot, but it caused as nasty feedback loop squeal, so I moved one of them. Be sure to use whatever gauge you actually run to the amp (probably going to be 8 gauge) to ground the amp. You don't want to use an 8 gauge power wire and a 5 gauge ground wire.
You will be fine but I would install a cap in the back to help smooth out the voltage. The crapy little batteries in these Hondas don't have enough ass to run most stereo systems, and the small alternators don't help either.
i have ... a sony xplod 1200 watt amp (peak)... I am thinking of purchasing a 4 channel 60 watt rms at 4 ohm amp to run my components. scosche 5 gauge wiring ... and ... a little distribution block to split it to perhaps 8 gauge wire...
If the Sony 1200 watt amp you have is a Sony Xplod XM-GTR2022, along with the amp you are looking at purchasing a Kenwood KAC-8403, that's 80amp fuse rating for the Sony and 40 amp fuse rating for the Kenwood so you're talking a potential of 120amps of current. That's a lot
Your Scoche 5ga amplifier kit originally came with:
- 4ga in to dual 8ga out Power Distribution Block
- MAXI In-Line Fuse Holder with 100 Amp Fuse
- 14 ft. of 5 ga. Power Cable and 6 ft. 9 ga. Power Cable
- 4 ft. of 9 ga. Ground Cable
Scoche is generally regarded as low quality cable, and I think they were sued or something for "false advertising" which is why their cable is called 5 gauge (they originally said it was 4 gauge but when tested would burst into flames when loaded to 4 gauge spec), and same deal with their original 8 gauge cable (what you have powering and grounding your existing amp now), they had to call it 9 gauge.
So, looking at the crutchfield gauge guide you can see that with 120 amps of current on 10ft of cable you're at the limit of 8 gauge and starting into 4 gauge, so your 5 gauge cable will be sufficient to run your new amp setup, just barely. If upgrading to any bigger amps in the future, replace your 5 gauge cable with something larger (0 gauge from battery to a 0ga in to four 4ga out fused block ideally).
You don't need to replace your distribution block at all, it is perfectly suited to your new amp setup.
Pick up:
8 gauge power cable
8 gauge ground cable
some crimp on ground cable rings
*optional* 120 amp MAXI fuse
You would probably be OK with your stock 100 amp fuse because both amps would be unlikely to draw their full fuse rating EVER, especially both at the same time. If you ever blow the 100 amp fuse replace it with a 120
It would be good practice to replace the power AND ground cables on your existing amp with the new 8 gauge wire you purchase. Make sure to throw all the 9 gauge wire in the trash right away, so you don't mistakenly mix it with the 8 gauge wire (bad bad bad).
If you're going to add a capacitor do it just before the distro block, so you'd have your 5ga cable coming from the battery/fuse into the positive terminal on the cap, then a short 4ga cable running from the same positive terminal on the cap, to the distro block. The other side of the cap you run to body ground with a 4ga wire and ring terminals. **MAKE SURE TO PRE CHARGE YOUR CAP BEFORE CONNECTING IT!** Otherwise you'll blow your 100amp maxi fuse up front.
Don't expect miracles out of a 1 farad cap when drawing this much power, your headlights will probably still dim, your alternator might explode, your battery might drain, etc. Take "hybrid" cap farad ratings with a grain of salt. If it's within your budget/ability
i ended up getting the model up the 8405 with has the same rms, but 720 peak. well mine doesnt have any 9 ga at all though, just came with 5ga, and a 4 ga ground with an unfused distro block.
i also purchased a dual fused distro block, 8 ga wire, fuses, and another 2 channel rca cable. ( i have a two channel hooked up already, but i think i need 3 for front, back and subs correct?)
ill pick up a 1-2 ferrad cap as well (looking for the smallest i can get), and some crimps.
thank you very much, and to charge the cap do i just hook up the terminals to a spare batttery? also i have a 5 ga ground for my sony amp, do you think i could just re-use that for the cap and then run new 8ga grounds for the amps?
Last edited by Almost_lude; 01-29-2012 at 12:18 PM.
A 1-2 farad capacitor would be worthless for your setup. It might look kinda cool if you get a "pretty" one, but other than that, it won't make any difference.
and to charge the cap do i just hook up the terminals to a spare batttery?
That's a really fun way to do it, but not really recommended (especially for anything over 1 farad!). The best way to do it is if you have one of those
. When you wire up your cap do NOT connect a ground wire to the negative terminal of it. Connect the 5ga positive wire coming from the battery/fuse to the positive terminal of the cap. Connect another 4ga/5ga wire from the positive terminal of the cap to your new fused distro block.
You're now ready to charge the cap
Take the trouble light (or any 12v lightbulb for that matter) and connect one wire/clamp to the negative terminal of the cap and the other to body ground. The light will light up (if the cap IS NOT CHARGED!) and slowly dim as the cap charges up. After the light goes out WAIT TWICE AS LONG AS IT TOOK TO CHARGE IT! I.e. If when you connect the trouble light it takes 5 mins for the light to dim to the point you can't tell that it's on, then don't touch anything/WAIT ANOTHER 5 MINS before unhooking the trouble light. Now you can connect the ground wire to the cap and you're done!
So, that's a bunch of ring terminals for the cap (unless you get one with a built in distro block). I think I count four in total (one on each end of the cap's ground cable), one on the 5ga power coming from the battery/fuse, one on the 4ga power cable at the cap (the other end of the 4ga goes to the distro block, no ring there).
I'm a little confused by the rest of your setup...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Almost_lude
...also i have a 5 ga ground for my sony amp
, do you think i could just re-use that for the cap and then run new 8ga grounds for the amps?
Are you saying you have an 8 gauge power cable running to your exisitng sony amp, but a 5 gauge ground? OMG DANGEROUS! I'll repeat myself one more time: ABSOLUTELY, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, ARE YOU TO HAVE MISMATCHED POWER AND GROUND CABLES ON THE SAME AMP! Don't ask me why (R.I.P. 88 Iroc ).
You can take the 5ga ground wire from the sony amp and reuse it for the cap's ground wire. I would run a NEW 4ga power wire from the cap's positive terminal to the new distro block you bought. The sony amp will work fine with 8ga power and ground cables.
In your new fused distro block, you should have an 80amp fuse in the one connected to your sony amp, 40amp in the one going to your new amp.
Here's a good deal on a 3 farad cap, has built in distro blocks (save $$ on ring terminals ), and I know it says "30", for hybrid/digital caps, take whatever they are advertised at and divide it by 10. The only "real" caps I've found anywhere recently are Tsunami(sp?) brand.
Wire it properly, please. Make sure all your power and grounds are matched on each amp.
-Jamie M.
(P.S. Almost forgot! When you have a powerful (anything over 10 fake farads) capacitor you have to think about people that are going to be doing service on your car (you included!). If you ever take the car in for service, or are working on it yourself, disconnect the GROUND wire from the capacitor, and wrap the end of the wire/ring with electrical tape. Before reconnecting it after the service is done, use the same charging method I outlined above, even though it's unlikely the cap discharged much. Please do this, or you'll end up buying your mechanic a new wedding ring ).
Last edited by toysareforboys; 01-29-2012 at 12:21 PM.
A 1-2 farad capacitor would be worthless for your setup. It might look kinda cool if you get a "pretty" one, but other than that, it won't make any difference.
well indy lude doesnt really think i need a cap, our ludes have a stock 90 amp alternator, and ive never really expierenced a power drop yet. id rather not install a cap if i dont need too you know?
haha well my setup as of right now is a 5 ga from battery to sony amp, and a 4 ga ground (came with the car).
i also have installed an aftermarket battery from a diesel bread truck (not sure if its more powerful ha).
so with those two amps, do you think i would experience like dimming headlights and such?
I don't think you understand what a capacitor does. It increases the current draw on the battery, which will make the power drops that cause dimming headlights to get worse not better.
It's also easiest to charge a capacitor directly off the battery with a resistor, if you do decide you want one. I would strongly suggest that you look into what a capacitor's purpose in car audio actually is though, because it looks to me like you don't know what it's really for.
You really should fix that wiring asap. Mismatching the ground wire and power wire gauges is a big no-no.
than kyou for all the help with suppling the power everyone!
i had another question about wiring up the speakers though..
so my setup havs the 6.5s and 6x9s running to the headunit ( there are also 2 sets of wiring coming from the deck to the trunk but are unhooked on both sides) would i want to splice my 6.5s to those wires, then hook it to the amp, then cut my 6x9s wiring and hook it to the amp as well? (so then it would go speakers to amp, amp to deck via rca)
i also have an "sp level imput" which is for the optional tweaters im guessing?
The "sp level input" on your amp is only there in case your headunit doesn't have RCA outputs. Don't use it unless you have to, it will make your sound quality worse than using RCA's.
__________________
BluetopH23a Vtec Swapped NHBP '99 Base
Last edited by indylude18; 02-02-2012 at 04:00 PM.
well i dont have a crossover, but i have it all hooked up correctly now. and yeah it does i didnt use the sp level.
I also had to splice remote into accessory because it didn't have enough power to turn on both of them. (but now it says on when i leave.. have to manually turn it off..)
All wired up and i have two 8 gauge grounds to different spots, that have been scraped down. Ive heard elsewhere you should have a distribution block on your grounds with a heaver ground cable (4ga), just because of ground loops that cause static noise ( which i have). kinda frustrating
(also wiring everywhere doesn't help, both fit behind the seat though!)
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
).
Linear Mode
