dE.fUsEd

I am installing a system for a friend.

He's going to have two Punch amps in the hatch (Mazda Protoge 5), both being about 500+ watts each.

I'm not sure if I want to run two 4 gauge power wires all the way back or get a wiring kit for multi amps.

Any suggestions?

totalimmortal

Wiring kit for multi amps.

b00gers

A single run of 4 gauge will do it. THen split it where the amps are.

totalimmortal

I have my dist. block in my center console, it's not four gauge out anymore as it was never designed that way. 4ga. in and 8ga. out the the amps.

burnrubber

run 4ga to the back. get a distro and split it off to the two amps, keeping 4ga out and 4ga in

wrx-killer

First what setup are you using. Is it the same amps. one two channel and a four channel or what. I would look into true 2gauge or bigger wire and not a single 4gauge run. More info would help

rcurley55

you don't determine wire size by wattage - the only way to choose wire is by looking at the total current draw you will have, the total lenght of the wire, and the acceptable voltage drop across the wire.

One safe rule of thumb is to add up the fusing on the side of your amplifiers an use that as your total current draw. For most 1000W systems, you will be around 120A. Over a 12-14ft run, you are right on the border of 4ga. You typically won't see peak current draw when listening to music anyway (especially if one amp is for highs).

Run a 4ga to the rear, split with a fused distro block and run 8ga to the amps.

totalimmortal

There are not that many consumerly available dist. blocks that have 4 ga. in and out. It's just not necessary.

dleccord

why would you want to run 4 gauge in and (2) 4 gauge out? get some 1/0 and run that to the back. from there, distro 4 gauges to each amp. the amps will run cooler and efficient that way. while you're at it, you can do the big 3 with 1/0 gauge to help reduce any dimming.

rcurley55

0/1 is great, but it's probably 3x the cost of 4 ga or more and 4ga should be adequate. Running 4ga from a distro fed by 4ga (other than being hard to find) isn't going to get you any benefit.

Remember there are three characteristics that determine how you size
1. Acceptable voltage drop
2. Diameter of the wire
3. Length of the wire

Typically, you select the acceptable voltage drop and fix that. Next decide the length of wire you need and the current you need to carry. That will determine your diameter of wire.

Here's a more in-depth tutorial:
http://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp

If you look at a 500W amp (typical current draw of 60A or so), an 8 ga wire should be good for about 6 feet - if you locate your distro block within 6 feet or so of your amp - there will be no issues.

Just because an amplifier can accept a 4ga input, doesn't mean that it needs it.