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Car stero amp wiring

For all things Electrical.

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Car stero amp wiring

Post by Evski »

Hi guys, just wondering how thick the power wire needs to be for a 1000 watt Boss amp. I have twin core 6mm wire running to the back of the car for a little inverter, and was thinking about using that for the + and - and putting them back on the inverter when needed. Would the 6mm be enough or do I need the real thick stuff. Cheers guys, want to avoid a fire if possible ;)
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Post by Eddy351 »

avoiding fire and boss amps is pretty hard but you should be fine with 4 or even 8g. I doubt it will ever get even close to doing 1000watts. If possible use thicker cable for your earth and keep it as short as possible.

Dont forget your fuse needs to be as close to the battery as possible.
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Post by Evski »

Thanks mate. There is a 20amp fuse right next to the battery and I will run a seperate earth off from a bolt behind the back seat (amp is going in a dual cab Hilux) Just checking that 6mm wiring will be enough as you see amp wiring kits with huge power cables. I have everything else (rca etc).
Cheers
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Post by stuee »

Evski wrote:Thanks mate. There is a 20amp fuse right next to the battery and I will run a seperate earth off from a bolt behind the back seat (amp is going in a dual cab Hilux) Just checking that 6mm wiring will be enough as you see amp wiring kits with huge power cables. I have everything else (rca etc).
Cheers
If it gets close to that 1000w mark your going to blow that 20amp fuse. 1000W at 14.4V is just under 70 amps and around 80 amps at 12V.

You should really be looking at cable that can flow these sorts of amps at 100% duty cycle if you want good performance out of the amp. This means 4g cable as a minimum if the amp actually pumps out 1000W.

At these sorts of currents you want an earth cable directly back to the battery as well IMO.
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Post by Eddy351 »

Evski wrote:Thanks mate. There is a 20amp fuse right next to the battery and I will run a seperate earth off from a bolt behind the back seat (amp is going in a dual cab Hilux) Just checking that 6mm wiring will be enough as you see amp wiring kits with huge power cables. I have everything else (rca etc).
Cheers
Wait stop haha. I just relised you are talking in a different measurement to me and stuee. We are talking gauge not mm. Those cables you see in the amp kits are generally not overkill. And they come with the correctly rated fuse. As said 4g or 8g will be fine. But i disagree with stuee on earthing back to the battery.
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Post by ethann »

generally the fuse should be within 6"s of the positive, Keep the earth as short as possibly.
Make sure the power lead is ran down one side of the vehicle and the rcas down the other side then you don't get any interference.
I had a Boss 1600w amp before I bought my Soundstream gear.

Even though it states 1000w on your amp you should go of rms anyway, Which would be roughly 500rms and being boss a lower quality brand it won't be near that, it will only be 250rms really.

so 8g will be fine.
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Post by stuee »

ethann wrote:Even though it states 1000w on your amp you should go of rms anyway, Which would be roughly 500rms and being boss a lower quality brand it won't be near that, it will only be 250rms really.
:lol: :lol:

Re the earth, i am of the opinion that you will not always have a good earth through the body, and when your dealing with high currents it may become an issue and not allow the full current needed to flow. That and where the stereo shop earthed the original amp I

In my case I have a battery in the rear of my wagon so its easy for me. The aux battery is earthed straight to the main battery and then to the body as well.
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Post by Evski »

Cool, so I guess I will just buy a kit and do all the wiring. I was trying to cut corners, but with all things automotive it will bite you in the arse in the long run. I will only be running a 10"sub so the amp will not be driven hard, and the amp was free so im not going to complain about quality. Thanks for your input guys.
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Post by grubb »

most boss amp come standard with dc noise :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by nisson35 »

stuee wrote:
ethann wrote:Even though it states 1000w on your amp you should go of rms anyway, Which would be roughly 500rms and being boss a lower quality brand it won't be near that, it will only be 250rms really.
:lol: :lol:

Re the earth, i am of the opinion that you will not always have a good earth through the body, and when your dealing with high currents it may become an issue and not allow the full current needed to flow. That and where the stereo shop earthed the original amp I

In my case I have a battery in the rear of my wagon so its easy for me. The aux battery is earthed straight to the main battery and then to the body as well.
i agree hhave done a lot of competition sound offs and the best possible earth is backto your battery, but i also use 2 guage wire.
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Post by legs_11 »

On a slightly related point, in a multiple amp system, is it better to have the amplifiers earths run separately to ground points, or would a single cable of appropriate size back to the battery work better?
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Post by cooki_monsta »

it is best to have a common ground point where the amps are and run all amps back to that point, unless u have a battery very close to them, then run it back there, and i mean very close. also make sure that the ground is the same size or bigger then the largest active conductor
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Post by Eddy351 »

nisson35 wrote:
stuee wrote:
ethann wrote:Even though it states 1000w on your amp you should go of rms anyway, Which would be roughly 500rms and being boss a lower quality brand it won't be near that, it will only be 250rms really.
:lol: :lol:

Re the earth, i am of the opinion that you will not always have a good earth through the body, and when your dealing with high currents it may become an issue and not allow the full current needed to flow. That and where the stereo shop earthed the original amp I

In my case I have a battery in the rear of my wagon so its easy for me. The aux battery is earthed straight to the main battery and then to the body as well.
i agree hhave done a lot of competition sound offs and the best possible earth is backto your battery, but i also use 2 guage wire.

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