right now im running an Alpine amp at 400W X 1 RMS to a sub. but im only using 10 gauge power/ground wires. all the tutorials out there say i shuld be using 8 gauge, especially since the wires has to go from the battery to the trunk.
my question is, how much less power am i getting by using only 10 gauge?
I'm voting for 4 awg also. I know we are spending your $ for you, but for the little bit more $ you won't have to worry about upgrading down the road.
If you are using a WalMart kit you should also know that their kits (and alot of the other cheap kits out there) have some really undersized wire. When you hold a cheapo 4awg and a legit 4awg wire side by side and look at the od of the jacket they are the same, when you cut them and compare the actual conductors you will find that the cheapo has about half as many strands and a much thicker jacket. The insulater is cheaper than wire. I'm not sure how these compaiies can get away with listing this crap as 4 awg (American Wire Gauge) but they do. Buyer beware.
If you are buying a kit that is so cheap that you think they made a mistake, buy the biggest gauge that you can afford, because you will be getting inferior wire. My $.02.
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'99Camry LE I4
Eibach Springs, KYB Struts, Alpine deck, Memphis System, Crime Guard remote start, now sporting Strut brace & Whitline RSB thanks to Team Hamster and Ohio Force!
At 400 RMS 8ga gives you 8 feet of (recommended) cable length.... 4ga will take you to 1000 RMS at 8 feet or 800 RMS at 12 feet. If you're going to re-run the cables anyway, might as well go with the 4ga (as everyone else has said).
To answer your original question, it's not good for your amp to run a smaller guage wire than it was designed for. It might not damage the amp enough for it to fail, but since it's trying to pull more power than the wire can handle, the wire can heat up. I can't say I've seen any real life damage... on the other hand if you wire your equipment right it'll probably last longer.
At 400 RMS 8ga gives you 8 feet of (recommended) cable length.... 4ga will take you to 1000 RMS at 8 feet or 800 RMS at 12 feet. If you're going to re-run the cables anyway, might as well go with the 4ga (as everyone else has said).
To answer your original question, it's not good for your amp to run a smaller guage wire than it was designed for. It might not damage the amp enough for it to fail, but since it's trying to pull more power than the wire can handle, the wire can heat up. I can't say I've seen any real life damage... on the other hand if you wire your equipment right it'll probably last longer.
ok, i'll probably go with 4ga then. but that Walmart brand, "Scosche", is that cheapo wire? i mean, as far as actual thickness?
Unless they have changed it in the last month or 2, yes. Unfortunately you usually DO get what you pay for...
My best davice is to ask a local shop for an off cut of their nice house brand wire (they almost always have a huge box of short lengths in the install bay) and use that to compare to the Wallieworld kit. Either way its prolly better than 8awg.
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'99Camry LE I4
Eibach Springs, KYB Struts, Alpine deck, Memphis System, Crime Guard remote start, now sporting Strut brace & Whitline RSB thanks to Team Hamster and Ohio Force!
I suggested the wallyworld stuff because it is cheap and yes it is not as good as other brands, however it is great to get a good set of amp wires i am not argueing that... but what about the amp its self? Some amp are not going to be easy putting 4 gauge wire in if they are designed for 8 gauge. I do understand that you can cut someof the wire off but its not a very clean end product and, with bigger gauge wire there is bond to be some split ends and neg plus positive= broke amp with 4 gauge wire. Just my .02$
You aren't losing power, if something was to go wrong it would be that the too much power was been sent through too small of gauge of wire for too great of a distance. That could cause the wire to melt.
With only 400wrms you should be fine with your wire but if you change you dont need to go to 4g because unless you change systems you arent going to use all that potential. But if you have extra money for 4 and dont mind wiring it all the way through then go ahead and change to 4 gauge
With 10 AWG wire on a 15 ft run with a 400W RMS amp, you are loosing up to 1V or more according to the voltage loss calculator from http://www.bcae1.com .
Per their site, you should use nothing smaller than 6 AWG for the amount of power you have assuming a 15 ft wire.
Using smaller wires than you need can cause the wire to heat up and is a potential fire hazard because it can melt the insulation.
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amp wires - proper gauge
. Just my .02$
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