22 replies to this topic

[Stryker]

If your running a battery from the rear, 4awg power cables to your amps is more then enough.

I would recommend a minimum of 2awg from your front battery to your rear battery to prevent loss in power. Also run a ground from the front to rear too, and ground the rear battery.
Remember grounding is very important.

subs cabling 12awg is max you'll need as it's also only a short distance from the amp.

Keep your power cables together and away from your speaker/RCA cables!!!!!

[alvins]

Why would you run a ground from front to back?

I thought that you wanted to make the ground as short as possible and equal in wire size to your power.

Alvin

[shiny_car]

Quote

Originally posted by Stryker:
If your running a battery from the rear, 4awg power cables to your amps is more then enough.

oh yeah, i forgot you were considering a separate rear battery. in which case, i agree, 4awg is all you need if the powerwires are only a couple metres long. so even 4awg into a DB, splitting into more 4awg, say using a stinger "T"-DB.

i return-ground between batteries may not be necessary. however, i've had no experience with a dual battery setup, so cannot reliably comment.

[Stryker]

Think about a return -ve wire in terms of performance.

Example.
Even electrical component of your car requires lots of good grounding. If you are really into High performance you will know that the standard grounding wires arn't enough for the engine. With additional grounding, esp coming from the battery you can gain 1-2kw more...

Also, would you use grounding from a contaminated source or the pure source???

Oh vti-2, you should also install an isolator in your car. So while your car is off, you only use the rear battery. I have had countless times where I ran out of power playing my audio system while the car is off, and then not having anything left to start the car. 2 High power amps will drain any battery system quickly.

And again, make sure your charging system can cope with the drain your system is taking. Your stock alternator will die quickly and generally, honda alternators are weak. Even with a high output alternator, if it's only producing stock current at idle you'll still face problems.

[Sathid]

Quote

If you are really into High performance you will know that the standard grounding wires arn't enough for the engine. With additional grounding, esp coming from the battery you can gain 1-2kw more...

thats rather debatable. you'll find thats greatly dependent on what kind of car it is.
and it's grounding from the engine to the chassis, or even engine to negative terminal that is important in that case.
my car, for example, has cable almost as thick as my thumb as the earth strap.
not that i'm not going to try redoing it.

it's kind of like arguing that dacron fibrefill makes a difference in sealed sub boxes. some will swear black and blue that it works, and others will denounce it at fallacy just as defiantly.
but i'm getting off topic.

this is kind of a question wrapped in a reply:
is there any reason you cant use say, multiple 4awg cables if u cant find any 2awg?
i mean, it would have to be cheaper than running 0awg wouldn't it? might get a bit messy tho...

[Stryker]

Jaycar have 2awg power cables....