I was at a huge car audio expo (Car Audio Gone Wild) here in Edmonton, AB and picked up a Kinetik HC800. I was originally planning on running a single yellow top under the hood but after talking to the sales guy I decided to get the Kinetik for the trunk.
Now what im wondering from you guys is how do I hook this up exactly? I will be running roughly 2000w off of it. I already have 4awg wire run from the hood to the trunk from the previous owners set up.
Would I be ok to connect these batteries with 4awg or is it rquired that I use the same gauge cable as im using for the BIG 3 (being 1 or 0? I would be quite happy if i could save 45 bucks on cable...
and will I be all good with just a regular battery under the hood?
Thanks
For runs of 0 or 1 you should use welding cable. Out here welding cable that size runs about 2.50 a meter and its a lot more flexible than the car audio stuff and you can do a whole car for about $15. As for 2000 watts you dont need 2 batteries. It's just going to be a waste of space and weight. A lot of work for pretty much no gain.
what I would do is hook up the big 3, depending on how many amps your running and the size of the amps (im guessing one for subs and one for speakers 1500 and 500 as a rough guess) a run of 0 gauge for the subs and a run of 4 gauge for your speakers.
Any questions?
Whats up people?
javis hildebrand wrote: Out here welding cable that size runs about 2.50 a meter and its a lot more flexible than the car audio stuff
You MUST have had some @!#$ty wire.
javis hildebrand wrote:For runs of 0 or 1 you should use welding cable. Out here welding cable that size runs about 2.50 a meter and its a lot more flexible than the car audio stuff and you can do a whole car for about $15. As for 2000 watts you dont need 2 batteries. It's just going to be a waste of space and weight. A lot of work for pretty much no gain.
Any questions?
Yeah I have a question. As retarded as everything quoted here is, why are you giving advice? STFU
1. Welding cable can be nice, and some of it can be flexible, but there is NO welding cable that is more flexible than some of the nice car audio specific stuff. Just stop talking.
2. Have you ever looked into the benefits of an extra battery? And have you ever actually ran 2000 watts RMS? I'm guessing not. Again, stop giving advice, you are in NO knowledgeable position to do so at all.
And to the OP, I would honestly upgrade your main power wire to 1/0. Yes you will be fine with the regular style battery under the hood. The real issue, if you truly plan on running 2K watts will be the alternator. Look into upgrading that ASAP.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Liquor is not a drug John, liquor is not a drug.
I do have a 160 amp alternator. with that be alright? keep in mind my music won't be on loud very much at all.
the cheepest i can get 1/0 wire here in canada is 3.50/ft and i would still need to buy fuses and ring terminals and all that. Im thinking of getting a 1/0 amp kit online for aorund $75 and comes with everything obviously. Any real objection to this? It is a Stinger package.
JL STFU!!! I have said nothing retarded. Correct me when I'm wrong but don't be a f@cking @sshat about it.
1) The OP was obviously concerned about cash and not wanting to spend $3.50 a foot. You can spend $2.50 a METER on welding cable which is a quality alternative. The nice car audio stuff is quite a bit more than that.
2) My system right now is runnin 1800 Watts RMS. I can tell you right now in a DD you very rarely will hit the max or your gonna be deaf real quick. I know the benefits of a second battery. It's not a bad thing but not worth the work if your not competing.
Sean the 160 amp alt is a good idea and never a bad thing. Wiring kits are a good start but plan out everything you need and buy accordingly.
Whats up people?
He said he already has the battery, so why tell him not to use it? It's not THAT hard to install dude. It will help. Period.
You also need to understand, you didn't say "welding wire is good enough". You said it is MORE flexible than car audio specific wire. You are wrong. And I have worked with welding cable as well as higher end car audio stuff. Worlds of difference. Don't get offended when I call you out on wrong information. I CAN NOT stand misinformation being spread by people who don't have the knowledge to be giving advice. I want to help noobs, not let some backyard hobbyist tell them the wrong way to do it.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Liquor is not a drug John, liquor is not a drug.
haha, ok so guys...
Yes i do already have the second battery, so I may as well put it in my trunk.. It will match the blue led strips anyways =D haha.
and is it true that i will " very rarely will hit the max " ? I am fine with that, just my serious question is will it make a SIGNIFICANT difference to use 1/0 awg to connect the batteries rather then 4. Because if its not major, i will just use the 4awg i have run already to connect the batteries. I am trying to save money and I have called around everywhere, including welding suply stores and all that, 3.50/foot is the cheepest for 1/0.
and also, to be honest, I will almost definately be downscaling in the near future so I shouldnt be stresing that 4 awg too much. But if it will make a significant difference, and be safer, I will upgrade it to thicker cable.
And JL, respect your knowledge on all of this, but do keep in mind, I am not doing the perfect job, I am trying to save some money, I want a descent/alright system, not an outstanding competition one right now. I just want to impress the average Joe and my friends. This is just the beginning for me to build a good system in the future. One that even you may appreciate
haha So just humor me now and try to think as someone who just started driving and doing modifications to his car for the very first time. This is by no means the end for me. I just want to know if it will work, or if it will be terrible. Ill focus more on perfection in the future.
JL I will concede defeat and agree the high end cabling is great . . . and I definitely agree if you can afford it that is definitely the way to go. That being said depending on which welding cable you get its just as good and can be very flexible which makes it great for a "backyard hobbyist". I have some and if you want i will take pics.
The way I am running my setup is:
- 1 run of 0 gauge to the back for the sub amp 1200 Watts RMS
- 1 run of 4 gauge to the back for the speaker amp running 600 Watts RMS
- if I had a second battery I would run an isolator to run the audio so i didnt have to worry about killing both batteries if i wasnt running the car
Sean what do the specs on your AMPS say? If your down scaling in the near future why all the work? I wouldn't run 4 because its to small for the run your going to make. I would do at least 1 run of 0 AWG so your safe cause anything over a 1000 Watts RMS should be1/0 AWG
Here is a wire sizing diagram courtesy of the HifiSoundConnection.com
JL anything to add or correct me on?
Whats up people?
because i baught my stuff before i really knew alot about anything so now i may as well put it to work for a bit. I will be down scaling power wise because i will want more of a sound quality build in the future. So not as powerfull subs, and a good front stage set up.
I have a 1800w x 1 @ 2ohm amp for my subs
and a 70w x 4 @ 4ohms 4 channel
I will use a 1/0 cable to hook up to my other battery then, and I will rarely rarely run my sytstem with the car off so im not worried about draining both batteries.
what amp models? not saying that they DON'T make their rated power... but it's possible lol
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Liquor is not a drug John, liquor is not a drug.
your favourite. Power Acoustik
haha.
haha then you just might be safe with 4 gauge
lol
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Liquor is not a drug John, liquor is not a drug.
James (ROLN19S) (JuicyJ) wrote:I have a thick penis.
???
but just get some 2/0 welding cable, run the pos and neg from front bat to rear bat, then run what ever size fits the amp from the rear bat pos and neg to amp pos and neg.
easy....
click sig for my car audio videos
Anton Miller (PPC) wrote:
???
but just get some 2/0 welding cable, run the pos and neg from front bat to rear bat, then run what ever size fits the amp from the rear bat pos and neg to amp pos and neg.
easy....
Speaking of the peanut gallery...
Your car may do 13 sec @ 103 mph, but my car does 146db @ 35 hz.
I was under the understanding that i could just ground the trunk battery to the chassis?? instead of running a second cable to the trunk
and with the amps, should i ground them the to battery negative or just to the chassis.
Sean Clair wrote:I was under the understanding that i could just ground the trunk battery to the chassis?? instead of running a second cable to the trunk
and with the amps, should i ground them the to battery negative or just to the chassis.
Ground the battery to the chassis, then ground the amps to the same point on the chassis where you grounded the battery.
alright thanks, and I still ground the battery under the hood right?
javis hildebrand wrote:For runs of 0 or 1 you should use welding cable. Out here welding cable that size runs about 2.50 a meter and its a lot more flexible than the car audio stuff and you can do a whole car for about $15. As for 2000 watts you dont need 2 batteries. It's just going to be a waste of space and weight. A lot of work for pretty much no gain.
You don't HAVE to used welding wire, but is just as flexible as the hypeflex car audio cable you can get, but not as near as fancy looking. As for $15 to do you whole car? dont think so...... do the math at 2.50 / ft for a 17ft run (which is normally what comes in the pre packaged kits) you still looking at $42 before taxes. and if you get the 2 0 gauge (which is a tad bigger and more strands) it's 3.50 a foot. So you need to do better research before you just post @!#$ up makin it sound like you know what your talkin about.
What I don't get is why 2/0 was brought up for an amp that only puts out maybe 1000 rms.
Weebel wrote:Im to smart to go to strip clubs.
Lanman31337 - Cavfire wrote:What I don't get is why 2/0 was brought up for an amp that only puts out maybe 1000 rms.
2/0 is the wire i recomend for doing big three and wireing batteries together, its the same size as "car audio" 1/0 and its pure copper...
click sig for my car audio videos
welding cable is not as flexible as hyperflex of fleks wiring.... Just STFU. It's a cheaper alternative, but NOT as flexible.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Liquor is not a drug John, liquor is not a drug.
