Amp/Speaker install

[icu400]

a few things:

1) What gauge wire should i use for running from my amp to 2 subs? 16?

2) Should I pay extra for a waterproof fuse for the amp power wire, over a water resistant one, is there that much danger of it getting wet, and if so would it be very very bad?

3) Is 4 guage wire for the power/ground good enough? (250 watts rms max on the amp to speakers, shouldn't draw more than 20 amps from battery, assuming 14 volts)

any other helpful tips would be appreciated

basically i am looking for an economical way of getting wiring, what i seem to need is:

blue turn on lead (what kind of wire is this?)
20ft of 4g for power and ground
6 ft of 16g speaker wire
rca patch for deck to amp
some connectors
and a fuse for next to battery (what size???????????) and fuse holder

except for the fuse and what size of turn on lead, this is all easy stuff to grab at radio shack, and the fuse only because i have not yet looked so i don't know. Is this cheaper and easier to just get there, or should I really get one of those over priced kits?

 

[Indifference126]

1) 16 is fine unless your running some really high powered stuff (for instance 2K+ watts)

2) dont worry about the waterproof fuse unless youve got a risk of it getting wet.... and if it gets wet... well hehe =)

3) i usually run 0 gauge when im doing straight for power and ground, but you should be fine in your situation cuz your not running too much juice

 

[icu400]

and so what about going with a kit or no?

and where could i buy the fuse, does radio shack sell them?

 

[Ru Dawg]

Try something like this man...
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PHOQSX803

 

[icu400]

I am going for at least 4g power wire yo, i thought about 2 but i think thats a bit unnecesary

thanks for the tip though, i might use that as a back up, but that did tell me what gauge the turn on lead is supposed to be

 

[ShadowA2J]

I would personally just buy one of the kits. Check Ebay. Here's one that ends in half an hour that you should be able to get shipped for less than $20. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32808&item=3092208784&rd=1 Or if you click here it is the Ebay listing of 4 gauge amp kits, many ending soon that are really cheap. http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/Sa...page=50&sosortorder=1&sosortproperty=1&sotr=2 Although you don't need to run 4 gauge. 8 or even 10 gauge would be fine for your one amp. But if you plan on adding more amps later, than 4 gauge, or even bigger, would be better.

 

[Fish Man]

yea, like they said, id just do an 8g kit, makes everything simpler (if thats a word)

 

[expo5.0]

8 gauge is more than enough in this case.

waterproof fuse holders just mean extra heat which means less juice to the rear.

and at that power level 16 gauge is fine for teh subs, but i always do 12 or 10 anyways because speaker wire is cheap.

 

[Explorer94GV]

I like this site www.darvex.com just let him know what you plan on running and he will hook you up with what you need.