Amp wiring package question

[icu400]

Ok, I just got my deck and amp in. I am looking to start my install this weekend. But I got a problem. The electronics store I wanted to go to does not have the 4g wire or the fuse holders. Radio shack has everything but the 4g wire. Only thing is, their rca cables are nice, but 20 bucks for a 20 ft pair, and their fuse/fuse holder is pretty pricy too. I can get 4g wire from home depot but it looks like crap and is like 1.65 a ft or something. All in all I am looking at like 60 bucks for wiring. Which isn't all that bad I suppose. The alternative is this kit from crutch: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-P5RzRneAkyj/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?wm=fa&I=211AK4

it doesn't look bad, but the rca's look crappy. so my main question is do higher quality rca's make a differance? the ones at radio shack are gonna be gold plated, these are not

my other question is this: I have a sony mono amp with a fuse rating of 2x40 amp fuses. does this mean that I need an 80 amp in line (series) fuse within 1.5 ft of the battery then?

thanks fellas, a quick response will be appreciated

 

[Cartman]

Yes, RCAs to make a difference, you will hear a difference between really cheap and moderate. I don't like the crutch package, never heard of the company before and it doesn't look good, the terminals should be plated with something. And the 4 gauge from home depot is not for car audio so it may not be rated to take the heat from the engine bay.

If you have about $60 to spend I would get the stinger 4 gauge kit and stinger hyper series RCA's, they are what I use and I really like them.

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/STISWK4
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/STISHR17

 

[icu400]

Thanks, I will consider that a backup if I can't find good stuff around town. But what about the fuses? Does the fuse at the battery need to be equal to the amp fuse rating, or more, or less?

peace

 

[NusenseSD]

You should go to a stereo shop and get what you need. there should be one in your town somewhere that does auto installations. I wold get all my stuff through them.

I bought all my stuff on ebay.. Since I was getting all the crap and then installing it.. I would also go with the stinger rca's.. I run them myself and they sound a lot better than my old Phoenix gold ones did.. Could also be the fast I bought new amps also.. But hey the whole stereo sounds better now..

 

[Ru Dawg]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the fuse at the battery should be bigger than (but not more than 10%?) or at least equal to the fuse rating on the amp. In all/most forms of electrical distribution your smallest fuse/breaker should be closest to the load (amp & speakers), conversely the largest fuse/breaker should be closest to the source (battery).
Have you checked a Best Buy or Circuit City? Best Buy seems to be limited, but I was just at CC a couple days ago for some ring terminals & bannana clips and I noticed they had a decent amout of amp kits.

 

[Cartman]

The fuse near the battery should be between 80 and 100 amps.

 

[icu400]

I decided to go with a 60 amp fuse because I can't imagine the system ever trying to use that much current. If it blows I will know and will upgrade to a 60.

I found a website called: partsexpress.com, it is very helpful

 

[icu400]

oh, one last thing

I have finally got the harness and the stereo and this weekend I am going to start the install. The wires from the deck are pretty easy to soulder to the harness but I can't seem to see where the turn on lead goes. I think I know which wire is the turn on wire for the deck from the rest of the car. Should I just wire it up to that, or should there be a spot on the harness for the turn on lead?

which of these wires would be the turn on lead that tells the radio to power up?

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay...make=Ford&model=Explorer&ID=17798&type=Stereo

ty

 

[Ru Dawg]

There should be a wire labled "amplifyer turn on" or something to that effect. The wire coming of your deck & from the truck should be blue, and might have white dashes on it. I just wire up my sub & amp 2 days ago, I just splice all 3 turn on wires together and everything works great!!
Hope this helps man!

 

[icu400]

all right, i have my wire now

its 4 gauge and all that

now what I can't seem to figure out is how to connect the darn thing to the battery, whats the easiest/cheapest way of going about that? some guy at a parts shop tried to sell me a 30 dollar clamp or something, but that seems a bit much....

thanks

 

[Cartman]

All you need is to put a ring terminal onto the wire, remove the bolt that holds the stock wire to the battery terminal and put you power wire in there and tighten the bolt back down.

The battery terminals that the guy was trying to sell you are mostly just for looks.

 

[icu400]

lol, thats easy enough (why didn't I think of that...)

ty