godzilla1978

I don't think I've ever seen an application where using larger than recommended has made anything worse.I personally never like using 8 guage just because under normall conditions(13-17ft runs) it's only acceptable up to 400rms. The problem comes in when you want to upgrade, and trust me you will. 8 guage is no longer sufficient. We don't use larger gauge wire so that your amp can go louder, we us it so that your car doesn't set on fire! The amount of current is what we are worried about. Everything else is just a bonus! You can't get any tunes if your car has burnt down. Just use 4 guage and forget about it.

Njord

Why does everyone keep saying your car is going to burn down. Its not going to. The isolation will get warm, but I would hope the fuse would break way before a fire started.

Lets hope you have a properly rated fuse.
400wrms/12v = 33.3A. 40-60A fuse is what I would use.

godzilla1978

If the wire is insufficient it will get a whole lot more than warm. The second problem is if your relying on the fuse to blow. It seems that lately fuses are getting cheaper and cheaper. It seems to be frightningly common to see fuses "fused" and still working when they really shouldn't be. This is one of those situations where better safe than sorry deffinately applies.

jalat

iTrader: (6)

i've used a 120A fuse on 18ft of 8AWG and it didnt get warm.

basstoy

I use 8guage for sub,,, and 0guage for power and ground

DeadlySones

iTrader: (4)

8ga .... WOW, I thought 10ga was sufficient. Then again you likely have WAY MORE power than me.

BigRedGuy

iTrader: (11)

Sigh....you came on here with a lot of questions about many topics and have had the answers come fast and furious from a lot of people who have lots of experience in car audio. That's what this place is really good at.....helping the new guys (and girls, of course....) get better tunes happening in their cars.

Will 10ga work?.....of course, it's wire and wire conducts electricity and blah blah blah.....the important part is how much for how long. You mentioned your amp keeps shutting off at higher volume levels, this is a classic indicator that the voltage levels are dropping to the point the amp can't function. This is very hard on the amp and is probably causing your sub to see a clipped signal before the amp shuts off.

I know it's a pain to replace the wire, but you had better do so soon or get used to leaving the volume down.....if you are keeping the car for a while and think you might want to upgrade the system in the future, put the thickest wire you can afford in there.....there is no way to hurt the car or system with a wire that is too big.....for now, 4ga will be a little more than enough, but it will have the capacity to carry enough current to also supply another amp such as a 4channel to run your mids and highs. If you plan on adding a lot more power later, put at least 2ga in from the battery to your trunk.

8ft of 4ga will be enough to do the Big 3 you keep hearing about.....this will save you large $$$ over a cap, with is the next thing you will be wondering about when your headlights start to flash with the bass.....

HTH

Lyle's GTP

This is such a joke! 10 guage is fine, it's the bare minimum and might offer a slight voltage drop over 8 or 4 guage. But it won't get hot, it probably won't even get warm and it sure as F#%K won't start a fire. That kind of uneducated statement sounds like some greasy saleman telling lies to make more money...

I have personally seen 16 guage wire used as a ground on a 400 watt amp. The guy didn't know better and had been pounding his stereo for weeks like this before I saw the install and told him to upgrade the ground. It honestly didn't even sound that bad, and if it did get warm it wasn't even enough to melt the insulation, let alone burn down the car. Don't get me wrong, that wasn't acceptable and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, but it did happen none the less.

Here's the deal.

Use 10 guage if you want to go BARE minimum, as I said, it might cause a slight voltage drop so you won't be able to get MAX power from your amp.

Or, use 8 guage and suffer no voltage drop what so ever, but no upgradeability. If you ever want a bigger amp, you're screwed. However, if you ever want to add a sub and high amp, you could use the 8 guage for the highs and add 4 for the lows. This would be fine and no waste.

Or, Just run 4 guage and do whatever you want.

Any which way you choose to go you must always install a properly rated fuse as close to the battery as possible.

I personally run all kinds of 0, 2 & 4 gauge on my system and even have 8 gauge speaker wire for my subs. I also have no illusions that this is overkill... However, I got all my wire for next to nothing. But if I had to pay full retail, I would have been more conservative.

Lyle

godzilla1978

I'm not a greasy salesman. You've seen it not get warm or hot or anything. Well...I have, and I've also seen a subs wire between the terminal cup and the sub set on fire. I've also seen the terminals shorted on a fully charged cap and nothing but a small spark. If you work on cars long enough, you will see the impossible happen. It's better to prepare for the worst case scenario because it can and WILL happen. Besides for the price differance between the two different guage wires you will save time and money by buying the larger guage(4ga.)wire and running it once the correct way the first time. Also the original poster asked if 10ga. is suffcient which it is, but would you run it if you had the choise? I also said that ultimately it's a fire hazard which I stand by, because it is. Just because you haven't seen it happen doesn't mean it can't.

Lyle's GTP

Not a fire hazard... It's simple science...

10awg wire is rated for 40 amps continuously. A 400 watt amp (Considering a sign wave @ full rated power)

Lets say for fun @ a 12V average voltage: 400/12 = 33.33A Or, when his car is charging: 400/14.4 = 27.77A

That looks pretty good to me, and that is even assuming full rated power 100% of the time which will never happen.

The only way a fire could start is if there is a short directly to ground with no fuse inline. But if you want to talk about that, larger gauge cable is more dangerous than small because it can carry more short circuit current. Thus, bigger sparks, bigger arc, etc, etc. Given this, if a fuse fused as you said previously which I take as meaning "failed to blow", the danger of fire would be worse with larger wire. Besides, fuses "fusing"??? I think you mean circuit breakers "fusing", but most people don't use CB's in their systems...

I mean, its a car anyway. This is the same logic behind the wires running through the wooden studs of your house. Yep, where your family and countless millions of others sleep every night... But we don't question the sizing in that case. Would you insist your contractor run 10awg wire instead of 14awg in your walls on every 15A breaker???

Lyle