I bet that I could get a 0 guage line on the inside of your car...... it is all up to the abilities of the installer. No way in hell I would have a 0 gauge line like that under a car and held up with rubber straps that will no doubt break as they get older. Take the time and get them inside the car. And the electrician buddy, tell him to stay in household work and out of car audio altogether. Or have him move over here so I can fix all the work that he does.

 

In my opinion, he is half right and half wrong. Everyone looks at RMS power, but RMS power is a bit of a misnomer: there is no such thing. And when we listen to music, we're dealing with average power, not a steady state constant stream of current that can easily be specified as, for example, 1kW RMS. There are so many factors that it's tough to say exactly how much of an impact you'll see by using smaller gauge wiring. Also, minimal voltage drops are not likely to be a big concern, particularly if you have a relatively tightly regulated power supply.

At the same time, voltage drops can be a big deal for some crowds, especially if you're in SPL competition. Beyond that, listening to music with higher average power for longer durations will definitely put you in a tough position if you haven't got the wire to carry the current. I can kind of see his point, but I think it's the wrong way of looking at things. Strive for perfection rather than accepting mediocrity. Failure to do so, especially when dealing with electrical current, can be a bit of a disaster.

 

I'm a sparky, and I'd bet that I know a hell of a lot more about car audio than you do. most of us don't deal with 120 volt power predominantly, we deal with 600v, since we can run smaller wire.

we can't run 20 amps on a 12 guage wire for 1000 ft, since the voltage drop would be more than 3% on that run. Also, we are only supposed to load conductors to 80% of their rated capacity, so we can run 16 amps on a 12 guage wire, for about 200 ft. I don't have my codebook here, otherwise I'd tell you how far we can run 16 amps on 12 guage wire...

That electrician seems to be a bit of a dolt, and there are a whole lot who are, but there are a lot of us who know a whole lot more than you can imagine about the workings of electricity.

Guage of wire is very important, but so is the rating of the casing of the wire, the ampacity of the wire (current carrying capacity) is based on the material of the wire, the guage of the wire, and the temperature rating of the casing of the wire. Car audio wire is pretty, but the casing has a very low rating for temperature, which is why a lot of people use welding cable, since it is rated from -40 degrees C to 90 degrees C car audio wire has no temperature rating, and is generally not listed, or tested to any standard, meaning that there is no way to verify what the casing is tested to (if it is tested at all) or that the guage claimed on the casing of the wire is actually the true guage.

In general, a good electrician is a great source of information on wiring techniques that you might not have thought of, and information on materials to use. a bad electrician (and there's LOTS of those in construction, we smart ones tend to do service over construction) is about as useful as a 3rd rectum.

 

^typical wire insulation in car audio is cheepass PVC, not that good but good enough to sell since it is pretty

 

Thanks guys. And sass you sound right, the sparkys at my job site are kind of ********. I mean I went in and asked about the GREY plastic covering that they put into the concrete forms before we pour, its about an inch around or so. He acted like he didnt understand and then I said "it looks like the wiring from the power box with the paper/metal/rubber around the internal wiring" and he told me you cant run that through your car. The other one said "honestly you people and your car audio, its so pointless" Pissed me right off by generalizing me.

Anyways the used is what they run the light bulb and 120v sockets wiring through if that helps.

My just arrived in abbotsford so tomorrow i'll be getting it and installing and posting pictures.

 

As mentioned earlier, take the time, study the firewall under the hood and find a suitable location to drill a hole to run your wire through the vehicle, use a grommet at the firewall... since you will be taking the time, use 1/0 wire in case you decide to upgrade your system in the future, if there is room run another run of 1/0 for a ground... as far as adding a second battery to your current setup, I would hold off, unless of course you have a 150+ amp alternator that you are able to feed both of those batteries.. are you using a deep cycle battery? anyways take the time to do it right now and it should keep you trouble free for a lot longer than having a live wire running under the car... I have a 105 amp alternator, 1/0 wire, grounds, big 3.. if I run my fronts (60 x 2 rms) and 2 eights (on 400rms) with most of my accessories on I don't notice any dimming... best of luck

 

I was using it as a point (not regarding voltage drop, thermal capabilities etc.) that is physically possible without very quikly burning out the wire where as 12 volts 20 amps and 1000feet not so much.

i was merely stating it in a way that people could understand what i ment

and i would like to know what buildings you are "predominantly" using 600Volts on (other than mains and feeders) cuz any commercial building i drive by on the street is "predominantly" 3 phase 340 volts and residential is single phase 120v. it depends what you as a sparky predominantly work on.

-be quick to tell people how you must know more than them - what if i were a sparky too?

 

I have a Kicker PKD1 amp package with 1/0 guage so yes I will.

You must consider this though, cadillacs are a huge wiring harness... what I mean is there is a fuse box in the trunk, 2 under the hood and thats not even counting relays, etc. My lights dimmed off of 1 12" sub run by a 750 max 400 rms amp

my new setup that is here now, are 2 12" Premier ts-w3001d4 with a hifonics bxi2006D mono amp (with the kicker 0 gauge)

No I dont have a deep cell, I was planning on buying that for my trunk since my system would be juicing from that, but that is only if my other battery (hood) cannot take it.

My current alternator is 140 amp, and my auto electric guy will do it all for me as long as I bring the battery and my car to him.

Anything else I might need to worry about? And sorry for all the questions but I've never come to a car audio forum before and actually have my questions fully answered by a group that know what they're talking about.

 

thank you masterstone i do enjoy the dride and it has been a very tediuos build if you8 have a face book acount the pics of the build are there, the car idiling eradicly could be other things as well it doesent seem as if your drawing that much current and the power supply should be stable with that load, I would be more concerned on the engine mechanical side if the cars is shutting down......... btw is your check engine light on and also it the traction controll lighton ? if so you might have other issues, another question is what audio system did the car have before did the door chime through the drivers side speaker, did you have to use a data module to give you a chime? or a acessory wire ? there are alot of things that come in to play here when the electrical sysem is acting funny especially on older classII data cars

 

Yeah, I've had the ABS light on before, and my dash (digital) says "traction disabled" but says traction active if im sliding in snow/rain.

As for the door chime, I don't quite know since when I switch into drive the doors lock and the headlights come on as well as the e-brake releasing.

The car had the system I have now, otherwise it was stock.

Im going out of town soon and getting the second battery and a big tune up so everything should work fine.

My new stuff just arrived but the subs had to be signed for so that'll be another week or so, otherwise the hifonics bxi2006d looks killer and so does the 0 gauge kicker package i got