Vanilla Gorilla

I was wondering of what kind of cable one would suggest towards two 120amp power amps. I have a '94 mazda mx6, and will (soon) have two Kicker 500SI power amps, each has a 120 amp fuse, so I was wondering of the best brand, and size of cable for this huge power application. I was told welding cable is phenominal. Its also cheap too. So what would anybody suggest. A guy has another 500SI up for grabs, so I'll pick that up, and have each 500SI running each Vifa sub on its own.

Pioneer Guy

What length are the runs of wire?

slow/n\low

Zero AWG,, and no welding cable is not the same, its a cheap persons excuse to justify being cheap

Vanilla Gorilla

The amps are 1200-1300 RMS each, I'll be running them at 1000 each though, since un-bridged thats all they can do each.
So grand total, it'll be 2KW - 2.4KW RMS. Its a sport compact, I'm guessing about 13 feet, or 4.1 meters.

method man

there is a very big difference in cable
welding cable is way to stiff to run through the interior of most any cars,
audison in my opinion has the best flexabilty out of any wire on the market, the jacket is also oil and heat resistant
and the wire in side is of course oxegen free
witch alot of welding cable not
if the cable is not oxegen free then you also run the risk of the cable oxidizing and making a very poor conection

method man

p.s there is no such thing a zero guage wire
0/1 meens one aught ( dont hold me to the spelling though )

molo

Just like somebody posted before me, I'd like to see some evidence of this. It'll be REAL hard for you to find some. Welding cable has to conform to strict insulation standards & performance ratings. There are no standards for audio power cable.


What does "oil and heat resistant" mean? According to which specification/standards? What is the performance of equivalent size welding cable according to those same standards? As for the flexibility, I have no idea what you're talking about. I have 1/0 gauge running through my car right now, and when I bought it I was surprised at how flexible it was. I've only looked at a few sources for welding cable in my search, but they were ALL selling oxygen-free... in any case it's easy enough to ask considering how much money is saved.

To the original poster: I did a lot of research before buying my cables. Don't be taken in by big names and shiny red insulation. It means nothing. For power cable, buy the cable that professionals use in high current applications every day --> welding cable. That is, unless you're competing or something and want "brand name everything" in your car.

I'm not trying to start a flame war with the above posters, I'm just trying to offer information that I would have liked to have when I was looking for power cable.

Also, I agree that you should probably use 1/0 size, but you should confirm by using that calculator at http://www.bcae1.com/ (click on section 16)

molo

[ March 27, 2005, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: molo ]

loudtdi

iTrader: (1)

lol....

Do a search on welding cable vs actual car audio cable....there was a good thread going a couple of weeks ago.

Welding cable is good for welding....it is cheap and gets the job done for that application.

I would guess a welder that is busy replaces those cables every couple of years......you dont want to do that in your car.

If you want to hear why welding cable is inferior I will tell you....but search first.

slow/n\low

DIDDO!! I wont even get into an argument with an internet commando.

If they did some research they would find out how silly those comments are. By research I dont mean what your buddy or internet friend says!!. People on forums are funny. They are so cheap that because they cant afford things they try to justify it to themselves as just as good.