Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Power line question

I'm about to buy an amp and box from my manager at work for like $250. The amp puts out 600 watts. Would it be safe to use an amp install wiring kit that is rated for way more than 600 watts?

I plan on going insane later on (in terms of audio).

yes you can use a kit rated for more than 600 watts.......

If the wiring kit is rated for higher power than the amp, you will be fine. It is when the wiring kit is rated for less than the power of the amp, that you may get into trouble.

yes its safer. Use a kit that is rated for about 1000 watts

The only kit that works for the Contour can be found here.

someone i know used an 8gauge wire for a 800W amp. i was like "its way too small" he didnt listen. then i was like "at least put a fuse on it" he replied "dont need one"

after 5 min of driving around the cable fryed, he shut his car off when he seen smoke gushing from under the hood, and we pushed the [censored] off to teh side of the street (94 gmc jimmy). after that, we re-wired it with a 4gauge abttery cable and a fuse, that worked fine. (he wouldnt buy the right cable)

I bought mine in pieces but I got my pwr wire from praxair a welding supplier in town, got 20 feet of number 4 (4 awg) for 16$ only thing is the cables are black but i don't see em and it looks nicer in the engine bay, some guy at a stereo shop told me they don't flow current like regular car audio power wire but he was just a sales man.. dunno what he knows, but I have no problems running my 2 eclipse 33230s off this cable with the gains cranked all the way.
anyway point being get the cheapest but best for the application

Originally posted by Champagne96GL:

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I bought mine in pieces but I got my pwr wire from praxair a welding supplier in town, got 20 feet of number 4 (4 awg) for 16$ only thing is the cables are black but i don't see em and it looks nicer in the engine bay, some guy at a stereo shop told me they don't flow current like regular car audio power wire but he was just a sales man.. dunno what he knows, but I have no problems running my 2 eclipse 33230s off this cable with the gains cranked all the way.
anyway point being get the cheapest but best for the application

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Its always been my understanding that they will work fine... for a while. The difference being that the car audio stuff is more resistant to corrosion. So the end of your cable at the battery will most likely corrode faster, resulting in a loss of amperage, and perhaps an overheating problem in the future.

I've heard of some people using welding cable, but preparing the ends with some sort of corrosion resistant goop.

L.

I have been running the same cable for a year now no visible corrosion on either cable

Originally posted by lardy:

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Its always been my understanding that they will work fine... for a while. The difference being that the car audio stuff is more resistant to corrosion. So the end of your cable at the battery will most likely corrode faster, resulting in a loss of amperage, and perhaps an overheating problem in the future.

I've heard of some people using welding cable, but preparing the ends with some sort of corrosion resistant goop.

L.

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Copper is copper it corrodes at the same rate no matter what color insulator you put on the outside or how much you pay for it. If you are talking about connectors, gold is the best it doesnt corrode but it also doesnt conduct as well as copper. Silver on the other hand is the best "room temperature" conductor, but it tarnishes easily. (note) Do not under any circumstances ground your stereo to the body (or frame) of your car, ground loop will most likely occur and it has the potential of toasting your amp. Run the same cable back to the negative on your battery as you ran from the positive. Electrons actually flow from negetive to positive likewise "holes" flow from positive to negative therfore makeing the "pressure" on each side of the battery the same (if you had a water treatment plant would you suck water in through a 2 foot pipe and try to eject it through a pin-hole, i think not). Keep in mind you will not get ground loop noise in your audio, but the power supply of your amplifier will be dammaged by groundloop.