Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio what gauge wire do i need?

would a 8-gauge wire kit be good enough for a 1500watt amp that will be running 400x2? any help would be appreciated.

With that much power, I would use a minimum of 4ga, and if it's a long run (engine area to trunk) mabey even 2 or 1/0.

provide more details for a more defined answer.

Good luck,

Mark

You probably wont get what you want from 8-guage wire. I would recommend atleast 4-guage for that much power.

Go with 4ga, I have it $0.99 a foot available in blue, silver, red and black.

here is a chart of recomended wire gauge for current draw. Your current draw can be checked by dividing you total system watts by 12 volts (ie 360 watts total power would be 30 amps of current.) Make sure to add up the power of all amps connected thru the power cable and then cross reference the chart. Hope this helps.

Length of run (in feet)
Current 0-4 4-7 7-10 10-13 13-16 16-19 19-22 22-28

0-20A 14 12 12 10 10 8 8 8
20-35A 12 10 8 8 6 6 6 4
35-50A 10 8 8 6 6 4 4 4
50-65A 8 8 6 4 4 4 4 2
65-85A 6 6 4 4 2 2 2 0
85-105A 6 6 4 2 2 2 2 0
105-125A 4 4 4 2 2 0 0 0
125-150A 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 00

Sorry the chart gets screwed up, for some reason it will not show more than one space

Definately go with 4gauge. It is a little more cumbersome to work with but you will be disapointed if you go with 8

Right chart, wrong calculation.

P = I^2 * R

360w into 4 ohms is 9.5A.

Or, 400Wx2 into 4ohms (assumption) = 14A.

Then consult chart for length of run.

yeah, I know. That is my quick and dirty that I give to people to make sure they always end up on the safe side. Kinda like the "add up all you fuse ratings method...) Nothing like having your power cable turn into a pile of copper slag from running too small of a cable. Also I assume that since he will probably be running bridged 4-ohm mono, the real calc would endup being somewhere between 1400w and 1600w depending on how efficeint the amp is etc. This would put him somewhere just below 20 amps. I would say bump it up one power notch too to be safe since we all know that what we get out put is really only 65-85% of the power drawn since some is wasted and turned into heat due to amp inefficentcy (sp?) Since we don't have all the details of the amp speaker combo and run length, it is hard to really say, but at least the calc and chart are available. Good luck with the system. With that much power, it should pound.

Unerv, 8GA would probably work for him, but 4GA is what I'd recommend too.

I have 4ga in mine and it works great