cyberkill

When I told a buddy that I needed to buy a ring terminal to tap into the Positive terminal of my battery, he said that it wouldn't work because the threads in the terminal could get damaged if I put something between the battery bolt(?) and the terminal.

I just did a hillbilly workaround but it looks terrible and I'm a little concerned that it's either not safe, not efficient, or both.

How did you connect the amp power wire to the battery?

blackram_air

iTrader: (1)

you could get the Stinger SPT85309 it is a battery post for GM side post batteries. It would replace the factory post and allow you to connect the amp wire at the top.

pentavolvo

sidepost batt terminal

mischief

iTrader: (1)

I just purchased a side post battery terminal extender at autozone...same as stock but with a extra part you can hook on accessories too.

cyberkill

Ok, I'll check Autozone tonight. Thanks!

Another question. After reading threads here, I went to Lowes and asked for 4 gauge "Welding Wire", and it looks like 4 gauge but it's really hard to mold. It's not impossible, it'll just be annoying. Looking inside the cable, there's a bundle of fairly thick wire. I showed this to a friend and he said that that's not the kind of power wire he used.

Did I buy the wrong wire? Is it supposed to look like speaker wire (i.e. a million thin wire strands)? Here's a pic. Each of those strands are solid copper pieces (not a bundle of tiny strands):



And even if the wire I got "works" is it better to get a different kind of 4 gauge wire?

blackbyrd

iTrader: (14)

this is what i did on mine with 0 guage wire

pentavolvo

you got regular house hold power cable prly

cyberkill

Sigh....I'll have to go back to Lowes today after work. Anyone know if Lowes carries real welding cable? the kind that I need for hooking up an amp?

ZYA_LTR

I'm gonna guess no, you are better off hitting a welding supply store to get what you need.

cyberkill

Where is everyone getting their 4 gauge amp power cables (without buying online)? (What's an example of a welding supply store?) Is there any way to get this without buying an amp wiring kit?

blackram_air

iTrader: (1)

most audio shops sell amp wiring by the foot. Not sure if best buy does or not. Why are you looking for welding wire? Welding leads are made for welding not for running electronics in your car. To keep your car safe use the proper wiring. Just my .02 worth.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Power is power whether it's for welding or electronics so welding cable is perfectly acceptable for use as large gauge power wire. In fact, in some ways welding cable is superior because of its tough insulation that will stand up to environmental factors.

Many of the large industrial supply chains will carry welding cable. Do you have a Graingers near you?

cyberkill

I did some googling/yellow pages and found a little car audio shop in the area that sold me 4awg wire for $1.50/ft (I hope that's good).

Only reason I was looking for welding wire was because a bunch of my googling/forum searches found people saying they used 4 gauge welding wire to connect to their amps, so I wanted to go with a tried and true method.

In any case, I finally got the amp hooked up, and got 2 speakers running so far. The rest should be hooked up today. Thanks everyone for your help!

blackram_air

iTrader: (1)

Thank you WhiteBird00 for the explanation I do Bridge construction so when I hear welding leads I think of leads that alot bigger than 4ga wire. Thus my concern in using it, what we use will handle well over the amps generated by a car amp.

cfallsguy

iTrader: (1)

For future reference, it's usually cheaper to just buy a 4ga amp kit then wire by the foot. And happen to know what brand wire you got? And did you get the proper fuse?
And welding wire is nice if you need something as good/better then 0ga wire but it doesn't really have the same flexing ability as most audio wire, though it is cheaper.

cyberkill

I did consider a kit at first, but the kits that I saw were going for > $80 at Best Buy with just 4 awg wire, fuse + holder, and amp remote wire. I ended finding a car audio shop around here where I got 25' 4awg, a fuse & fuseholder, plus ring terminals for about $30-$40 and I already had some extra power wire (14 awg maybe?) for my amp remote. The car audio shop sold me 4 AWG for $1.50/ft.