Salvaged_Z

Hi guys, just wondering if someone could help me choose a couple things I'll need for my stereo install. This is what I have so far: HU, 2 sets of components, 1 1000w & 1 500w amp, 1 12" sub. I've got my 2 sets of RCA's (one with quad connects ) I'm also relocating my battery to the trunk, and installing a 180amp alt. My main concern is picking out the right circuit breakers for my setup; I don't want fuses. I'm not sure on what amp circuit breakers to get. My friend is telling me I should get two of them. I just want to make sure I get the right size so they pop if and when they need to. Also, besides power/ground/speaker wire, what else will I be needing? Thanks for the help.

richieg

iTrader: (1)

200 amp.

VinMan2

iTrader: (1)

you need either a 150 amp or one 100 amp and one 50. you match the amount to the wattage of the amplifier. ex.200 watt amp 20 amp fuse. 1 amp per 10 watts.

richieg

iTrader: (1)

The alt @180amps would have a good chance of tripping the breaker. Just go with 200. In worse case, it won't allow the battery to blow up. Just cause the wire to get real hot.

Salvaged_Z

Thanks for the info. Do you think the wire would end up getting hot enough to melt and cause a fire before it tripped the breaker if I went with a 200 amp?

richieg

iTrader: (1)

That really comes down to the quality & size of wire. While you're there, go ahead & use the biggest you can readily get, 0 guage. Any major car audio brand wire company should do the trick. I've never pesonally had anything using this size or amperage directly short. But according to safety specs of all major wire companies, The chances of the wire getting anywhere near hot enough to melt before a 200 amp breaker throws is damn near impossible.

AsianIce25

iTrader: (2)

Ive been dong car audio as a hobby since i was 15 (im 23 now). Just getting back into it, as i didnt really want to put a hardcore system in the Z. Usually, a good amp will have at least 5 amps of fuse for every 100 peak watts it produces. I'd get a 200 amp breaker as well, thats what im running with a fosgate 400X, 401S, and an 801S with a combined total peak watts of 4800. Thats over 1800 watts rms and thats not counting the fact that im running the frint and rears in parallel so power output will obviously increase. Sounddomain.com has fosgate 200 amp breakers for 27 bucks. id run 4 gauge, that should be more than enough. As for the battery, there doesnt seem to be any reason to relocate the battery to the truck unless your doing for the weight or something or adding a 2nd battery in the trunk with an isolator. Im thinking about doing the 2nd battery thing, but im gonna see how it runs before i spend the money on it. Id recommend a yellow top and then run the alternator directly to it, then to the power distribution, then to the caps, then to the amps. The stock battery cable wasnt designed to handle 180 amps though, so im running an additional 4 gauge wire from the alternator to the battery. Make sure you do this, cause you dont want to mess up the battery cable. Then at least 4 ga. to the back. Mind you, all the circuit breakers are alike, so just get the cheapest name brand.

VinMan2

iTrader: (1)

You gentleman go ahead and believe what you wish but I have been doing car audio for 18 years, and have owned my shop for 10 now and it has been the same since I first started. 10 amps per 100 watts. A 180 amp alternator only puts out 180 amps at certain rpm's. As far as using 0 gauge wire that is overkill and expensive. I have a Chevy silverado with the back wall cut out with four 12 in Kicker solo X woofers, in ported enclosures with 8 Kicker 1250.1 sx amplifiers, that are pushing roughly 1200 watts a piece. We also have two Kicker 700.4 sx amplifiers running all the highs . This is something that you use 0 gauge wire for, or the right name 1/0. You also might want to upgrade all the factory grounds under the hood as well as upgrading the charging wire.

firebirdude

I really advise against circuit breakers for car audio. They take far too long to trip to be useful in car audio. In that short amount of time, some serious damage can occur. Let me ask, why are you refusing to use fuses? Want to be able to use them over and over? Well that brings me to point number 2. Each time the breaker is tripped, it become less and less accurate. First time it blows at 100amps, second 101amps, third 103amps, fourth 105amps....etc. Fuses aren't that expensive and you shouldn't have to buy them very often. If you're blowing fuses that often, something is wrong. Are you kidding me? The alt's output has nothing to do with fuse size. Yes, the alt's output IS directly connected to the fuse, but there is no ground! Only through the amp. And unless the amp is pulling that much current, your fuse will never blow. Think about those people with only a 25Wx2 amp. Their probably running a 20 amp fuse at most. Why hasn't there fuse popped? And battery blowing up.....WTF!?!?

You can only get a guesstimate at best by using your little 5 amp per 100WP rule. You need to take into account the efficiency of the amp.You need to find out the max current draw for each of your amps. Look in the owners manual or on the company's website. Add all the values together and go with that for your fuse size. Run more then one fuse? Are we talking inline fuse under the hood? Or distribution block? And yes, you will need to upgrade the wire coming from alt to batt.

richieg

iTrader: (1)

assuming the breaker is going between the alt & the battery in the back & it is wired correctly,. . . uh hell nevermind, just put a 10 amp fuse on the 180 alt & be done.

Salvaged_Z

Thanks for everybody's input on this so far. As far as my choice for circuit breakers, a friend of mine recommended them to me over fuses b/c he said it'd be cheaper in the long run in case I were to blow fuses. I have use fuses for the system in the 93 and haven't had any problems with them. He thought it would make my system better and give it a cleaner look, I guess. The two amps I'm using are Precision Power Industries 1000x4 and a PPI 500x1. They are pretty decent amps and have pretty clean power. Do you guys think I'd be better off with fuses? I don't see why the fuses would blow either, myself. I just know my friend knows more than I do about it so I went with what he said. As far as my battery relocation goes, it's not for the stereo reasons Yes, I was going to use a good 4 guage wire for the battery hook up. My friend said that he wanted to heat shrink the 4 guage to the existing positive cable up front and run it straight back to the trunk. Is this going to be OK to do? Thanks again. I appreciate everybody's input for this install.

Salvaged_Z

_ttt_

Snootch

iTrader: (3)

Some favor circuit breakers over fuses mainly because theyre re-settable, instead of having to buy fuses if they blow. BUT, it is possible that a circuit breaker could malfunction, and not trip in case of a short, where a fuse definately will blow. The main battery fuse is not there for the protection of your equipment, it's there to protect your car from burning up.