THE BIG 3

[jcarter1885 995]

Should i be running 0/1 or 4g wire for this and whats a decent price per foot for some good stuff. Thx in advance

Most people use 1/0 awg, but it depends: on what you plan on running, stock alt size and stock factory wiring size. Minus well do it 1/0 awg to avoid having to do it again if you upgrade system or anything in the future.

I got my wire from knukonceptz.com or you can get some from weldingsupply.com as well.

[slo2sixty 0]

Fast response dang!! Thanks man i'll be doing this soon my alt is a wimpy 75a on my WRX. I got 4g going to my amp and amp ground.

[jcarter1885 995]

Just go with 1/0, will help out a lot.

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Best place to price out 1/0 is on eBay or WeldingSupply.com.

[wutang512 3]

If you cant reach your altenator then you can go on craigslist and find a local mechanic that can do it for cheap.

I found a I guy to do it for $45, Tried regular shops and they were saying they would charge me $80 an hr for labor.

But thats only because in my rsx you have to remove the intake manifold to get to the altenator. Too much work to me.

[jcarter1885 995]

Quick question for everybody on the board, I see that when people talk about the Big 3 (some say replace the wires, while most say not to touch the factory wires and add on).

When I did the Big 2, negative battery terminal to chassis and engine block to chassis I replaced my wires. Did I affect any thing by replacing the wires, havent noticed any electrical problems at all just curious to see if it will affect me in the long run or anything?

The negative battery terminal to chassis was a 4 gauge wire replaced with 2 runs of 1/0 awg wire. The engine block to chassis was a 4 gauge wire replaced with a run of 1/0 AWG wire.

Thanks for any valid input and replies.

[johnecon2001 82]

The point is to add more current carrying capability to the system. Since the stock wires already carry a decent amount of power, why remove them when you could just add to what they can carry with some bigger wires.

If you take two of the exact same cars and replace wires on one while adding wires on the other, the one with the wires added with have the greater current carrying capacity.

[jcarter1885 995]

Thanks for the input, what I plan on doing is adding to the 1/0 AWG wire that is already there (basically they will become the factory wires in the future).

Basically the factory wires will be 1/0AWG and the Big 3 wires will be 3/0 AWG.

[emh9009 199]

haha "factory" 1/0 wire would be nice

[Shogen 325]

I posted this on another forum and just wanted to repost it here to add to this discussion.

I bought a 180a from Ohio General and they told me more than once, upgrade to the largest size of cable that you can for everything more or less EXCEPT the Alt to Batt Pos. They told me, which I confirmed multiple times, on a short run, 4awg (at least for upwards of 200a) is plenty and ideal; they don't recommend larger than that in that location because the size of the post on the alternator is too small to bind to the larger wire; ergo because of the size difference, the post on the alt heats up too much and can overheat it. That was their recommendation and I'm going to have the shop that is doing it for me talk to them and confirm with a detailed description of my specific engine.

The other interesting thing they said was do NOT fuse that wire. I confirmed this as well, DO NOT fuse this wire because if for some reason it does indeed blow, the alternator will no longer see the battery and think that it's dead, so it will kick into high gear and stay that way until it burns up because it will never see that battery again until you've changed that fuse, thus leaving you with a dead battery and a burnt out alternator.

how accurate is this post? I didn't see anyone refer to this one. I can understand what he is saying towards the end about the blown fuse issue, but I don't think I'd be riding around without extra fuses anyway, especially when running a separate system or extra electrical equipment... I'd rather be safe than sorry... But is Ohio generator correct on that statement ?

[Particle 0]

I was trying to do this today, but I'm pretty sure I did something wrong:

On a more serious note for those doing this procedure, be sure to exercise due care when drilling out lug holes.

[Shogen 325]

Just wanna bring this up again in the more appropriate thread.. I posted this directly from the Kinetik Audio website:

"..... If adding more than one Kinetik HC Power Cell, continue to connect each power cell together in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) until all power cells are connected. Wire your equipment as suggested by the manufacturer either directly to the Kinetik HC Power Cell(s) near your equipment or to your distribution blocks, etc... Refer to your users manual for wiring gauge size and length suggestions...."

If this is true, then I can for go the battery negative ground to chassis correct? I would then also assume that the amplifiers could then be DIRECTLY connected to the battery in the rear of my vehicle. Let me know if this is wrong....

[cruzer23 1]

weldingsupply is not cheaper than knu, 1/0 that is.

Edited October 7, 2010 by cruzer23

[Duran 387]

Just wanna bring this up again in the more appropriate thread.. I posted this directly from the Kinetik Audio website:

"..... If adding more than one Kinetik HC Power Cell, continue to connect each power cell together in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) until all power cells are connected. Wire your equipment as suggested by the manufacturer either directly to the Kinetik HC Power Cell(s) near your equipment or to your distribution blocks, etc... Refer to your users manual for wiring gauge size and length suggestions...."

If this is true, then I can for go the battery negative ground to chassis correct? I would then also assume that the amplifiers could then be DIRECTLY connected to the battery in the rear of my vehicle. Let me know if this is wrong....

My batteries are grounded to the frame.

weldingsupply is not cheaper than knu, 1/0 that is.

Too bad it's CCA. No thank you.

[cruzer23 1]

whats wrong with cca? wont handle heat?

[Duran 387]

whats wrong with cca? wont handle heat?

It's CCA, that's self explanatory. The cost difference is too small to matter, if copper and CCA are similarly priced I'd ALWAYS buy copper.

[Godsmack 361]

I ALWAYS buy copper.

J

[Shogen 325]

Just wanna bring this up again in the more appropriate thread.. I posted this directly from the Kinetik Audio website:

"..... If adding more than one Kinetik HC Power Cell, continue to connect each power cell together in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) until all power cells are connected. Wire your equipment as suggested by the manufacturer either directly to the Kinetik HC Power Cell(s) near your equipment or to your distribution blocks, etc... Refer to your users manual for wiring gauge size and length suggestions...."

If this is true, then I can for go the battery negative ground to chassis correct? I would then also assume that the amplifiers could then be DIRECTLY connected to the battery in the rear of my vehicle. Let me know if this is wrong....

My batteries are grounded to the frame.

weldingsupply is not cheaper than knu, 1/0 that is.

Too bad it's CCA. No thank you.

lol.. Duran, am I supposed to understand your coded answer? I noticed in every install and build log and video that the norm is to ground to the chassis. I am only curious as to whether this statement holds true and if I have the capability of wiring in such a manner as to hook both "+" and "-" from both batteries, should I do that instead? I do like your answer though... That is how it is setup right now, but I might add another battery in the near future.

[Duran 387]

lol.. Duran, am I supposed to understand your coded answer? I noticed in every install and build log and video that the norm is to ground to the chassis. I am only curious as to whether this statement holds true and if I have the capability of wiring in such a manner as to hook both "+" and "-" from both batteries, should I do that instead? I do like your answer though... That is how it is setup right now, but I might add another battery in the near future.

It really depends on the frame of your vehicle, if it is a solid frame front to back ground there, if it is not a solid frame it can create resistance, so it would be better to make a run of wire.

[Shogen 325]

Well my whole reason for asking is that I might add a second battery which would actually be installed between the front battery and the amps.. So I figured since I read that information off the manufacturer's site then I could easily run another 0awg wire to the negative posts of both batteries and then ground the amps DIRECTLY to the second battery..

[slim142 9]

whats wrong with cca? wont handle heat?

It's CCA, that's self explanatory. The cost difference is too small to matter, if copper and CCA are similarly priced I'd ALWAYS buy copper.

So weldingsupplies wires are a NO-NO?

I was thinking about doing the Big 3 with 2/0 from weldingsupplies since knukoncepts do not have 2/0

So I guess I should stick to 1/0 from knukoncepts?

[slim2fattycake 85]

WTF? I use 2/0 welding cable. Its 100% copper. Why would you think its a no-no?

[sefugi 166]

Welding wire is great to use I would probly stay with 1/0 for your big 3 unless you are doing something hugh for an install.

[Duran 387]

whats wrong with cca? wont handle heat?

It's CCA, that's self explanatory. The cost difference is too small to matter, if copper and CCA are similarly priced I'd ALWAYS buy copper.

So weldingsupplies wires are a NO-NO?

I was thinking about doing the Big 3 with 2/0 from weldingsupplies since knukoncepts do not have 2/0

So I guess I should stick to 1/0 from knukoncepts?

Welding cable = copper

Knu - copper clad aluminum

[ulrisa 26]

Welding cable = copper

Knu - copper clad aluminum

Isn't the KnuKonceptz Fleks 99.9% copper?