Wire Gauge Question

[leon 0]

Hello all,

Quick question about wire gauges. I did some research and found Recommended Power and Ground Cable Size so think I should be okay, but wanted to check in with this community first.

Currently, I have 1/0 power cable running from the battery to the back of my truck. It hooks into a distro block and from that block I have two 4 gauge wire roughly ~2 feet or less connecting to two amps. One of them is 1000rms mono amp, and the other is a 100.2 amp for my front speakers.

If I upgrade the 1000rms amp to 1500rms, will the 4 gauge wire be able to handle the extra power since it is only a very short distance? The ground for the 1000rms amp is also ~2 feet of 4 gauge, will I need to upgrade that?

[bigrank916 72]

No, you shouldn't have a problem running 4ga unless your amplifier calls for 1/0. Do you know what the min size input is? If you have the extra cable it wouldn't hurt tho. 

[leon 0]

2 hours ago, bigrank916 said:

No, you shouldn't have a problem running 4ga unless your amplifier calls for 1/0. Do you know what the min size input is? If you have the extra cable it wouldn't hurt tho. 

I am getting a sundown 1500D and the amp can take a 1/0 wire. I don't have any extra wires on hand and was hoping to keep the replacement install simple. Depending on how I orientate the new amp, I may be able to reduce the length of 4g wire to less than 1 ft from the distro block. If this is really not a good idea, then I can stop by my local shop and grab some extra wire.

[jntar 15]

4 ga wire should be sufficient for 1500w with that short of a run.  (1500*2)/12.8v=~234a

0-4ft 4ga should be sufficient for up to 250a. However, you could always upgrade the distro block to hold 2ga wire if you are really concerned about safety.

[///M5 2,833]

4ga is more than fine, it has no relation to what Sundown marketing has spec'd for the amplifier wire input size.