I'm looking at amps and have a question on power gauge and ground requirements.

If an amp requires an 8 gauge wire, is this what I need to use or can I go with a bigger 4 gauge?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

If it requires an 8 ga., you can just use that or anything bigger such as a 4.

 

Thank you!

I appreciate the help.

 

Its not that simple....

First of all....WHY!? If it requires 8AWG, why run 4? Its bigger, weighs more, harder to run, etc etc....why bother?

Secondly, you will have to trim a lot of wire (half of it) to get it to fit into the amp terminal. 4AWG is very thick, so be prepared to deal with it. If your amp requires 8, use 8.

 

I'll go even further and say that most amps don't even need 16. looks cool though.

 

I guess I'll be returning the kit if I need to trim the wires.

Thanks for the info though.

 

Run the largest main power wire you can afford at the time of your first amp install and use a distribution block if that wire needs to be sized down for your amps.


This way you will never need to run more power wires from your battery if you decide to up grade to a bigger amp later on.


Also make sure your main ground wire is at least one size bigger then your power wire (good rule of thumb in the industry all though installers rarely ever follow it).

Also use a distribution block for your grounds if using multiple amps to reduce the chance of ground loops.

Don