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Can you limit power draw through smaller wire? (no, bad idea for reference)

nik12937

nik12937

New member
I've got an 05 GT with an aftermarket Kenwood HU (the quality suprised me for a Kenwood). My sister's boyfriend is giving me his old subs and amp for free as he's sick of people in his neiborhood trying to break into his car and steal them. They're two Kicker L7's in a ported enclosure with a 1600watt RMS amp (not sure what brand).

So right now, I have no extra money to be spending on car audio, so this is a godsend, however I'm pretty sure the stock alternator in an 05 GT can't put out enough amps for that many watts, and I don't have the money for another battery or a HO alternator, maybe just a Big 3 upgrade (do they make kits by chance?)

So my question is, can you limit how much power can be pulled from the batt/alternator by using smaller gauge wire, or does it still draw all that power and simply lose it along the way? Because I have an old 10 gauge amp wiring kit laying around somewhere in my basement, and if smaller wire can limit current draw from my electrical system, this could be a good safety measure to prevent killing my alternator until I can afford upgrades.

Any help is appreciated a LOT, I've been getting mixed answers...:confused:
 
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Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

i think that the 04+ alts are 160's so you would be ok running that. As for the wire, there really is not much you can do besides limit how much the amp pulls...
 
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Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

All using smaller wire will do is increase the chances of the wire melting and starting the car on fire.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

You can say it that way....how about this. I used stock wiring and ran a 4awg back to two amps. One was a SAX-100.4D from sundown audio. The other was a Massive Audio CA50.4

If you want to listen to marketing b.s. I was pushing about 1800 watts. The reality is that I only pulled about 30 amps of power when cranking it out. That setup has been replaced by a Zed Leviathan 6x150. I'm using 4x150 as full range and 1x500 toa sub. It's a class D vs. Class a/b. I have not noticed a difference between the a/b "1800" watts vs. the class D "1100" watts.

04+ alternators are plenty for what you're doing. Realistically you're only using about 10% of what an amplifier can test when playing music; if you're burping or listening to sine waves that's VERY different and can easily destroy an amplifier but in those cases you are MUCH closer to utilizing what marketing claims.

So....do you listen to burps or sine waves going down the interstate? :)

Your wiring is fine. Go play with your toys :D
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

Oh ya...Big 3. It's b.s. too. Voltage is typically only an issue if you're utilizing unregulated power supplies in your amplifiers and you're into "burps" or "competitions". I won't talk about that because it can become complicated. Bottom line...GOOD GROUNDINGS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!! Don't listen to all the crap about "stiffening" capacitors etc. If you have an issue with dimming...upgrade your ground wires please. A good amplifier has all the capacitance it needs built into the on-board power supply.

Run 4awg back to your trunk and call it a day for your power. That way you don't ever have to deal with "upgrades". The power is already set ;)
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

I800C0LLECT said:
The reality is that I only pulled about 30 amps of power when cranking it out. I have not noticed a difference between the a/b "1800" watts vs. the class D "1100" watts.
Click to expand...
How do you manage that? With my system in full swing I can easy pull 160 amps? Does it just come down to the amp's efficency now?
 


Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

If i run a single 60 or 80 A fuse I will blow it within 30 seconds of turning it up.

Hence running two in parallel....
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

I had a 100amp fuse at the battery. The amps were also fused internally...one was 30x3 and the other I don't recall...I think it was 110 fused though?

So how come I didn't draw that much power? I had about 1kw on 2 subs, 100 watts on rears, and 320 on fronts. I would probably say it has to do with choice of music and that 4 of the channels were driving "full range". Majority of people pulling a lot of power are throwing it at subs. My taste isn't the same as most people. But I didn't have any issues with lights dimming. My new amp calls for an 80amp fuse MAX and 30amp fuse if I'm not running subs....or something rather. It's in the manual.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

lol i can drop down to 11 volts on music with the HO alt putting out everything...
also keep in mind i'm doing pass 140db at that point
 


Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

youre not supposed to limit current by the wire or fusing. if youre doing that, youre already doing it wrong.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

using a smaller wire would increase the resistance which would decrease power but like mentioned before in this post you would increase the chance of it melting or catching fire.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

Is the stock alt really 160 amps? A rebuild place said stock was 125.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

OK, haven't been on here in a bit. Right now I've got my buddy's leftover 8 gauge as my power wire, and whenever I turn the bass up loud, it eventually cuts out. I'm going to guess it's the wire either:

1. Making the amp overheat
2. Melting/screwing up the undersized wire in some way
3. Doing something to the measly 20A fuse on the wire...

Regardless, I gathered some spare change and took a chance with this "wiring kit" from Walmart: Walmart.com: Bravo View 1000 Watt 4-Gauge Amp Install Kit: Auto Electronics

So now I'm just praying that it's truly 4 AWG wire and not like, 8 gauge with fatty insulation (at least it was cheap), because I feel like my subs are starving.

I got two OLD solo-baric l7's in a HUGE ported enclosure for free from my sister's boyfriend, plus a 900rms Kenwood amp (they can hit down to about 30Hz before they drop off substantially), and they sound suprisingly good for Kicker's, but I'm guessing I'm only putting out maybe 300-400watts before the whole bass cutting out happens.

Would I be right in assuming that the wire is probably what's causing this? I have the speakers wired to 2-ohms and the amp is stable down to 1-ohm (suprising for a Kenwood).
 


Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

First...1ohm stable single channel mono amps are very common no matter brand choice.

HOWEVER!!!!....1ohm stable STEREO(2 channel) amps are NOT common. If it was 1ohm stereo stable that would mean it could handle a 2ohm load when bridged. I hate to be the jerk that asks...what's the model of the amp?

Power wire is not a reason for an amp to stop working. It'll just keep pulling juice until the wire burns up or something else breaks if not the amp itself. Second, 8awg wire is probably all you'll need for that setup. It sounds like your amplifiers thermal shut down is being engaged if you ask me. Maybe you're clipping the hell out of the signal and it's over-heating the amp?
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

I800C0LLECT said:
Not if you fuse it right. If it melts/catches fire you've done a few things wrong.
Click to expand...

If you have too high of an amperage fuse with the small wire it will melt. I am saying if you are using too small of wire in the first place you probably dont understand fuses or current draw.
 
Re: Can you limit power draw through smaller wire?

01GTP said:
If you have too high of an amperage fuse with the small wire it will melt. I am saying if you are using too small of wire in the first place you probably dont understand fuses or current draw.
Click to expand...

The key word is "FEW things wrong". My goal wasn't to dispute what you said...but if your wire is melting then you're using fuses inappropriately. I definitely agree with your second sentence! How about we use some links instead ;)



Recommended Power and Ground Cable Sizes

Speaker Wire Calculator
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

"Low Power Blows Speaker"
http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

Fuses
FUSES
 
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