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 Post subject: Wire Question
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:14 pm 
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can anyone tell me if theres any power loss in running 2 x 4 gauge wires
or even 4 x 8 gauge insted of a single 0 gauge?

eg. 0 gauge from battery to fuse from fuse it splits to the 2 x 4 gauge (or 4 x 8) through the car to the amps pos + and an 0 gauge as the earths

the reasons im considering doing this are
0 gauge are pretty thick and leave rased marks under the carpet, (correct me if im wrong) would create less electrical disturbance, as in humming and last of all
could look pretty cool
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:39 am 
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I have been taught that the more strands of wire the better.
This means for 2 wires the same thickness, the one with more thin strands inside it would conduct better.

As long as your multiples end up with the same cross-section area and contain the same number of strands, then it will conduct the same.

The problem is here:
Most power losses in cabling happen at joins.
More cables means more joins so there's a lot of potential for power loss.

 

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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:05 pm 
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would adding an extra wire help?
i would asume no considering its 0 gauge from battery to fuse, if you had 5 wires @ 8 gauge after that it would still only carry what the 0 did
im i right?
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:43 pm 
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If you need more than 0 gauge wire for an audio system it must be bigger than the P.A system for Metallica!! If for some reason you doo need larger gauge wire its probarbly a good idea to have a battery setup in the boot, then you only need about an 8 gauge to charge the boot battery. With that setup its a very short run to the amps so there will be very little power loss.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:14 pm 
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joolz wrote:
If you need more than 0 gauge wire for an audio system it must be bigger than the P.A system for Metallica!! If for some reason you doo need larger gauge wire its probarbly a good idea to have a battery setup in the boot, then you only need about an 8 gauge to charge the boot battery. With that setup its a very short run to the amps so there will be very little power loss.

LOL, nah i dont need more than 0 for my setup at first, i plan to upgrade as time go's on, its kinda like laying the foundations, i dont wanna have to rip them up everytime i upgrade
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:38 pm 
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I just done my AU with 0 gauge and it was all fine needed to make a larger hole in the firewall, and thats about it.

 

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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:20 pm 
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run 0g. pretty easy, and worth it.

 

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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:12 am 
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au man wrote:
I just done my AU with 0 gauge and it was all fine needed to make a larger hole in the firewall, and thats about it.


did you run it down the centre under the carpet or along the side?
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:04 am 
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i ran it down the side but under the carpet sorta if that make sense.

 

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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:32 am 
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I ran mine behind the drivers side headlamp and inside the guard (guard skin removed) The panel beside the accalerator was removed to gain access to a large gromet where the cable came through into the cabin, it was then ran under the sill kick panels to the boot.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 1:03 pm 
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Firstly yes you can run multiple cables but you need to make sure that the fuse rating protecting it is not too high so the fuse can blow before the cables ratings are exceeded in case of a crash.
Secondly running the cables down the centre of the car is a bad idea definitely run them down the side as there are more places to hide the cables near the sill and not leave ugly lumps in the carpet...

 

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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:47 pm 
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Wire guage in cars is a load of crap. Go to a electronics shop and say you need cable that can carry X amount of amps, and I gaurantee it will be at least half the thickness of what a car joint will give you, and work just as well.

 

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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 3:33 pm 
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Don't confuse current ratings with gauge, "normal" electrical cable current ratings are rated for how much current they can handle before the voltage drop across the cable becomes excessive.
Generally in car audio most ratings are absolute garbage but unfortunately ohms law applies so if you are using high powered gear you will want as low a voltage drop as possible hence what may seem to be excessively oversized power cable....

 

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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:55 pm 
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i have to agree with wot old mate said about it won't make a difference between 0g n 8g, an ova 3m u will get no detectabe current lose. the thicker the wire the more resistence it will have tho.

an 1 0g wire will equal 4 8g wires because it will create the same cross sectional area.

also 1 0g wire will create a arger eectro magnetic field which can interfear with audio cables.

can't imagine any greater need then one single 4g wire ??

 

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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:06 am 
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Atz88, I think you need to check your electrical theory my friend

"an ova 3m u will get no detectabe current lose. the thicker the wire the more resistence it will have tho. "

Firstly, you don't lose current you lose voltage from effect of current and resistance.

Secondly, the thicker the cable the LESS resistance not more, otherwise there wouldn't be thicker cables if this was the case...

Thirdly, how can a larger cable create a noticably larger magnetic field? A magnetic field is directly related to the amount of current being passed through the cable...

 

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