Noob with wire gauge problem

[stfuFred45 0]

Hello. I have two Sundown SA-12 d4 and a saz1500d v.3 and im having a little problem with what gauge wire i should be using. right now i would like to run it at 1ohm but im probably going with the 4ohm hook up. I still have my stock battery and alt and im not trying to run them down anytime soon. some people have also told me i can run them at 1ohm since i dont run my system all the time but im still a little sketchy

saz1500dv.3- 1ohm =1500watt rms

4ohm=530watt rms

[emh9009 199]

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

[stfuFred45 0]

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

[stfuFred45 0]

also how many feet of wire do you think i would need for the big three and everything else?

[lithium 358]

get some string and measure it out.

[lithium 358]

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

volt meter for what?

[stfuFred45 0]

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

volt meter for what?

well a lot of people hook them up to THE amp so they no for sure the volts arnt dropping

[EPerez 236]

I have one of those stinger volt meters hooked up to my amps and I can see what my amps voltage reads. Its only $30. I think it's a good thing to have.

[Jason Witt 65]

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

volt meter for what?

well a lot of people hook them up to THE amp so they no for sure the volts arnt dropping

Volt meters should be connected to the battery with a fused lead and chassis ground. They are a waste of time and money unless you are running large amounts of power IMO.

[On3Hundr3dProof 19]

Run 1/0 ga @ 1 ohm and keep the gain down like watts said and running a volt meter from the amp isnt a bad idea and the stinger ones are only like $20-$30

[cloud77 28]

a volt meter to monitor your system voltage is very helpful to your car and the user, A digital multimeter, is a tool which is also very helpful to a car audio enthusiast for retaining information. Didnt know which you were talking about.

I would say if you plan on running that amp @ 1 ohm eventually you can go ahead and run 1/0. You should also look into getting another battery for your charging system.

As far as ofc or cca, you can go ahead and spend the cash on copper, since you may keep it in your possession for while anyway. But if you dont plan on running 3k anytime soon you can save yourself some money and buy cca.

[The enD 467]

Hello. I have two Sundown SA-12 d4 and a saz1500d v.3 and im having a little problem with what gauge wire i should be using. right now i would like to run it at 1ohm but im probably going with the 4ohm hook up. I still have my stock battery and alt and im not trying to run them down anytime soon. some people have also told me i can run them at 1ohm since i dont run my system all the time but im still a little sketchy

saz1500dv.3- 1ohm =1500watt rms

4ohm=530watt rms

I have a single SA-12 D2 on the v.1 1500D. It was fine on 1 ohm with stock alternator and a 88A battery in front. 1/0 gauge all around. I say was, because I've added a secondary battery in the back, right next to the amp, and now it's even better.

I say go ahead and purchase 1/0 gauge. Eventually you may run 1 ohm or even a bigger system. You will have to upgrade the wire and that means more money spend and more time to take apart the car to run wires again. Do it once, properly.

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

In my opinion it is, you never know what may happen and your equipment may see low voltage and get damaged.

also how many feet of wire do you think i would need for the big three and everything else?

You don't need 1/0 for the big 3, the wires are relatively short and can be thinner but still pass a lot of current.

I'm going to assume you will want to up the power sometime in the future so i would suggest to just jump in and get nice OFC 1/0 gauge from the start. You can run 1 ohm, just keep the gains down to keep your voltage safe.

i was thinking about getting a volt meter for that reason. Is that a good idea or a waist of time?

volt meter for what?

well a lot of people hook them up to THE amp so they no for sure the volts arnt dropping

Volt meters should be connected to the battery with a fused lead and chassis ground. They are a waste of time and money unless you are running large amounts of power IMO.

Let me tell you something that happened to me several days ago. I added a secondary battery in the back. Everything was good, it was getting charged and so on. After some day my sub was making terrible noises at high levels, like it was blown. I was already looking at re-cones.

Took the sub out of the box, played it on my home amp, everything was fine. I go to check the voltage while playing in the car. It was dropping below 9 volts and not even at max volume.

You can't tell me a volt meter is useless to monitor what the hell is going on with your equipment. Anything can fail. My amp may have been seeing below 8 volts, clipping the shit out of the sub.

In the end it was a bad fuse, replaced and everything is fine. With a voltmeter, connected to the amp, not the front battery cause it would have shown normal voltage, I would have noticed right away.