type of board to attach to fiberglass for amps

[danancee]

Can anyone recommend a board (plexiglass, wood, etc.) for attaching amps to. How thick the board should be and how long of screw to attach to the cargo space underneath the head unit?

[chpthril]

Star Board is a name brand product for one. MDF or marine plywood encapsulated in 2 part resin or coated in dead liner is another option. The port side walk-through wall had a board glassed into just for the purpose of mounting amps, it's about 1"+ thick.

[danancee]

How wide and/or tall approx.?

[chpthril]

Almost the the entire area of the wall, from the floor almost to the top and from side to side. Plenty of room for amps.

[danancee]

chpthril, doing the stereo upgrade this weekend. I understand you are the one for audio. I have (2) alpine mrp300 and a alpine mrp500. One 300 will run the 6 interior speakers and the other the 4 tower speakers, of course the sub gets the 500. I have a dual battery system, does it matter which battery I connect the amps pos and neg to? also is it best to use inline fuses for each amp? total amp fuses is 160. I will probably have more questions as my install progress. Thanks

[chpthril]

chpthril, doing the stereo upgrade this weekend. I understand you are the one for audio. I have (2) alpine mrp300 and a alpine mrp500. One 300 will run the 6 interior speakers and the other the 4 tower speakers, of course the sub gets the 500. I have a dual battery system, does it matter which battery I connect the amps pos and neg to? also is it best to use inline fuses for each amp? total amp fuses is 160. I will probably have more questions as my install progress. Thanks

How is your dual battery system set up? Are they wired together or isolated. If Isolated, how - manual switch, electronically, combo of both?

I prefer to wire the entire stereo (amps and H/U) as well as the other accessories such as lights, to the battery that will NOT be the primary starting battery for the engine. This is 2-fold - one, less chance of engine noise, but other precautions will have a greater effect on preventing this, and 2, it leaves the "Starting" battery at full charge regardless of hoe long you run the stereo.

As far as circuit protection, I prefer to use marine rated manual-reset circuit breakers. They can be found up to 250 amps if needed. If i'm redoing a set up or doing a clean install, I will use 1 trunk line to feed the amps and one breaker of proper rating. If I'm adding to a current setup, i'll use a breaker for just the amp and power cable i'm adding in.

I get my breakers from www.waytekwire.com. If they dont have one rated high enough, there is another place but I cant remember the address off hand. There are cheaper ones, but they are not marine rated and the studs are too small and they dont fit larger gauge ring terminals. Part # for the 150A is46874, thats the highest Waytek has.

Here is the other source: http://www.electricvehiclesusa.com they have a 180A breaker.

[sincity]

may i butt in just a little, circuit breakers by code are there for circuit protection only, meaning the wiring only, not the equipment, you should definately use inline fuse for the individual amps with a fuse rating as close to the rated amperage draw of the amp. the circuit breaker can be sized to 125% of the amperage rating of the wire you are using, but its only there to protect the wiring not the equipment. i am no stereo expert, but i have been a licensed electrician for 35 years

sincity

[chpthril]

may i butt in just a little, circuit breakers by code are there for circuit protection only, meaning the wiring only, not the equipment, you should definately use inline fuse for the individual amps with a fuse rating as close to the rated amperage draw of the amp. the circuit breaker can be sized to 125% of the amperage rating of the wire you are using, but its only there to protect the wiring not the equipment. i am no stereo expert, but i have been a licensed electrician for 35 years

sincity

I've been working on 12V systems for 20 years. I'm an ASE Cert Master Technician and also MECP (Mobile Electronic Certified Pro).

I agree that ALL circuits need to be protected correctly. But, if i'm reading your post correctly, then I will have to respectfully disagree with part of it. You state that you want to have your circuit protection rated for more amps then the wire can carry If this were the case, then the wire would fail before the breaker tripped if there were a short in the system. A proper system would be set up so the breakers are rated to handle the intended load, and the wire ga used should be 125%, or more, of the intended load. In other words, the fuse or breaker needs to be the weakest link, not the wire. It would be bad news to lay in a wire gauge that can only handle 100A's, then protect it with a 125A breaker/fuse.

I will also say that it's not "wrong" to have a fuse located close the amp, especially for an amp that doesnt not have it's own internal fuses. All the amps I recommend and install use internal fuses, so none are needed. But I will say that if the system is setup correctly, an in-line fuse at the amp, even for an amp that doesnt have one, may be redundant. If the amp shorted, the initial circuit protection will be there to do it's thing.

I'm guessing you do A/C? Based on your theory, why dont I have breakers between the wall outlets and lamp cords or TV to protect them? The only breakers are at the source i.e. the breaker panel

[sincity]

I agree, i wouldnt size a breaker for stereo system to 125% either. i didnt say thats what i would do, im just saying by code that is what can be done, the reason for that is on AC circuits with motor loads on them,when the motor initially starts the inrush current is extremely higher than the running current and in theory would trip a breaker that was rated at 100% of the circuit. im sure you know this being a professional mechanic, not doughting you at all, just wanted to make sure people doing there own stereo systems arent relying on a circuit breaker only for protecting there expensive equipment. ive seen the insulation melt off of wiring serving DC and AC circuit and their circuit breakers never trip. A question for you, the wetsounds pro 80's, i have a samson tower which is i believe 2 and a 1/2 inches or 2 and 3/4" in diameter, does wet sounds make a clamp that big?
sin city

[da.bell]

I agree, i wouldnt size a breaker for stereo system to 125% either. i didnt say thats what i would do, im just saying by code that is what can be done, the reason for that is on AC circuits with motor loads on them,when the motor initially starts the inrush current is extremely higher than the running current and in theory would trip a breaker that was rated at 100% of the circuit. im sure you know this being a professional mechanic, not doughting you at all, just wanted to make sure people doing there own stereo systems arent relying on a circuit breaker only for protecting there expensive equipment. ive seen the insulation melt off of wiring serving DC and AC circuit and their circuit breakers never trip. A question for you, the wetsounds pro 80's, i have a samson tower which is i believe 2 and a 1/2 inches or 2 and 3/4" in diameter, does wet sounds make a clamp that big?
sin city

Yes on the 2.5 inch tube but the 2.75 inch tube you might want to call Wetsounds and talk with Gyver 1-877-938-7757.

"There are three pieces to the Trick Connect™ Bracket assembly. The tower clamp that attaches to the tower, the U bracket that is attached to the speaker and there are various sizes of rubber inserts to use depending on what size tower pipe you have. The Trick Connect™ Bracket is a 2 7/8 inch Chrome Plated Aluminum Clamp. The rubber inserts will fit the following towers. (2 ½”,2 ¼”,2”,1 ¾”,1 5/8”,1 ½”)" quoted from: http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/PRO80.html

[Razzman]

I'm with Chpthril, i only use marine rated thermal breakers to protect all of stereo equipment and my dual batt acr system as prescribed by Blue Sea. It is common practice in boats to use thermal breakers on equipment, in fact Moomba/Supra does it right from the factory. It serves the exact same purpose as the fuse, just allows the luxory of not having to pack a bunch of fuses. IMO AC electrical therories don't neccessarily apply to 12VDC systems all the time. My amps (2) are protected externally by 90a & 80a worth of fuses on their own so an addition inline fusing system is redundant imo and many others agree. Also again in imo the inline fuse nessesity is a carryover from the car audio industry where it's neccessary on a chassis grounded 12vdc system, boats don't a chassis to ground to. Just my thoughts

[Tanner]

It serves the exact same purpose as the fuse, just allows the luxory of not having to pack a bunch of fuses.

I just buy distro blocks with fuses built in. Then you don't gotta mess w/ external fuses.

[chpthril]

I agree, i wouldnt size a breaker for stereo system to 125% either. i didnt say thats what i would do, im just saying by code that is what can be done, the reason for that is on AC circuits with motor loads on them,when the motor initially starts the inrush current is extremely higher than the running current and in theory would trip a breaker that was rated at 100% of the circuit. im sure you know this being a professional mechanic, not doughting you at all, just wanted to make sure people doing there own stereo systems arent relying on a circuit breaker only for protecting there expensive equipment. ive seen the insulation melt off of wiring serving DC and AC circuit and their circuit breakers never trip. A question for you, the wetsounds pro 80's, i have a samson tower which is i believe 2 and a 1/2 inches or 2 and 3/4" in diameter, does wet sounds make a clamp that big?
sin city

For me, that spike in current draw would be considered the Max current draw, and both the circuit protection and wire size would be calculated off that. For example, an automotive starter will peak at about 250A's when it hits the flywheel. Once the engine starts to spin over, the load drops and levels off at about 190A's. The wire size would be chosen based on the 250A max x the length. Same with an amp. Lets say the amplifier has a peak draw of 90A's. This is what it needs to be protected to, as well as the load used to calculate wire gauge. In most cases, the amp will rarely hit that max, but maybe only for a few seconds.

I just buy distro blocks with fuses built in. Then you don't gotta mess w/ external fuses.

What is protecting the 20ft of power wire between the battery and fused dist block.

If the amps have their own internal fuses (the ones plugged into the side), as many but not all do, and you have the proper circuit protection at the power source, fused block near the amps are redundant IMO. If the amps has no fuse(s) and requires an in-line fuse to be installed for the protection of the amp itself, the a fused dist-block is a much cleaner install then in-lines and serve the same purpose.

[talltigeguy]

I have a question for CHP.

I currently have fused amps, a fused 4 guage wires at the distribution block and a fuse at the battery for the 0 guage main line.

If I eliminated the fuse at the distribution block, then if the 4 guage wire shorts out, the biggest fuse at the battery might not blow and I am left with melting 4 guage wire, a fire hazard. The 4 guage run is only from the amp to the distribution block, a short distance, but still could short out. For example: I would have to recheck my exact numbers...but each individual amp can pull 100 amps, and the distribution fuses are at that level, but the main wire is at 200 amps, so as not to blow during peak draw.

Shouldn't you put a fuse at both the distribution block and the main line?

I like the idea of a manually resettable circuit! This dude is only $25: http://order.waytekwire.com/productd...T%20100%20AMP/
What is the difference between the manual and auto reset?

[chpthril]

I have a question for CHP.

I currently have fused amps, a fused 4 gauge wires at the distribution block and a fuse at the battery for the 0 gauge main line.

If I eliminated the fuse at the distribution block, then if the 4 gauge wire shorts out, the biggest fuse at the battery might not blow and I am left with melting 4 gauge wire, a fire hazard. The 4 gauge run is only from the amp to the distribution block, a short distance, but still could short out. For example: I would have to recheck my exact numbers...but each individual amp can pull 100 amps, and the distribution fuses are at that level, but the main wire is at 200 amps, so as not to blow during peak draw.

Shouldn't you put a fuse at both the distribution block and the main line?

I like the idea of a manually resettable circuit! This dude is only $25: http://order.waytekwire.com/productd...T%20100%20AMP/
What is the difference between the manual and auto reset?

Great question, glad you posted! Here is why you are still protected. Ok, lets say you have a 200A fuse or breaker at the battery for the main line. Then a non-fused dist-block splitting off with 2 4ga wires to the amps and those lines run about 18"-20". Sound right? The AWG cable size/current cap chart I have at my finger tips, states that 4ga wire is rated to carry up to 190A on a 5' or less length. Without doing the math, that short of run of 4ga will handle the 200A load, so the fuse or breaker will trip in no time. If you anchor fell against the amp wires and cut into them shorting the 4ga power and ground together, it would be a split second load of well over 200A's and would trip that breaker quicker then you can say D'oh

I purchase my Breakers from Waytek, but I typically use the high current surface mount marine rated manual-reset breakers. They are a little more in price, but worth it. The cheaper ones from other sources use 1/4 studs and dont allow for a large gauge battery lug.

An auto-reset will reset if the short goes away. If the short is still present, it will continue to cycle (set, trip, set, trip) and may eventually fail and not reset once the problem is found and fixed. The manual breakers will trip and then need you to reset them. The other thing I like about them is that because the are a manual reset, they work like a disconnect switch is you want to kill power to the amps.