Originally posted by chpthril
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Speakers need a positive (+) and negative (-) to run, so they need 2 wires running to them. Typical speaker wire is made up of 2 twisted strands of wire that is encased in a common insulation, but physically and electrically separated. That's what's called 2-conductor. Some 2-conductor will use silver colored wire and gold colored wire so the user will be able to differentiate between POS and NEG when making the connections on both ends. This is called polarity. Some 2-conductor may have a solid color on one side and a strip on the other, some will have a round side and a square or "D" shaped side and others will use a ribbed (for her pleasure) and a smooth side to keep track of the polarity. As far as the wire is concerned, there is not a + and - side, you just need to make sure both ends are connected the same and be consistent through out the install.
If you speakers are wired up using the factory wiring (the newer models are pre-wired stereo) then you will see 2 single-conductors plugged up to the speakers. Single-conductor is just a single strand of twisted wire in it's own sheath of insulation. If you went to the auto parts store and bought a roll of wire, that's single conductor. If you went to Best Buy and bought a roll of speaker wire, that would be 2 conductor.
Circuit Protection: either a fuse or circuit breaker of proper rating to carry the amperage (load) of the circuit (electrical device on the other end). The C/P needs to be placed with in 18" of the voltage source (battery).
Most amp installs in autos use a fuse holder of some type. For boats, I prefer to use a manual-reset circuit breaker that is marine rated. They work just like a breaker in your home's breaker-box......when the circuit is overloaded, the breaker trips. Fix the problem, reset the breaker, and the lights come back on. The marine rating means they are ignition protected. This means they will not have lose arching (sparks flying
) when they trip.
Ok, since it looks like you are going with 2 amps, I would say go with a single POS (+) and single NEG (-) wires for both amps. This would be a length of wire from the battery's + to the amp install area for the amp's + and a length of wire from the battery's - to the amp's install area. For those 2 amps, the zx700.5 and zx450.2, you will need 2 lengths of 1/0ga power/ground cable. For circuit protection, you will need a fuse or breaker with a rating of no less then 150A or one that is no more then 200A. Just to clarify, breakers and fuses do not come in ranges, but set ratings, typically in 10A increments.
Once the 1/0ga wire is run to the amp area, it then needs to be split off to each amp's + and - lugs. For this, you will need 2 non-fused (sometimes called "Ground") distribution blocks and a few feet of 4 ga pos and neg cable. You will need 2 distro-blocks that have at least one 1/0ga in and at least 2 4ga outs. I typically keep the length of the wires between the blocks and amps down to 3ft or less, so once you decide where the amps will go, then take some 5/16" rope and lay it in where the cable will go from the battery to the amps, then mark and measure it.
You will need two sets of stereo (a pair) RCA's to run from the head-unit to the amps. Try to keep them as short as possible. You dont need them stretched tight, just dont need 6 extra feet of RCA cable.
You will need a length of 12ga wire, probably yellow, to run the head-unit's power off the amp's power lug and a length of black 12ga to do the same with the H/U's ground and run it to the amp's - lug.
You'll need some 14ga wire to run from the H/U's "amp remote turn-on" to the amps. Blue or green are good colors to go with.
If you speakers are wired up using the factory wiring (the newer models are pre-wired stereo) then you will see 2 single-conductors plugged up to the speakers. Single-conductor is just a single strand of twisted wire in it's own sheath of insulation. If you went to the auto parts store and bought a roll of wire, that's single conductor. If you went to Best Buy and bought a roll of speaker wire, that would be 2 conductor.
Circuit Protection: either a fuse or circuit breaker of proper rating to carry the amperage (load) of the circuit (electrical device on the other end). The C/P needs to be placed with in 18" of the voltage source (battery).
Most amp installs in autos use a fuse holder of some type. For boats, I prefer to use a manual-reset circuit breaker that is marine rated. They work just like a breaker in your home's breaker-box......when the circuit is overloaded, the breaker trips. Fix the problem, reset the breaker, and the lights come back on. The marine rating means they are ignition protected. This means they will not have lose arching (sparks flying
) when they trip. Ok, since it looks like you are going with 2 amps, I would say go with a single POS (+) and single NEG (-) wires for both amps. This would be a length of wire from the battery's + to the amp install area for the amp's + and a length of wire from the battery's - to the amp's install area. For those 2 amps, the zx700.5 and zx450.2, you will need 2 lengths of 1/0ga power/ground cable. For circuit protection, you will need a fuse or breaker with a rating of no less then 150A or one that is no more then 200A. Just to clarify, breakers and fuses do not come in ranges, but set ratings, typically in 10A increments.
Once the 1/0ga wire is run to the amp area, it then needs to be split off to each amp's + and - lugs. For this, you will need 2 non-fused (sometimes called "Ground") distribution blocks and a few feet of 4 ga pos and neg cable. You will need 2 distro-blocks that have at least one 1/0ga in and at least 2 4ga outs. I typically keep the length of the wires between the blocks and amps down to 3ft or less, so once you decide where the amps will go, then take some 5/16" rope and lay it in where the cable will go from the battery to the amps, then mark and measure it.
You will need two sets of stereo (a pair) RCA's to run from the head-unit to the amps. Try to keep them as short as possible. You dont need them stretched tight, just dont need 6 extra feet of RCA cable.
You will need a length of 12ga wire, probably yellow, to run the head-unit's power off the amp's power lug and a length of black 12ga to do the same with the H/U's ground and run it to the amp's - lug.
You'll need some 14ga wire to run from the H/U's "amp remote turn-on" to the amps. Blue or green are good colors to go with.
man I wish you could install this into my boat instead of me... anyway you could map that out for me... if not its cool I will try to figure it out
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