Wire Size Question

[Dave K]

I am putting 3-24 series in the port consol to power my stereo system. I was going to connect the batteries in parallel. Off the third battery I was going to run a 4 gauge '+" and 4 gauge "-" wire to 2 distribution blocks to the plywood which will be holding my amps, and from there run 8 gauge to each amp.

My question is to connect the batteries in parallel do I need to use a 4 gauge wire or will 8 gauge be ok?

Thanks

[chpthril]

4ga is what I would use to parallel the batteries.

Are these going in the mid-ship storage,close to the amps? If so, then a couple of questions to think about: 1) what is the apx distance between the battery and the distro block. 2) what is the total load (current draw) of the amps? Right now, we have talked about the zx350.4 and the zxm450.2 for the tower. These have a total potential draw of 100A's. 3) are you going to add another or larger amp to power a sub later? If so, lay the ground work now IMO.

If it were me, i would probably go with 1/0 for the trunk line from the battery bank to the distrobution blocks and then 4ga to each amp from their. There is not a huge difference in price and the 1/0 will give you the room to expand later.

Next question, is the stereo bank going to be a stand-alone bank or will it be connected to the engine's charging system?

[Dave K]

Batteries hould be less than 3 feet for sure.

[dogbert]

If it were me, i would probably go with 1/0 for the trunk line from the battery bank to the distrobution blocks and then 4ga to each amp from their. There is not a huge difference in price and the 1/0 will give you the room to expand later.

I went with 2/0 for power & ground to the distribution block and 4ga to my amps. I was a little nervous about the amperage I was running over a cable that sits on top of my gas tank

[Dave K]

Also nothing will be connected to the engine. I have have a 3 bank on board charger that will be plugged in every night.

[chpthril]

Also nothing will be connected to the engine. I have have a 3 bank on board charger that will be plugged in every night.

great, that makes it easy and less expensive as you will not need to run an long runs of cable from the back to the front.

[Dave K]

I think I will go 4 gauge all around. $3 a foot here!

[chpthril]

I think I will go 4 gauge all around. $3 a foot here!

4ga wire >5ft will handle up to a 150A load.

[Dave K]

I came across this chart, and just wondering if this is an accurate way to determine power cable size according to amp draw and length?

To determine the approximate current draw (in amperes) of your amplifier (or amplifiers), you must calculate first the total power of each amp (multiply the number of channels by the number of RMS watts per channel). If you have multiple amps, add up the total power figures to arrive at a grand total. Next, double your grand total power figure. Then, divide by 13.8.

The resulting figure is your system's approximate current draw. Compare this number to the numbers in the "Amperes" column in the chart below. Cross-reference with the cable length (the distance from your battery to the amp mounting location) to determine which gauge of cable you need.