misterp Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 OK it's been a coon's age since I've done this so I need some backup here - I've got a Alterstart 275A alternator, and two Orion HCCA amps with total possible current draw of 300A (400A if I upsize the fuses on the sub amp!). The cable will be fused at 300A. The length on the postive lead from Alt to Amp Dist Block is 18-feet (I measured with a string). I found a kick-ass wiring calculator here (BD Batteries wire rules) and plugging in the numbers it says I need a 3/0 guage power lead to keep voltage loss under 5% (voltage drop = .629-volts). So my question is, in "the real world" do you normally run 3/0 in a situation like this, or is 2/0 or 1/0 more the rule - normally I would go for broke but the cost difference is huge and I don't want to over-wire. TIA - Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fast4popper Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 listen to you... we both know that excess is good when it comes to power. 1/0 will carry about 150 to 200 amps. I have 1/0 in the truck now and pulling about 170 amps. my car pulls near 240 and its fine with 1/0. in your case, you might wanna upgrade. at least run 2 1/0 cables. if you want 3/0... PM me... cant wait to see what Mr. P has up his sleeve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 listen to you... cant wait to see what Mr. P has up his sleeve. Whatever do you mean? I'm just finishing another of my 1/2-started projects Yeah man I'll Visio something and send it to you, I want to wire this thing safely; I want a black truck not a charcoal-black truck. This is going to take some industrial strength wiring, the fleabay stuff won't cut it for this job. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fast4popper Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 i hear you. lets just say Stinger has 3/0 in there line up... i can get you a crazy deal on this stuff. plus all the adaptors needed. its cool stuff, very flexable and its oval shaped so its easy to hide under the carpet. as for charcoal black, whats wrong with that? as Rob and Big say, "murdered out" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleylorraine Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 When Steve completes this project, it's going to be KICK-A$$! Too bad I'm not there to take pics during the whole procedure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Popper, can you do a favor and post what the resistance is on that wire? Like how many ohms per ft or km or ?? The standard says .2 ohms per Km... - Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krambo Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Listen to popper. Question...are you running your amps off of the alternator? I would advise against this. You will be fine with the 1/0 especially with a 300A fuse (I would go with a circuit breaker myself). Steve, in the link you provided, I can't tell if the calculators are for stranded wire or solid wire. Stranded wire offers LESS resistance for A/C current hence you can have longer runs and still have minimal voltage drop. I LOVE the HCCA Orions. I used to have the 225 back in the day bridged down to 1 ohm. That little sucker never died,...I also had the 2150SX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Listen to popper. Question...are you running your amps off of the alternator? I would advise against this. You will be fine with the 1/0 especially with a 300A fuse (I would go with a circuit breaker myself). Steve, in the link you provided, I can't tell if the calculators are for stranded wire or solid wire. Stranded wire offers LESS resistance for A/C current hence you can have longer runs and still have minimal voltage drop. I LOVE the HCCA Orions. I used to have the 225 back in the day bridged down to 1 ohm. That little sucker never died,...I also had the 2150SX. No I'm also running a relocated Kinetik HC2000; basically the hot lead goes from the alt to the relocated battery (14-ft) and then to the dist block (another 4-ft). I've got an Orion 2500.1 class-D and Orion 200.4, both amps have identical cases and are huge, like 10-inches wide and over 2-ft long! These are the last of the 'real' Orions, before the company was acquired by DEI and their architecture changed for the cheaper. Pics: I was going to embed/flush-mount them into the rear seat bottom, but they are too tall so I am going to flush-mount them into the top of the subwoofer box - I'm going to throw away the cheesy plastic end caps and hide the wiring with a suede perimeter cover. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF-03-SS Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 This could be interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_bnoon_SS Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Maaaaaaaan, I LOOOOOOOOVE the old Orion stuff. I had the 2250, 2150, 275, and two 250 SX series amps in my '95 Neon back when it was new. I had 2 15 inch Orion carbon fiber XT DVC subs at the time, along with pre-amp eq's, etc all on dealer accomidation (like 70% off of DEALER COST) .It all ran me about 1200 bucks!!! I still have most of it and it's going on 3 years to get it installed into the truck... Talk about half finished projects... Good luck Steve, and be sure to take pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 ... 2 15 inch Orion carbon fiber XT DVC subs ...Not a bad sub I still don't have a pair of subs picked yet, was thinking Diamond 12s but now who knows, still researching that. I might cough-up for a pair of XXX. And I would take pics but some assclown stole my camera out of my hotel room when I was at the Lebanon Valley GTG last fall. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_bnoon_SS Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 I've always liked the Diamonds, but... so many of the newer subs on the market spent so much time making heavy cones with ultra-tight suspension to work in smaller boxes that they end up sounding "dead" or "hollow" to me. I liked the older Cerwin Vega or Fosgate Punch treated paper mulch cones. They took larger boxes, but the light weight assemlies were VERY tight sounding. I wonder if anyone still has some N.O.S. laying around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted February 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Yeah I remember the old Cerwin Vegas. Good Times. I want SQ in this truck, I am sure it will also get loud if I wanted but I want great staging and realistic kick drum. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rausche Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 You would almost certainly be fine with 1/0 wiring (application depending of course). If you're worried about it, go for 2/0. Like somebody above me said already, stinger makes really good 2/0 that's oval in shape and easily routed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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