10 gauge connect to 14 gauge

I have an Alpine 9833. The install directions call for the yellow wire from the Alpine harness be installed directly to the battery. Crutchfield reccomends using a 10 gauge amp kit. I can imagine I splice the yellow power wire from the Alpine harness to the 10 gauge wire. The alpine yellow wire looks to be 12 or 14 gauge. Can I splice a 12 or 14 gauge wire into a 10 gauge? The yellow Alpine does have a fuse on it and I read I am supposed to have another fuse 12" away from the battery. Just confused about the splice. Thanks.

I suggest going to you local anywhere that sells wire and get a enough wire to run from your head unit to the battery. Use the same gauge wire that comes from the Alpine harness. The fuse should be inside the memory module (black or grey box I think) along the yellow wire. If in fact there is no fuse on the yellow wire, install an inline fuse holder close to the battery. Use a fuse that protects the wire as shown on this page.

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WTB: Black Leather Acura GSR seats

There is a fuse along the yellow wire. I had read somewhere that the fuse needed to be 12" from the battery. The fuse would be 6" from the head unit and not close at all to the battery. Not sure if that really matters though. I dont know why Crutchfield would only offer 10 gauge wire kits because the alpine yellow wire is more like 12 or 14 gauge. I guess if i cannot splice the 10 gauge i will get some matching wire. Thanks for the help.

You do need a fuse by the batt. This fuse will protect the wire in case it were to get freyed and short out on the chasis somewhere. Better safe then sorry.

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Yes, Alpine recommends this, but I have yet to run to the battery.  I always get power at the harness.  If it bothers you, I'd run to the steering column (ignition harness) to get a constant.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

get power off the battery. I've got a CDA-9807 (that dosen't even have the V-Drive), and I got much better power when I gave it a 10 gauge cable straight to the battery and a good solid ground.

Also, go ahead and use 10 gauge cable, it isn't that expensive. And DO put a fuse at the battery, and one before the HU. You will be fine to splice together 10 gauge and 12-14 gauge cable.

-Drew

As said in previous posts, it's fine if you use a 10 gauge cable. But when we look at actual current consumption, the draw is limited by the smaller gauge wire. There will be no noticable effect when using either 12-14 gauge wire versus 10 gauge.

I would not buy a 10 gauge amp kit as you have suggested in the first post. It would be a lot cheaper to just get enough wire to do the job. It will also be best if you solder all of the joints together, but if you do not have access to soldering equipment you can use butt connectors.

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WTB: Black Leather Acura GSR seats

I have always used 12 awg wire to power the v-drive units, i grabbed the power from the constant wire in the steering column.  Also upgrade the ground wire directly to the chassis.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

I do have a 10ga amp kit. I plan of soldering the 10ga wire to the 14ga yellow wire from the alpine harness. I will probably run the cable directly to the battery. I dont want to tear the truck apart looking for the other suggested connections. I guess i should also run a heavier ground than the one in the harness. Thanks for all the help. Hope it works.