Hello everyone, this is my first post. I have been reading on these forums for a good 4-5 months now, and I finally have a question. I am a Senior Sales Associate in Road Shop at Circuit City (I know eyes are rolling when you read "Circuit City," give us a chance. :) I recently purchased the MTX Thunder Elite 1501D amplifer from accommodations. The amp has 4-35A fuses, which comes out to 140A. MTX recommends that you wire a 1/0 gauge wire directly to the amp, and then a 4-8 gauge input from a capacitor to improve performance.
Now my questions is, is it really necessary to run a single 1/0 gauge wire directly to the amp, then a 4-8 gauge from a capacitor? Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those salesman that talks out of my ass about everything. I know what I am doing, and I've installed many systems. My buddy got a JL: 1000/1 from Tweeter, and both the installer and JL recommends that you only need 4 gauge to run it, and only a 100A fuse.
I also have an Alpine V12 MRV-F505 4 channel amp, with 2 25A fuses, and wired with 8 gauge. Now can I run a 1/0 gauge wire back to a distribution block, off the block have 2 4 gauge wires, 1 running to the MTX (is it possible to use only 4 gauge), and 1 running to another block, which will put out 2 8 gauges, 1 running to the MTX cap inputs, and the other running to the 4 channel. And have a 200A ANL fuse, since my total load at max will be 190A.
Am I thinking about this correctly, or am I totally off? All comments, recommendations and concerns will be appreciated.
I am also going to be performing The Big 3 with 1/0 gauge. I have an Optima Red Top, and a 90A alternator (most likely upgrading to a HO alt.)
All feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks to all.
4 gauge wiring is easily capable of handling 140 amps and should be provided with a 150 amp fuse.
Your wiring methodology will be fine to use. I would suggest, though, that wiring to and from the caps be as large and beefy as possible...bigger than 8 gauge, if you are to see any benefits of using those besides the bling factor. The caps can be paralleled in the direct path to the sub's amp using the 4 ga. power wire (you do not have to use the additional "cap inputs"). The 4 channel amp powering the other speakers will not pull from the cap.
And you could use 2 gauge main wire rather than 1/0 if you wish. See https://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp It mostly depends, in this case, on ease of installation and what you have commonly available. And DO upgrade that alternator.
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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.
Thank you stevdart for answering the question, I greatly appreciate it.