I got a 180 amp HO alternator installed, but the mechanic wouldn't touch the wiring. I'm taking it to the local car audio place to get it installed, but I'd rather buy the wires online, because they're real expensive at the store. I looked at knukonceptz.com, and the 1/0 gauge amp installation kit was $72. Is this what I need? Can I buy the wires individually cheaper? Can someone maybe point me to a link for exactly what I need?
I already have all the other wires, battery to distro block, to amps, set up fine. I just need to upgrade the big 3 for my HO alternator. Thanks.
You can upgrade the big 3 for under $37. The negative to ground and engine to ground cost around $6 for 12"-18". That's all you need. The alternator to battery could cost up to $25 depending on the length. You can either visit a department store like Walmart or an auto parts store. Either way, it's cheap. It's always the idiotic mechanics with no background in electroincs that seem to want to charge $300-$500. Even if you paid them by the hour, it can all be done in 1hour or less.
If you wanted to save even more money, just buy a x length of 4gauge or 2 gauge wire and then put the ends yourself, or have a shop do it.
2 gauge should handle 180A. 4 gauge will even work. You see, there's no way your amp can draw 180A from the alternator without killing your car. 50A or so will always be used by the car itself when it's running. Therefore, you'll have around 130A left for the amps. If you can, 0 gauge is always better, but the connectors will be a beeech (not a spelling error, done to pass filtering)to install.
get 1/0 gauge from knukonceptz. about 6 feet. also get the anl fuse holder item #FH-20 with the 250 Amp ANL Fuse Item # ANL250. you'll also need 5 Gold Plated 1/0 Ring Terminal - Black Item # RT1/0516BK, i would suggest getting atleast 6 in case of a mistake, lol. that should be it. i only have a 165a alt and have 1/0 gauge wire as well. easy to instal. i had a shop install my alt and i went home and installed the wires and fuse. keep the fuse close to the alt.
plan this out. then buy. measure how much line you need for block to chassis, battery to chassis, and alternator to battery. add that to the run length from battery to amplifier location. that'll be what you need for the 0AWG wire. always get an extra couple of feet so you don't come up short. measure from d-block to amplifiers and amps to ground points. that'll be what you need for the amplifiers
Just curious, can you do Engine to neg battery, alt to bat, and do you really need the bat to ground if you're running a dedicated ground (0awg) to the back?
Was curious about this, since I dont use a chasis ground for any of my audio equipment anymore..
Also, what good is running a 0awg ground to chasis, if the chasis only acts similar to a 4awg wire?