which fuse? and where to run wires?

[neunan]

heres my setup. 2 gauge wire coming off the battery to the trunk, and a distribution block thats breaking it off into two 8 gauge wires. (the reason its 2 gauge is because im not hooking up my subs yet, and the sub amp takes 4 gauge. its MMATS. the distrib block actually has 4 outputs) one amp has a 40A fuse and the other has a 30A fuse.

question 1: the distrib block is fused (MAXI). do i use 50A fuses to protect the 8 gauge wire (this is whats recommended by physics for this size wire) or do i use 40A and 30A respectively for the wire, matching whats already on the amps? and this applies for the 2ga as well, do i get a 150A to protect all the amps (the last amp that im not going to be using yet asks for an 80A fuse) or do i use 200A (recommended by physics) ?

question 2: i plan on running the 2 ga power down the right side of the car, the interconnects up the middle, and the speaker wire up the left side of the car. where do you run the remote turn on leads and the gain control wires so that they dont interfere? and which wires is it that you shouldnt have next to each other, speaker and power?

gratzi

[PaulD]

question 1 ... use the fuse recommended by the amp manufacturer. As for the battery fuse - remember, you are protecting the CAR not the stereo. A 120-150 amp fuse would most likely be fine unless you like to play electronic bass tunes all the time - at full volume.

question 2 .... we been over this a number of times - the part about running power and RCA wires seperately is bunk.

[neunan]

question 2, ill take your word for it. question 1, im not quite sure if i know what you mean or vice versa. the amps already have their own fuses built in, one of which is 40A and the other being 30A. so are you saying i should put a 40A fuse in the fused distrib. block protecting the 8 gauge going to the amp with the 40A fuse?

EDIT: question 3: i read somewhere that if i have 2ga power wire i also need to add 2ga ground wire from the battery. true?

[60hz163.5db]

i understand that the dblock and amps have fuses and this is fine when you fuse wire from the battery it is to protect the wire not the device/s that are on the other end if the rubber wears away and hits a dead short the wire if improperly or not at all fused will go up in flames in a matter of seconds to minutes which to say is not good. The devices you are powering are already fused so don't worry about them the dblocks are fused so the wire running from them to the device will never carry as much current as needed to do the above flaming deal.so in short 120a upto 150 amp is fine. If you snap one of these fuses there is a problem.

[PaulD]

ok, if the amps have built-in fuses - then you only need the main fuse near the battery. Trust me, if an 8 guage power wire shorts out - that little 150 amp fuse or circuit breaker will go very quickly.