Phoenix Gold Phorum

I know, I know, you can't have both. But I know there are a few out there that have had good experience with less than expensive wire. I up'd my amps in the car from 2 to 3 and need to go to 2 gauge, currently running 6 gauge. I need about 12 feet of red and about 6 feet of black in 6 or 8 gauge. Any recomendations out there for a dutchman? Worst case I can run my 6 gauge red, sheeth it with black and use that for the ground. But I still need power cable.

Thanks,

Lance

Good cheap wire: http://www.knukonceptz.com/

Thanks!

I use MKEM which is used in basic AC electrical installations. its flexible enough if you stick to the thinner end of the range.
I use 10 square-mm MKEM (about 7gauge) for my amps and its very cheap about 2euros/m
If you need thicker stuff, look for welding cable. Its just as good as "HIFI" cable but half the price.

Welding cable. Nice, I like it.

Hi Lance, how much are you looking to spend?

say if you do decide on running @ 2 gauge power wire and you find a situation where you need a similar size ground like for a 'grounding block','big capacitor', or extra battery. you could then double up the 6 gauge wire, and the gauge size would effectively become a 3 gauge size wire. that's one size larger than 4 gauge and one size smaller than 2 gauge, the only thing to do when doubling the wire is to make sure both wires are exactly the same length and that's it.

Thanks guys. I am running a disto block at the amps so the 2 gauge would run from the bat. to the disto block (12 to 15 ft.). The block is fused. I am then running short 6 or 8 gauge from the block to the amps. The grounds should be the same as the power and they are short runs. I am running independent grounds from each amp, no blocks on the neg. side. So it should be pretty straight forward.

As far as how much I want to spend I don't know. I was thinking in the buck or two a foot range, no more. I need around 12 to 15 feet of power. The welding cable interests me. I was thinking of checking the local welding store to see what they have.

The Golden One wrote:you could then double up the 6 gauge wire, and the gauge size would effectively become a 3 gauge size wire.

no, the numbers dont quite convert like that

6awg wire is 1/6 of an inch tall.
so .166666667(squared) * pi (* 2 for 2 6awg wires) = .174444445 inches^2 of wire area

3awg is 1/3

so .3333(squared) * pi = .348819115 inches^2 of area

so 1 3awg would have almost 2 times more wire area then 2 6awg wires (which doesn't really mean twice the power handling since more currant travels on the surface of wires, but still substantially more then 2 6awg wires)

also I do not think welding wire is ofc, so it tends to corrode faster then ofc wire. If this is a temp thing that you just do not want to spend money on then its fine but otherwise I would get some real wire meant for car use. I bought a set of 4 awg jumper cables to put a cheap amp in a buddies car as they were only $15 and i a small truck that he was not keeping long. 3 weeks later I was amazed how much corrosion there was on the wires, I would never do it in my own car by any means.

Good to know. There was a link earlier that looked like they had reasonably priced wire. I will probably go that route unless someone has some 2 gauge lying around they would like to sell.

thanks,

L

that knuknoceptz is my favorite place to buy wire. great deals. some of their wire is copper clad aluminum (CCA), and some is real copper. be sure of which you order. either could be fine. just be aware CCA has about 80% of the currant capacity as copper

Good to know about the 80 percent. I will just drop to 1 gauge, I need 2 but they don't offer it anyway. 1 should be plenty for what I want to do.