Looking for some Power Wire Gauge advice

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Bullet connectors? I hate those, had lots of problems with them. I only use solder, wire nuts, maybe spade and barrel and those only with a good crimper that puts the hole in them plus you have to tighten them to connect well usually. Never had a problem with any of those failing, of course my cars don't get wet inside and I don't leave the stuff in there for a lot of years....I swap cars/equipment too fast. I don't make any connections near/on the floor either, unless I have to and then tape them up or something.

Yeah oxygen free copper, it turns green after a while. I buy a lot of lamp cord, it is so close to speaker wire and works fine, often much cheaper if you get it in bulk. Just bought a spool at a close out store of nice speaker wire so I'm set for a while. Bought schoche RCAs for <$4 there not too bad.
 
People hate wire nuts, but they work in a house on 110v for 50+ years and I have never had one fail me in a car. I often use them when testing or swapping amps for example. I've had bullets go bad many times, they get loose or corrode inside...maybe its just me. Most of my car is crimped, and 98% is just ends going on a terminal. When I installed for other people I always soldered. For my junk wire nuts were second choice, I consider them better than any crimp connector. They are ugly, slow, and mess up the wire ends...but they connect wires well. If it is something I have to take apart, I might use spades or I buy a trailer plug (great on powered sub tubes). But most of the time I don't make removable connections. It is solder the right way, or crimp the fast way. And I only use a crimper that puts the hole in it, and only barrel or a terminal I have to use to fit the equipment. I never have used those cheap crimp things that look like wire nuts. If I can pull it off the wire with my hands, I have never used it. Also terminal connectors that screw the wire down, they work well but I rarely need them. What I hate most is those things that clip onto an existing wire, they are junk.
 
jol50 said:
People hate wire nuts, but they work in a house on 110v for 50+ years and I have never had one fail me in a car. I often use them when testing or swapping amps for example. I've had bullets go bad many times, they get loose or corrode inside...maybe its just me. Most of my car is crimped, and 98% is just ends going on a terminal. When I installed for other people I always soldered. For my junk wire nuts were second choice, I consider them better than any crimp connector. They are ugly, slow, and mess up the wire ends...but they connect wires well. If it is something I have to take apart, I might use spades or I buy a trailer plug (great on powered sub tubes). But most of the time I don't make removable connections. It is solder the right way, or crimp the fast way. And I only use a crimper that puts the hole in it, and only barrel or a terminal I have to use to fit the equipment. I never have used those cheap crimp things that look like wire nuts. If I can pull it off the wire with my hands, I have never used it. Also terminal connectors that screw the wire down, they work well but I rarely need them. What I hate most is those things that clip onto an existing wire, they are junk.

wire nuts ! well probably not the best thing to use but i am not saying it is wrong i have used them on my cars from time to time never on some one else's car though like you said for testing and temp use cant beat them. if you tin the wires first and use some electrical tape on them to ensure they wont come loose they work fine .and as for the things that clip onto an existing wire those are wire taps and they have there uses like trailer plugs ,fog lights and things like that but the trick is with them is to fill them with EJC, bulb grease, or some type of dielectric grease or get them with it all ready in them .they work great for that. and with the crimp connectors if a good calibrated crimp tool is not an option you can always remove the colored insulator then crimp the connector with what you have then solder the joint and cover it with heat shrink but the bottom line is now matter how it is done or what you use it is not right nor wrong as long as it is a good connection and i suites your needs.
 
Well, I've used the crimp bullets for my HU connections in the back cause they are fast and more insulated than the spades. I never had any issues what so ever with them for the past 6 years I have used them. I tried the spades back in the day and they kept sliding off and not having a good tight connection. That's just me though and everyone is different...

Well, today I went to try and connect the capacitor and all but found out it's not going to fit under the seat cause it was too tall and the seat won't slide over it and I had no where close to put it at so I had to move everything back to the trunk area. That being said, I didn't have enough power wire to go from the seat to the trunk so I had to drive down to the audio store and grab about 12ft of power wire so I could have some extra for the ground for the cap. I then had to go back by my house and grab my old Stinger distr block so I could go from the seat to the trunk. Wasted about a hour or so doing all that so that set me back some time for what I wanted to do. Anyways, came back and screwed down the 2 amps on the box, stuck the capacitor in the middle of both amps, mounted the fuse distr blick under the 2nd amp. Looked very nice and clean :cool: Sanded away paint on the metal near the fold down seats (It's part of the trunk and car chassis, not part of the seat LOL) and grounded both the bass amp and the capacitor to the same spot. Will do the same with the 2nd amp when I hook that up in about 2 days. Couldn't do it today. I went and ran some wires under the carpet and all to complete the install. Sometimes things don't work out like you think they would. I'll just have to run the RCA's and speaker wires and that's all I really need to do for the highs amp. Atleast I have the capacitor working and all. Made a little bit of difference in the bass as it's a little cleaner and a bit harder but the main reason for it for me is to help out my electrical system so we'll see. Only took me about 3 hours to do the install and move everything back after I got back from the store. Only thing I REALLY hate about having the amps in the back is you can't make any quick changes on the gain, frequency, or bass eq settings on the amp but it's where I want it right now anyways.

I just have to wait for UPS tomorrow for the delivery of the punch amp and will have to see what the certificate says on that and decide if I'll keep it or not. Was hoping that it wouldn't be too overrated in it's RMS power but I have seen a couple that have 125watts more power than what it's rated at. I wanted to try and keep it low to try and keep the pressure of of my electrical system and if it's like 425watts that's way over kill. It might help me to keep the volume down lower though and that could help a lot I guess but we'll see.

So installation 1 of 2 is finished :cool:
 
jol50 said:
People hate wire nuts, but they work in a house on 110v for 50+ years and I have never had one fail me in a car. I often use them when testing or swapping amps for example. I've had bullets go bad many times, they get loose or corrode inside...maybe its just me. Most of my car is crimped, and 98% is just ends going on a terminal. When I installed for other people I always soldered. For my junk wire nuts were second choice, I consider them better than any crimp connector. They are ugly, slow, and mess up the wire ends...but they connect wires well. If it is something I have to take apart, I might use spades or I buy a trailer plug (great on powered sub tubes). But most of the time I don't make removable connections. It is solder the right way, or crimp the fast way. And I only use a crimper that puts the hole in it, and only barrel or a terminal I have to use to fit the equipment. I never have used those cheap crimp things that look like wire nuts. If I can pull it off the wire with my hands, I have never used it. Also terminal connectors that screw the wire down, they work well but I rarely need them. What I hate most is those things that clip onto an existing wire, they are junk.


50 years in a house never subject to movement and vibrations is a lot different from a car environment
 
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