How to Choose Car Amp Wiring Kit?
Who does not love the best music quality while driving? Everyone wants to enjoy listening to their favorite tracks during their drive. Because they cannot bear a boring drive without music. So, people install a good set of speakers and amplifiers in their car to enjoy high-quality music.
In this article, our editors have explained the best methods that will help you choose the best car amp wiring kit.
You should choose a high-quality Car Amp Wiring Kit. It is recommended to consider following factors when selecting a Car Amplifier Kit:
- Fuse (compare Amp draw)
- Choosing your wire
- Use same power and ground wires
- Heat shrinks and Crimping lugs (different sizes)
- Signaling wires
Most people pay hundreds of dollars to buy a powerful amplifier and speakers to create a boosted bass in their car. Many people love to hear music in loud volume, so they spend their money on buying a powerful sound equalizer.
But most people make a mistake while installing their speakers and amplifier which is very common nowadays. Sometimes they do not listen to professionals and buy whatever they want to go to the technician to install that sound system in their car. Well, it is a wrong way to install a costly sound system.
How to Choose Car Amp Wiring Kit?
You may end up buying an amplifier that can give a limited power output but buy speakers that demand greater power from the amplifier or vice versa. Most people know that they have to pay attention to the compatibility factor of speakers and amplifiers.
But mostly, they do not realize that they have to buy an amplifier wiring kit that can support the maximum performance of the amplifier. Installing a wiring kit that cannot provide maximum output will result in the average quality of sound from the better sound setup.
Choose High-Quality Fuses for Car Amp Wiring Kit
Fuses are among the most important parts of an amplifier wiring kit, and they are always included in any good quality amp wiring kit. Fuses are used sto break the circuit if the power output goes beyond the limit. So, to save your amplifier from blowing up, fuses are necessary to include in the wiring of an amplifier.
Fuses are pre-included in a wiring kit. But when we buy a wiring kit package instead of separate necessary items, the fuses are included in the kit, and it is important to choose which fuse to select for your wiring.
Let us tell you with a brief explanation of how to select a fuse for your amplifier wiring. You may have seen a fuse or a set of fuses attached to your amplifier anywhere. If your amplifier has a fuse installed in it, that is probably installed to save your amplifier system from blowing up.
So, what you have to do is that, if there is only one fuse, see how much power it can support before blowing up. Let us suppose the amplifier has a fuse that can support up to 60-amps of power. That means the amplifier cannot draw more than 60-amps of power because the fuse will blow, and the circuit will break.
So, you will see that the wiring kit contains more than one fuse. You will go for a fuse that supports the lesser power. The kit may contain a 150-amps fuse and an 80-amps fuse, you will not select a 150-amp fuse because it will never blow. So, you will select an 80-amps fuse and will install it near the battery and not away from the battery.
What is the purpose of doing that? The amp draw from the battery is higher sometimes if it reaches the fuse of the amplifier it will blow a fuse and your amplifier will stop working. So, it is a good practice to blow a secondary fuse rather than blowing the amplifier fuse.
Choosing your wire for Car Amp
One of the most important things to do while choosing a wiring kit is that you must choose a perfect wire for your amplifier. Amplifier and speakers operate because they receive power from the wire, and if the wire is not able to transfer the power properly, the amplifier will not work efficiently.
The most important thing to know about a wire before selecting it for your amplifier is to check the thickness and capability of the wire. The wire thickness is measured in gauges. The smaller the gauge, the more is the thickness of the wire. Amplifier wires come in 16-gauge, 12-gauge, 8-gauge, 4-gauge, and 2-gauge.
16-gauge is not a thick wire, and it is a simple wire with less ability to transmit power. Most amplifiers require 8-gauge of wire to operate according to their needs. But you must go for a 4-gauge wire because it can support up to 175-amp of power which will give you scalability if you want to upgrade your amplifier in the future.
So, select a more powerful wire than you require. Now the question is how to check if the wire is thick enough to transmit the power. Most manufacturers cheap out when they try to sell the 4-gauge wire ata lesser price than the market. They create thicker insulation so that they do not have to put a thicker wire in it.
You can easily compare a costly wire with a cheaper wire by peeling the insulator and comparing the thickness by looking at them. So, do not buy any wire before confirming it, because you need better conductivity in your wiring system. The selected wire should be used for the direct connection with the battery.
Use the same power and ground wires
Most people cheap out when they buy a ground wire for their amplifier. Well, whenever you are installing an amplifier with a perfect gauge amp wiring, do not cheap out on the ground wires. Ground wires always have a special purpose in the circuit, and mostly they save you from a loss.
They are mostly used to save you from an electric shock and to oppose the flow of current whenever there is a short circuit. If you buy a cheaper wire to serve the purpose of grounding, it means that you do not even have a wire for the ground. Install the same wire for grounding that you installed for the main power from the battery.
Always follow these recommendations when choosing a car amp ki.
Heat shrinks and crimping lugs
This part is important, if you choosing a car amp kit, these are used in conjunction with each other. As you are designing a premium wiring structure for your amplifier, you need to include the heat shrinks and crimping lugs for a premium connection. The wiring lugs come in different sizes and materials.
Mostly, the wiring lugs come in silver material to be used as a terminal connection. If you buy a premium set of lugs that can support a higher amount of power, then it may come in a bigger size. Bigger size lugs have more ability to handle themselves.
When you attach the wire to the lugs, there is one more important thing to do before doing that. You must insulate the connection between wire and the crimping lugs. It will prevent the connection from getting in connection with any air or moist, and from rust.
How is a heat shrink applied to the crimping lug?
To apply the heat shrink insulator, you must pass the wire from the heat shrink and connect it to the crimping lugs. After doing so, set the heat shrink upon the connection that you made between the lug and the wire. Now, when you provide heat with a lighter to the insulator, it will shrink to the maximum and will serve as an insulator on the connection.
Signaling wires for Car Amp
To select a proper wiring kit, people always pay attention to the thickness of the main power wire and the connection between the woofer and the amplifier. Whereas, it is very important to select a good wire for media transfer between the main audio head and the amplifier.
They had already spent hundreds of dollars on buying premium quality woofers, amplifiers, and audio heads. So, they try to cheap out on basic items that they think are not necessary. Signaling wires are one of them. With only a basic sense of knowledge, people think that the wires from the audio head to the amplifier are only used for audio signals. They do not buy the best quality wire for that purpose.
People buy powerful wires for those sections of the wiring architecture where the amp needs to draw and provide power. When you are installing a normal subwoofer that does not need too much power to operate efficiently, then a normal signal wire is fine.
But when you are installing a higher-end amplifier and high-endwoofer and speakers, if you cheap out at the signaling wire, you will probably not get the best performance from that sound system. So, it is important to choose the best signaling wires for the best sound system that you are installing.
Buy a signaling wire that is well-shielded, and has a good conductor in it, because you need the best performance out of that amplifier on which you have spent so much money. It should be a directional wire between the head unit and the amplifier.
Team – Howstereo.com
10 Best Car Stereo Brands for 2022
Why is my car amplifier clipping?
How often you should replace car speakers?