im hooking up a system in my truck..im doing it the redneck way they way i have watched my dad do it many of many of times. im using jumper cable wire!! yes jumper cable wire, its plenty of juice the perfect size! but im not sure if he ever used a fuse link.do you have too? what if i dont use one? if so where is the cheapest place to get it?what size fuse is it?
you dont have to have a fuse on your power cord but if you dont yo could end up with frying your amp if you touch the ground and power wire together so if you can put one on i dont right now
yes, 2. I had a/c work done and when I got the truck back no radio.
so in theory you want to make sure the wire you are using can handle the the same amount of amperage as the amp or more
Any wire that you connect to your battery should have a fuse, located as close to the battery terminal as possible. Without a fuse, a short circuit on the wire could result in a fire. Most car audio stores should have fuses and fuse holders available. The size of the fuse depends on the size of the wire. An 8-gauge wire can be fused up to 50 amps; if your wire is 4-gauge, then you can go up to 120 amps or so.
Jumper cable wire, in fact any wire of the appropriate AWG (or bigger), is perfectly adequate as far as the current carrying capacity is concerned. One problem with using such wire is that the individual strands are much thicker resulting in the overall cable being much stiffer and harder to pull and bend into place for a typical installation. You really need a fuse. It's purpose is to protect the vehicle electrical system (and the vehicle itself) if there is a short in the connected equipment or wiring. Most auto parts stores will have fuse holders and fuses. Likewise car audio shops. Even WalMart. The main fuse size is usually specified by the manufacturer. If not, look on the amp itself. For example, the Pioneer GM-D8500M Class D monoblock amp has a pair of 30A onboard fuses. In this case your main fuse should be at least 60A. If the 60A fuse blows under normal operation, you would then go up 1 size to an 80A. This allows the amp to draw sufficient current, yet protects the vehicle in case of a short.
