pwr dist. block + carputer + amp = safe?

**thrice** · 04-08-2005, 02:12 PM

i have a 4 awg power wire going from my battery to my sub's 600 watt subwoofer. now that i have installed a screen in lieu of a HU, i bought a 350 watt 4 channel amp to power my door speakers. i figured that since i have multiple things to power now (the aforementioned 4ch amp, carputer) a 4awg to four 8awg power distribution block wouldn't be a bad idea. is there something unsafe with that?

also, how bad would it be to hook up not only the 4ch amp and the camputer to the block, but also the 600 watt sub amp? what i'm mainly concerned about is the possibility of there being something inherently wrong/unsafe with doing it that way. that would probably be 1100 watts max being pulled from that 4awg source wire....even though i seriously doubt i'd ever havem y music on loud enough to use that much power, but i'd rather be safe than sorry. what if i were to use a capacitor? would that help?

i don't mean to seem lazy, but i'd rather not drill another hole in the firewall and spend more money on wires if i don't have to. sorry if the questions are a bit noobish, but when it comes to power stuff, i am a bit of one.

**NeoMax** · 04-08-2005, 02:18 PM

x2 here! I'm gonna have 2 amps and my carputer, with 4g wire and disto block as well. Anyone see anything unsafe here? so long as its grounded and fused properly it should be ok, right?

Originally Posted by thrice

i don't mean to seem lazy, but i'd rather not drill another hole in the firewall and spend more money on wires if i don't have to. sorry if the questions are a bit noobish, but when it comes to power stuff, i am a bit of one.

wire though is wire. 4g wire can carry max 83amps which is a lot. we should be fine

**CavityCr33p** · 04-08-2005, 02:36 PM

As far as using distribution blocks, I think thats the general idea around here. Atleast thats what I have been told by everybody.

So, its safe to use the dist. block, as far as the other stuff, not sure.

**thrice** · 04-08-2005, 03:57 PM

ok great. i was just worried that i'd be stressing that 4 awg wire too much and have random computer shutdowns or something like that. one more concern - is the fuse that i have hooked up to the 4 awg wire going to be safe for the computer too? i'm just worried that since it's made for car audio and not a computer that the tolerance of the fuse might be too high for it to be safe for a computer.

**rubicon** · 04-08-2005, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by thrice

one more concern - is the fuse that i have hooked up to the 4 awg wire going to be safe for the computer too? i'm just worried that since it's made for car audio and not a computer that the tolerance of the fuse might be too high for it to be safe for a computer.

Fuses are fuses. The only differences (not taking into account thermal fuses, etc.) are what they're made of (glass/ceramic, blade, etc.) and whether they're "fast" or "slow" blow - you don't want to use "slow-blow" fuses. Use a fuse thats amp rated just higher than your load will be drawing.

You might also want to

for "fuse" and "fire" to see some other comments on the subject.

**koolaidkitten** · 04-09-2005, 01:18 AM

Just to be safe I ran my 800watt amp on a dual 4gauge wire seperate from my computer/componet speaker amp which is on a 4guage wire w/distro block.

I guess its not totally necesary, but I like to play it safe.

I pesonaly like to use a inline fuse of the same capacity as whatever fuse is on the appliance. On my computer/amp line the amp has a 25 fuse and the computer's PSU *opus* has a 15 fuse so the inline fuse for them is 40.

**sansoo24** · 04-09-2005, 03:18 AM

Stinger audio has there 4 gauge power wire rated at handling a max of 1400 watts. So if you are only using 1100 watts total you will be just fine. And its always a good idea to fuse in line between battery and distro block. I like to use distro blocks that have fuses on them as well. Rather blow a **** load of fuses than an amp or PC. But if you blow that many fuses you need to rethink what youre doing.

And if you were wondering if you have a distro block that is fused and has 4 outs you can put 4 different sized fuses in it. If you have a 350 watt amp it will take a different size fuse than the 600 watt sub amp.

Just remember to add up all your fuses in the Distro block and get an in line fuse the equals the same value of is slightly higher.

And if you are worried about the 4 gauge wire being to small you could go to a 2 gauge and it should fit without adding an extra hole. The amp kit i got from stinger used a gromet that would fit 4 or 2 gauge with it for the firewall.

hope something i said helps

**mushin** · 04-09-2005, 06:14 PM

I don't think anyone's mentioned it, so I will: If you use a distro block that steps down the size of the wire (as almost all of them do), you should either a) fuse each of the wires coming off the block at an amount safe for that wire, or b) the fuse at the battery for the whole thing should not let more current though then is safe for the smallest wire out of the block. Otherwise it will be a fire hazard if one of the smaller wires get shorted.

Also remember when you're talking about X watt amps or PSUs, you have to figure their inefficiencies when determine how much current they can draw - most amps are about 60% efficient, so a 300 watt amp is going to draw a peak 500 watts, or 42 amps.