he is running 8awg back frm the batt...you are running 4 awg from the batt to the cap. it makes a huge difference

 

First: PPI= Precision Power Industries. It is a good amp.

Second: The "gain" control on an amp is NOT a volume control. It is designed to adjust to match the power of the inputs prior to clipping. In other words, if your HU puts out 3V thru the RCA's you may have the gain up to 1/2 way. If your HU puts out 8V's, your gain should be considerably lower and therefor net a cleaner sound. The higher the gain is turned up, the dirtier the sound because you are introducing noise into the sound. We could go much deeper about matching the gains to the inputs, but I'm don't wanna confuse anyone. In a nutshell, it is NOT a volume control. It is supposed to be set at the lowest possible setting that will not make the sound spike as you turn up the volume on the HU. It should be smooth.

Third: Always use the biggest cable possible of the best quality possible. Too much is never enough in this case. At worst, you'll waste a little money because you went into overkill. That's still not bad though. For the system in question, I would suggest at least 4ga and preferably 2 ga. 2 ga. should be plenty.

Fourth: The cap should be ground by itself, and the amp should be ground by itself. Do NOT ground them thru each other or with each other. It does make a difference.

Fifth: The amount of amps any system draws is based on lots of factors. How the amp is wired to the spkrs (impedence), What kind of wiring (too little hurts here), How hard are you driving the amp (wiring of the spkrs and how high the gain is) will all change the way the amp draws current. There is no way that some of you guys are drawing 130+amps from your system. If you were, you would kill the car on the spot if you didn't have a high output alternator installed (200amps or better). Most single amps will draw about 20-30 amps max if ran correctly. Keep in mind that you should have an inline fuse. What amp rating is it? I bet it's not 150 amps though. Think about it.

 

I like jmecbr900 he said mostly the same things I did...just more technically...My pioneer premier deck when I had the PPI 1000w had a 4v output and I was a bit under half...maybe 1/3

 

k.

Yea, but I don't have a cap at all

lol, nice...

Good point.

 

good info. so ground the cap and the amp to the same place on the car chasis? so if what you were saying is true then i would only need 4 guage for now, but with a jl 1000/1 amp, you would probably need a 2 guage? by the way why is 2 guage so hard to find, crutchfield doesnt even carry one..>

 

Just as a follow-up to amp draw:

Most Lexi have 80-110amp alternators. It is impossible to draw 130 amps on a 110 amp alternator. It is also impossible to draw even 100 amps while the car is running because the second you press the brakes or turn on the headlights, you will kill the car since it doesn't have enough current to do everything at once. Get it?

Most amps have a max amp rating in their specs. This is a rating for amperage at wide-open volume, gains up, and wired at the amps lowest impedence (probably around 2ohms). A high current amp, like the Orion HCCA series amps, that can go to ultra low impedence (.5 ohms) put out a ton of power but also draw a ton too. A single Orion HCCA amp wired to a pair of DVC subs can pull as much as 80 amps by itself. This is an extreme example of course. Keep in mind that as you make the amp work harder, the more power it needs.

 

NO!! Ground the cap somewhere and ground the amp somewhere else too. The point was to ground them individually, NOT together.

Your cap should be wired like this:

+ from batt to + cap
- from cap to ground
+from cap to + of amp
- from amp to ground

Use the biggest gauge wire you can afford. You should be able to go to any local stereo shop and buy any size wire you need. You may wanna call around to be sure and not waste your time. Remember that the size of the wire is due to 2 things: distance to travel and amount of power needed. The further away you have to go, the bigger the wire needs to be to have a good net result. Think of it like a garden hose. At the spigot you have a lot of water pressure. If you add 5 50ft sections, Pressure will be low at the end of the line. If you use a single 50 ft section, you will have more pressure than the 5 50ft section example. Get it?

So to answer your question directly, yes a 4 gauge will probably work fine, but a 2 gauge will work better. It all depends on what you can get your hands on.

BTW, just for reference, I have paid as much as $10/ft for big gauge wire.