2 amps one power wire?

[love the general]

hi i'll probably get flamed for this being a stupid question but i was wondering if i could run 2 amps with only the one power wire. like bridge it from the first amp to the second with a fuse in between or would the amps not get enough power this way.

thanks for any help because i'm trying to avoid running a second power wire cos i'm lazy haha thanks

[bezz]

Use a distribution block to safely split your power wire into two to run to multiple amps. Just make sure your wiring is thick enough to be able to handle the increased current.

[Denno]

Yeah just like bezz said, make sure you have a thicker cable going into the distro block. So if you require 8 gauge for the amps, then use 4 gauge from the battery to the distro block, with fuses on all 3 wires to be 100% safe. If you're requiring 4 gauge to the amps then use 2 or 0 gauge to the distro block.

Your last line says you dont wanna run a second power wire, so I'm guessing you've already got one there? Which means it the thickness for one amp? If you want to run two amps you'll have to upgrade this power wire. Depending of course on what the amp requires, which it should be said in it's book, and what you already have there. If the power wire you have going from the battery to the first amp is the size that the amp's book suggests, then I'd suggest you upgrade the wire to a thicker one. Otherwise the fuse at the battery might just continually blow..

[love the general]

ok thanks mate yeah i have a 6 gauge power wire coming from the battery going to a 600watt monoblock and i would like to add a 300watt 2 channel amp. would 6 gauge be heavy enough or will i have to run a bigger wire right through

[holdenboy]

6awg? Thats not very common. Are you sure its not 8awg or 4awg?

If it is indeed 6awg then that should be sufficent to run both amps. But do as bezz suggested and get yourself a distribution block (1x4 to 2x8 gauge). Mount the D.B. as close as you can between the two amps.

[Denno]

6awg? Thats not very common.

That's what I was thinking lol.

The best way to work out what gauge wire you'll need from the battery, add up the values of all of the fuses in your amps. So if one amp is fused at 30A and the other is fused at 50A, then the wire going from the battery to the distro block will need to be able to handle 80A minimum.

Check this website out:
WIRE

Has lots of info about current ratings for wire gauges, calculators and tables. You'll have to take into account the distance of wire as to how much current it can handle too.

Hope that helps .

[love the general]

hi thanks for the help both amps have 25 amp fuses in them. The in line fuse that came with the wiring kit is 60amps so i'm guessing its heavy enough. thanks for the help

[Denno]

Yeah sounds like it. I think something that you might like to do is to get an in line fuse which is less that the two amps' fuses added together. That might sound like I'm contradicting myself, but what I said above is that the wire has to be able to handle (in your case) 50A minimum. I'm not sure if you can get a fuse that is only a little bit smaller than that. This will mean that if a problem does arise in your circuit, the inline fuse will blow before the amps fuses, and it will therefore save any damage that may occur to your amp/s. But that's up to you. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm leading you the wrong way here.

Hope that helps

Denno

[love the general]

oh righto thanks mate been a great help. Will probably do it this weekend and let you know how i go

[holdenboy]

Yeah a little confused there Denno

An amplifier will only blow its own fuse if it faulty, so this means it wont be drawing that amount of current under normal use. I'd say both amps together would pull under 40A combined.

Anyways yep even if its 8awg it will still handle 40A without a drama. Go for it.