Liked your thread on the Big 3 Viking. But I have some questions I hope you can answer. What is the most amps a good 4 awg wire can handle without choking the amp for current?? Also what is more detrimental to battery life, age or usage. My Sable is a 2001 but only has 12000 miles on it, im going to install the system in it soon and just wondering if the stock original batt is going to like that or not since its already 6 years old but has little usage. The 3rd queation is about the 3db increase when doubling power, im going to be going from a Crossfire CFA 1000D (1000 watts @ 1 ohm) to a Hifonics BX 2200D (2200watts @ 1 Ohm) just wondering since i have 2 woofers and both will see about doulble the power will i see a 6db increase or can I not expect much from the increase in power? Thanks for any help!!
4 awg. wire is good for about 100 amps of current draw...some will say more, others less. But one thing you need to be aware of is the fact that the longer the run of the wire, the less current it is capable of handling.....even 4 awg at a twenty foot run will drop your voltage from 12 volts down to about 11 volts at 100 amps of current draw....But an amp is NOT a constant current draw, it varies quite a bit....4 awg on that crossfire amp is OK. doubleing the power with a hifonics, might look at running 1/0 awg, that would pretty much take care of any issues and minimize voltage drop, And amps LIKE voltage as much s current!!!! Makes it easier for the power supply to do its job.... As far as battery life goes, usage and age are both detrimental to lthe life of it. Running a battery in a constant state of discharge, deep discharges (letting it die all the time), not using distilled water in it, the vibtrations and bumps it deals with on a daily basis, overcharging it, letting a battery sit unused for a long time, are some of the things that a battery DOES NOT like!!!!! Pretty much whatever you do to a battery, is gunna take life out of it, whether it just sits, the car is driven normally, whatever!!! Its a no win situation really!!!!! The best we can do is to keep it in a state where it is happy till it dies really. A 6 year old battery is a litttle dated, so if you can afford it, go ahead and replace it. Theory states that every time power is doubled, you get a net gain of 3 dB. This theory is pretty much true. I have proven it with a blast mic several times. But, I have also seen gains as high as 5 and 6 dB....this prabably is due to the fact that the "new" amps were of higher quality than what was in the car. You are doubling power, not speaker area, so the gain will be about 3 dB, maybe a little more if your real lucky! But another neat thing about doubling power is this, you get that much more dynamic range out of a system!! so at lower volumes, when a transient peak hits, the amp will more easily reproduce it without puking its guts out!
