Heres the situation: I am putting 2 amps in the front of my boat (mtx801d and mtx 432) but the battery, which I am told is the best place to ground, is all the way in the back.(approx. 20ft run.) Question is...would it work if I used an optima deep cycle battery standing alone as the ground. It wouldnt be connected to the charging system of the boat at all. It would just be sitting near the amps out of sight. If this would work as a good ground about how often would I need to recharge the optima? Thanks for the help guys!

No good. Run a 2 guage from the battery location up to your amps or second battery and isolate the second battery from your system when motor is not running but will charge when it is running. You will soon learn that the amps and speakers etc. is the cheaper part of setting up your boats stereo, The wiring gets expensive to do right but well worth it when done.

Does anyone know a good place to get Automotive Fuse panels from (spade style fuses)? I want to add a second panel to my boat and would like to stick with the same fuse style.

A second battery is good, but you want to be able to keep it charged. You can have custom cables made at most places that do auto electric. I have a rule battery switch in mine and can isolate 1 / 2 / ALL / or Off. I can listen to tunes all day ( I have 2 amps as well) with no problems... Good luck. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by kirk on July 05, 2003)