How long is your ground cable from amp?

The battery on my boat is located in the rear, but I want to put the amp in front of the drivers seat. This would make the ground cable 10-15 feet long. I know with car stereos you want this to be as short as possible, so I am wandering if this will be a problem. The only other thing I thought of was to get a seperate battery to place near the amp and just use the negative terminal for ground, while using the other battery's positive. Thanks in advance!

uh....i'm no electrician, but i don't think you can do that. anyone back me up with some technical mumbo jumbo?

why don't you install a second battery just for running the stereo? That way you don't have to worry about draining your starting battery.

I have my battery in the back and have both my amps in the front. I ran the negative and positive both to the front. I used 4 gauge wire for both and then a distribution block to run 8 gauge to the amps. I have had this setup for two years with no problems. There are a few guys on this board that are pretty good with stereos and can probably tell you for sure one way or the other, but mine works ok.

Nice boat Stan...that is exactly what I have. Have you had any problems with extra load of the amps on your battery/electrical system?

aprox 10-12 feet.

If you use good hefty wire you should be just fine.

i ran an 8 guage power and ground to each of my amps but you could just as eaasily run one 4 guage and use it as a ground for a few amps.

I have 3 batteries in the back of my boat and the amps are up front. There is almost 20 feet of wire and we have 2 runs of it, but I am using 0 gauge for this to the distribution blocks and 4 gauge to the amps. The longer the run, the bigger the wire you want to go.

If you can do Stan's set up, you will save some money. 0 gauge is expensive!

Matt,
The amps drain the battery down pretty fast if the engine isn't running. I haven't had too many problems when I am running. If I really crank it sometimes it is slow to start. I usually don't have it too loud or I get complaints. I was considering adding another battery, but it is a pain cause there isn't really a good spot to put it. Maybe I will look further into it this year. I usually keep a jump start unit in the boat just in case I kill the battery. I have a lot of other things running as well heater, shower, plus I have a motor on my boat lift that uses my battery.
How long have you had your tristar? This will be my third season with it. I like it for the most part other than it is a little tight with all of the gear and sacs. Let me know if you have any questions on the boat, I have done pretty many things to mine and have a pretty good knowledge of it.

One batery for ground and 1 for the positiv is not working!! You'll need a close loop for the current. So use the same batery poles!
If you going with a long wire, use a good quality (=$$$$) one! Calculate the amps (watts/12V) going in the amplifier and buy a wire thick enough for the amps.

Good luck with it.

I have the same setup as Stan - 4 gauge from the battery up to distribution blocks, then 8 gauge to the amps. Works great but I think the wiring and distribution blocks and fuses ended up running me about $120 total.

After speaking to an installer, he said use AT LEAST the same guage wiring as is required for the power supply, and don't skimp on qaulity. So I used 10 guage (only 200 watt amp) power and ground, ran 14 feet... but if you are going to run more than one amp, go for the power distribution set up... with that you will always have room to expand.

He suggested a separate ground wire to battery for every amp, but if you go with 4 or 0 guage and a distribution block, you should be fine.

(Message edited by sonicr1 on February 09, 2004)

Don't forget to fuse the power line less than 12" from the battery to protect it in case of a short. Fuses on equipment protect the equipment, not the battery.

Yep, fuse in the back, and step up one gauge size in thickness from what the amp requests. Shouldn't be a problem.