I have a 330 Sun Sport that has the upgraded sound system from the factory that included two amplifiers, one for the cabin and one for the cockpit\. I'm upgrading the sound system and adding two tower speakers to the radar arch. To do this I'm upgrading one of the amplifiers to a 4 channel amp to accommodate the new channels. Can I use the same power cables going into the old amp for my new amp? I'd really prefer not to have to run new ones. My only concern is the new amp is 600w and the factory amp was 250w but I'm not sure if they sized the power cables so precisely for this to matter.
Amp Upgrade Question
- Thread starter f02kbf
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twarble
Member
rather than looking at the power of the amp, you really need to know the current draw. if the power ratings are legit, and sometimes marketing wins out, you could do 600w/12v = 50 amps. then you look at how long the cable run is to determine what gauge wire you need. do a google for "wiring gauge chart" and you'll see the amps on one side and the run length on the other...line up your numbers, and you'll see what gauge you need to support it.
hope this helps,
todd
hope this helps,
todd
Formula seems to do a good job with wiring infrastructure. I would still check and confirm but fwiw my 260 came from the factory with a 1/0 conductors running up to the helm landing on a buss bar with 3/8? terminal posts. This feeds the helm breaker panel. You probably won?t want to power an amp off that panel tho. When I installed my JL 900 MDH amp per the recommendation It called for 4 ga conductors. I branched off the main 1/0 post with a short 12? of 4 ga to a 60A fuse then 4 ga to the amp. This location seemed to be ideal for keeping the power conductors short as well as good heat dissipation on the amp.
I ended up using the existing wiring. Formula shared a diagram showing that it?s only wired 2 feet from the factory amp location to the breaker panel. I traced it back to confirm. The wiring was 8g or 10g and appears to be 1/0 from the breakers back to the batteries. The only downside is that it?s only a 20amp breaker from the factory. I haven?t had any issues so far and feel safe that the lower amperage breaker would protect against any issues with the smaller wiring.