getting cable from West Marine tonight for second battery

[mraz72]

Just wanted to make sure I am doing the right thing before shelling out $150.

I am adding a group 31 duracel ACM battery, the blue seas add a battery kit and a charger from chargerGuy (I don't have the charger yet).

My future plans, like next week, are to add a sub woofer and an amp, probably the jl m/600-6 or the m/700, haven't decided yet.

The diagram I am going off of lists 2 awg from the switch to the battery, and the battery to the bus bars. I am increasing that to 1 awg.

The diagram also calls for 6 awg from the acr to various places. I am upgrading that to 4 awg.

is that over/under kill?

 

[Julian]

Depends on the distance between those points. Many here espouse huge cables...but the wiring guides I see suggest your sizes are WAY overkill...

I think I went with 6AWG when I put in my amp...it is good for 0-6feet up to 50 amps! Which to me seemed like massive overkill!

 

[Mainah]

@Julian posted a great rule of thumb chart that plays it a bit safe due to different wire types and manufactures). In your case going too small or with poor quality wire/terminations is the only place to go wrong. Those Jl amps can draw up to 50 amps by themselves. I have never seen 1 awg personally. A high strand count of OFC individually tinned strands in 4awg will do it for a run of less than 6 feet and hold up very well over time in a marine enviorment. If 1 or 2 awg is what you can get your hands on locally and it is individually tinned copper stands I would go with that. Just do not use CCA type wire.

Use tinned copper terminations/lugs and be fussy with with the crimmping. A center compresion crimp will hold better than a standard round compression crimp and creates direct contact from the lug further into the wire slight reducing resistance (being real picky here but since you are at it why not?) Marine heat shink tubing is a good idea as well.

 

[mraz72]

Thanks guys, I've seen the above chart, I guess I wasn't sure how many amps the amp was running, or how many amps go from the battery to the switch, so the chart was tough for me to get a wire size from.

The West Marine around the corner has marine wire by the foot, the 1 awg is $6 a foot and the lugs are something like 6-7 a pair (which is high priced compared to online)

They have a station where I crimp the lugs using their crimper, it appears to be a center crimper, meaning it doesn't use dies to crimp, just crushed the center.

I'll definitely use heat shrink

here is the 1 awg cable

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ancor--battery-cable-1-gauge-by-the-foot--P0233692

 

[Mainah]

Yes that is the right stuff. There are some out that are just a wee bit better but not enough to hold up an install. The price is high but if you don't have the tools to work with this gauge then take advantage of not having to buy them and save the money that way. Also having the materials when you have the time is valuable as well. Again 2-4 awg should do it but if the price difference is not huge then you can rest even easier with 1 AWG.

 

[mraz72]

I'll let you guys know how it goes

 

[Scottintexas]

West Marine is always going to be one of the more expensive places but be careful about buying wire on-line unless you know the seller and material,
see this post from our stereo FAQ about bad wire,
https://jetboaters.net/threads/do-not-use-cca-wire-in-your-boat-when-im-wrong-i-say-im-wrong.6804/

 

[msavold]

From a recommendation somewhere on here, I used these guys for my dual battery and plan on using them when I get around to installing the amp that's sitting on my workbench:
https://tinnedmarinewire.com/wire/
Really fast shipping and well done wires, to the lengths I specified.

 

[mraz72]

Don't ask me how, but I mess that one up
My original intent was to get
4 - 1 awg cables
2 - 4 awg cables

What I ended up with

4 - 4 awg cables
2 - 6 awg cables

The guy that was helping me gave me two 2 awg and then 2 4awg cables. I started crimping and noticed the difference, for whatever reason, I went back and asked for two more 4awg, not 2 awg, brain lapse

So my question is, will 4 awg wire (3 foot runs) be ok from my battery to my add a battery kit? I believe so, because looking at this post
https://jetboaters.net/threads/anot...-dual-battery-upgrade-w-pics.5354/#post-91862

he used 4 awg for runs to the battery and I believe he is still alive, so all is good!

Let me know if you have any opinions.....

 

[mark_m]

I used 4ga tinned marine wire to from batteries to bus bar (neg) and switch (pos) no issues.

 

[mraz72]

See, you didn't burn down..... yet

 

[2nazt]

You should be ok as its in the 100Amp area. Just depends on what the stereo pulls and what else you plan on in the future.

 

[mark_m]

You should be ok as its in the 100Amp area. Just depends on what the stereo pulls and what else you plan on in the future.

I am running a single 800/8 which is fused at 80amps to give some buffer. You're fine for future with single amp with that ga.