From 4 Guage to 8 Guage Power Wire

[sungwei 10+ year member]

My wiring kit didn't come with a long enough 4 gauge power wire so my friend and I put it in a 4 gauge to 8 gauge distribution block and used the 8 gauge wire to hook up to amp. What difference would it make if the whole power wire was 4 guage? Any foreseeable problems?

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[svtlightning93 10+ year member]

Depends on what size amp you are running. The longer the distance the bigger the wire needs to be. If your running an amp at 350 watts or less , 8 gauge should be fine. Most people run 4 gauge to a distribution block and then smaller to there amp, in case they add another amp they can just run another small wire to the block.

 

[sungwei 10+ year member]

It'll be pushing around 200-300 watts RMS but I doubt I'll even be using that much power. I did exactly what you described. The bulk of the length is 4 gauge. About 14 feet 4 gauge. Then about 3 feet 8 guage.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

the 14' of 4 ga is about 3x as resistive as the 8 ga.

You're fine.

Actually - with that amount of power 8 ga all the way would get the job done. Probably even 10.

 

[cdr 10+ year member]

IMO running 4GA just leaves so many doors open for you down the road so its a good think even if you arent using all that it can provide

 

[monte_carlo97 10+ year member]

Yea i am with cdr. Always run bigger wire than you need. Because the majority of people run the min for their current system and decide to go bigger and better. Therefore having to run bigger wire to handle their new system. It definately leaves doors open. Never know when you might need it.