I'm tired of blowing out fuses

overall? or just on one terminal? like 80a each? or in total? My expected total amps will about 200 (60a/60a/80a). will it burn up? The 60a is holding up fine ... but I mean it's by itself right now. I don't want a burnt engine

 

Orvac Electronics (there's one in Pasadena) or Electronic City in Burbank.

The shrink tubing is anywhere from $5 to $15 for a 3-foot length... the more expensive stuff is adhesive lined for weatherproofing (that's all I use on the motorcycle or under the hood).. but I haven't seen it in colors.

 

200a will smoke your alternator in short order. Even a 100a load will smoke the alternator sooner or later. The Tacoma charging system was simply not designed for that kind of load.

On conductors, you need to size your conductors to handle the intended load.
You need to size your fuses to protect the conductors.
You need an 80% safety factor at EACH level....
If you have a wire that can safely carry 100 amps, it need to be fused at no higher than 80 amps. You should never run a fuse at more than 80% of it's rated capacity, so the 80a fuse should never be subjected to a continuous load of more than 64 amps.
Transwiki is a good resource for how many amps a specific size conductor is rated for. http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/Wire-Gauge_Ampacity

Don't forget, the ground conductor is just as important as the supply cable. A 2ga supply cable with a 60a fuse will still result in smoke if you try to ground the system through a 10ga cable.

You can run parallel supply feeds to each individual amplifier, just make sure that the fuses are as close to the battery as possible, and that none of the fuses are large enough to violate the 80% rule on the conductor they protect.

You should NOT run a single 2ga conductor from the battery to the amp area, and then tap off multiple 60a branch circuits unless the 2ga conductor is also fused to no more than 100a at the battery.... but at that point, if the total load from the 60a branch circuits exceeds 100a, it's going to go.

A quick note on the Transwiki tables... they give both free-air and enclosed ratings for copper. For vehicle installations with underhood heat, I follow the "enclosed" column, but I don't stick to the 80% rule... I consider that safety factor built into the enclosed derating, so 2ga would be good for a 100a fuse, 80a continuous load.

 

You are planning on running 2400 watts? Is that peak or rms? My last set up was 2 L7 12's on a kicker 1500.1 birth sheet was 1610 watts rms and peaked out around 3000 I powered it through a 2ga wire with a 150a fuse it was one of the large flat blade type fuses and never had any problems out of it. What I was saying is if you are blowing fuses don't just keep upping the size that amp is 680 watts max shouldn't pull but about 56.6 amps figure 60 to be safe. If it blows a 60a fuse something is wrong (bad ground, wrong size wire for the load it sees etc) if you stick an 80 in its going to get hotter before it blows the fuse. More heat more chance of fire. Me I would look for a 65 amp fuse just to get a 9 amp cushion.

 

dude I live close to one (ONG have they gone through the names. Marvac, Orvac, what is now .. DuVac? UGH). been there though, got some of my 3 pole carlings from them (#smh not many employees in there know what they are doing/even selling for that matter). I have, but it's only online that I have seen them (picture as well as purchase).

going to have to do MAJOR HOMEWORK but good thing I'm getting direct answers (instead of searching around confusing myself and thus creating anger)

"On conductors, you need to size your conductors to handle the intended load.
You need to size your fuses to protect the conductors.
You need an 80% safety factor at EACH level....
If you have a wire that can safely carry 100 amps, it need to be fused at no higher than 80 amps. You should never run a fuse at more than 80% of it's rated capacity, so the 80a fuse should never be subjected to a continuous load of more than 64 amps.
Transwiki is a good resource for how many amps a specific size conductor is rated for. http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/Wire-Gauge_Ampacity

Don't forget, the ground conductor is just as important as the supply cable. A 2ga supply cable with a 60a fuse will still result in smoke if you try to ground the system through a 10ga cable.

You can run parallel supply feeds to each individual amplifier, just make sure that the fuses are as close to the battery as possible, and that none of the fuses are large enough to violate the 80% rule on the conductor they protect.

You should NOT run a single 2ga conductor from the battery to the amp area, and then tap off multiple 60a branch circuits unless the 2ga conductor is also fused to no more than 100a at the battery.... but at that point, if the total load from the 60a branch circuits exceeds 100a, it's going to go.

A quick note on the Transwiki tables... they give both free-air and enclosed ratings for copper. For vehicle installations with underhood heat, I follow the "enclosed" column, but I don't stick to the 80% rule... I consider that safety factor built into the enclosed derating, so 2ga would be good for a 100a fuse, 80a continuous load."

hopefully I can also find a hands on example (reading is fine for me, but physical stuff helps more - my brain sucks ). But I am somewhat understanding what you are saying. It's kind of like how you tune an amp, don't ever go full on the gain and other settings (my cousin always told me to set it at about 75% gain and then tune from h.u. if needed).

LMAO nah nothing like that. Only 2 amps and 2 air compressors for the air suspension. So it would go slot #1 - Hifonics amp (60), slot #2 - US Amp(60), slot #3 80a to 4g to junction to compressor relays.

 

I've never been to the Pasadena location. I generally shop at the one in Fullerton (the original location, it's as big as a market). I was buying some parts for work a couple of years ago and the manager told me about the one "closer to there"