Shop vs DIY Stereo Install

What’s all involved in making my own power and ground wires? I’m fairly proficient in soldering / sweating copper plumbing pipe and soldering connections. Do I need a special crimp tool or something?

 

I have two: harbor freight hydraulic crimped, and a hammer crimper. If you can get a coupon or good sale on the hydraulic, it’s nice to have if you ever plan to do more electrical work down the road. But the hammer crimp does just fine for making a power and ground.
You can sweat some solder down into the lug afterwards if you want, but it’s not entirely necessary.
There are several great YouTube videos

 

Here’s a good vid with some ideas. some may be overkill.

https://youtu.be/RWkhh0ceCiY?si=sLx-D0am7oMmCy3j

 

^some nit-picky things about that video:

he insists on a grommet through the firewall, i've never done that. the main wiring harness in all vehicles always has a massively over-sized rubber grommet already going through the firewall. there's always ample space on the sides of that grommet to cut an 'X' in it with a utility knife just smaller than the wire size, and slip the wire through-- it self-seals if cut right, and eliminates drilling and extra penetrations through the firewall.

alternately, if you pull up the carpet in the area near the amp install location, there's a ton of rubber plugs in the floor boards of most vehicles. many times one is nearby, and you can do the same 'X' cut pattern and pull the wire through the center to protect it from the sheet metal, and only need to zip tie the wire along the frame back to the battery, sometimes saving a few steps of tearing extra interior panels off.

and another thing he didn't address power-wise, it's not critical, but i always add a same-sized ground jumper as whatever i'm using for amp power wire, from the factory body ground point to the battery ground. the idea here is that i'm adding an additional electrical load, so i'm adding additional return path wiring so that the vehicles wiring doesn't become the weak point in the new system. and always add onto, never replace, factory power wiring--some equipment can be sensitive enough that the altered resistance of an aftermarket replaced cable can cause vehicle reliability issues later on.

the battery terminal idea is nice-- if all that's being added to the vehicle is a single amp, it's an unnecessary step--there's plenty of space on the factory terminals. but if there's more than two aftermarket devices ever being added on to the vehicle, it's a very good idea to use.


the hydraulic crimpers are really cheap now-- this one is currently $36, some might go for less on prime day. there's a ton of options for basically the same tool all for less than $50.

Hydraulic Crimping Tool and Cable Cutter Hydraulic Cable Lug Crimper 8 US TON 12 AWG to 00 (2/0) Electrical Terminal Cable Wire Tool Kit with 10 Die (YQK-70)

https://www.amazon.com/Hydraulic-Crimping-Crimper-Electrical-Terminal/dp/B0CC4D7L4V/

the hammer-style models are really only half that price, and take a little more physical effort, with a slightly lesser finish quality. the main benefit to the hydraulic crimper is that it presses equally all the way around, where the hammer method is only slightly better than smashing the crimp in a vise-- either tends to make it more oval, and has a slightly lesser finishing look to it, which is fine for ring terminal lugs, and can be well-hidden with some adhesive-lined heat shrink to finish off the cables.

i've had this model since 2021.

$42 AMZCNC 10 Tons Hydraulic Wire Battery Cable Lug Terminal Crimper Crimping Tool With 9 Pairs of Dies,1/8” Wire Rope Crimping Tool

https://www.amazon.com/AMZCNC-Hydraulic-Battery-Terminal-Crimping/dp/B097YGPK1S/

i don't really think there's any difference despite one claiming to be a 10-ton, and the first one claiming to be an 8-ton. they have identical bodies, parts, and cases. i suspect it's a chinese number over inflation. biggest issue i have is having to run 1 die size smaller than the wire i'm crimping to ensure it crimps solidly enough. and then i have to rotate it at least a second time to finish off the smashed sides.

 

The Alpine HU I chose has built in digital signal processing and crossovers for all 5 channels. Does this mean I tune everything from the head unit? What about all the crossover adjustments on the amplifier….and the crossovers that come with the Focal component kit? Do I still adjust those?

 

You’ll want to set some generic crossovers on the amp, just to protect your speakers in the event that the radio decides it wants to reset or go haywire. Maybe 60hz on your speakers and 100hz on the sub.

that alpine has a 13 band eq so not too bad. It also has some time correction settings so that’s nice.

for the external crossover with the speakers, I’d probably just go for 0db and do your adjusting in the amp. Those tweeters are pretty bright so you probably won’t need anything extra there. But set it up and see how it sounds and you can always make changes as needed.