On my amp it says 4 gauge only. But I put a 5 on instead. What is the difference and how much will it change its preformance?

 

Depends on how long your wire is and what the current draw on the amp is. Im assuming you used a Scosche kit since you say you used 5 gauge? They used to make some pretty decent amp kits, but they went to **** once they started used those friggin 5, 9, and 11 or whatever gauge power wire the cheapa$$es use now. Terminals went to crap too. They went from something I would have not problem using to something I wouldnt touch.

 

I think thats what brand it is, I got it from Walmart.

 

It is Scosche. They are the only ones I know of making the odd sizes. I think you would be alright with the 5 awg. What kind of amp and how much power?

 

Its a Coustic 800DB (400 RMS) think it will harm anything?

 

Id think you should be good. Should be pulling to much current with only 400 watts.

 

So what is the difference between 4 & 5 gauge? Would one sound/run better?

 

4 Gauge is larger wire. The bigger the wire the less resistance, so I guess there could be a way that one would sound/run better. Only if you are right at or exceeding the limits of the 5 gauge-Which would lead to your amp not getting suficient amperage-which can have an effect on the performance of the amp.

If the 5 gauge is big enough already (which yours should be) then you arent going to notice any difference going up to a 4 gauge wire.

So theoretically, 4 gauge is better than 5 gauge because it has less resistance. But that doesnt mean you need that big of wire, which in that case the extra cost of the 4 gauge would just be a waste of money.

 

So that means a 5gauge would not over heat the amp? & I have a reg cab 04 and I grounded the amp near the pedals. Is this the best place if not why?

 

You wont overheat the amp. With a reg. cab. you probably have a pretty short run of power wire from the battery, plus I wouldnt think that amp would pull much current, so you should be good.

Where did you mount the amp? You usually want to try to keep the ground short. If you have the amp mounted behind the seats and ran the ground all the way up to under the dash by the pedals-thats a pretty long ground.
I try to keep mine as short as possible. None of mine are over 2 feet long.

 

I did not have the tools to loosein the back(nuts) so I put in the front to the left of the pedals. Would this make a difference? Have another question is it possible to look at a amp and tell if its wired to 2 or 4ohms I have 2 SVCs on a mono

 

So you have the amp mounted behind the seat? You should probably be alright I suppose. You might see a difference, you might not, you never know till you try it and see what it does. On my sub amp I ran out of 4 gauge for a ground and had to run two pieces of 8 gauge for a ground for a couple days. Only about 10 inches long. Few days later when I got some 4 gauge I switched it and I could tell a difference-a little in the sound, plus my lights stopped dimming when the bass hit. Lol, it was ghetto for awhile. Anyway that just shows you how more resistance can make a difference. And your long ground is creating more resistance than a short ground, like if you had grounded it in the back close to the amp.

You wont be able to tell whether the amp is at a 2 or 4 ohm load by looking. What you will have to do is either put a DMM across the speaker wires and see how many ohm is showing, or else pull the subs out of the box, see what they say on them (they should say anyway) then you will be able to figure out what your amp is seeing depending on how the subs are wired.

 

No my amp is grounded in the front to the left of the pedals. Who sells cheap 4gauages? And I thought ++&-- was 2ohms?

 

Yes, I know the amp is GROUNDED up front by the pedals, but where is the acual AMP?

Your fine with 5 gauge. I wouldnt waste your money.

It depends how many OHM the sub is and how it is wired to determine the final Ohm load. If you have a DVC 4 ohm sub, then + to + and - to - would be parallel wired for 2 ohm.

 

Amp is under drivers seat. I have 2 SVC 4ohms. The wires are 5gauge to the battery and 9gauge grounded.