Bus Bar Question(s)

[skittlesRgood]

what the fuck happened to being nicer to new members? you all got way fucking worse all of a sudden.

OP, if you can, hook up the busbars straight to your batteries. it'll save on wiring and look cleaner. but either way, hooking up a cap or battery in parallel with the power supply will do the same thing no mater where in the car you put it.

[finkster]

What's up with all the bashing?

A buss bar is the same thing as a wire. It's just a bare wire.

That being said, one run of 1/0 to the buss bar wouldn not be enough to run all four of those amps efficiently. You would need two runs.

Do you plan on upgrading your electrical system? Those amps have potential to draw over 400 amps. I'd recommend it.

You should also realize that every wire coming from the buss bar should be fused.

[rockFord_Expedition]

lol at this thread

OP, you are taking this abuse like a champ, I don't really think you said much to deserve it besides wanting to run a cap and two separate boxes for subs (which is pointless) but do listen to what people are saying even if it is not in the most friendly way.

Even if you are not "new" to car audio, alot of the guys on here are "less new"

Thanks man.... I totally get it, especially the "less new" part. Honestly, It's been almost 8 years since I was on top of my game for this type of stuff, and I just had my interest re-sparked. Technology has changed a lot, and I am not current if you know what I mean.

Yeah, I didn't register for this site for the purpose of talking smack, or trying to belittle people. The internet is full of web thugs and smack talkers, I realized that before I registered, i'm just not one of them nor am I going to talk disrespectfully to someone I don't even know. I appreciate all of the input, good or bad, nice or not, I learn from it all. I knew that as soon as I said I wanted to put a cap in my system that many people were going to open up, I was just hoping for 4 or 5 answers from people who know what they are talking about, and are grown enough to offer constructive criticism instead of talking crap.

Again, a sincere thanks to all that have replied

[skittlesRgood]

if i may comment on the cap. if you want one, get this.

http://www.tecategroup.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26_30_73&products_id=1225

[Purplehaze]

First, I'll apologize for the rude comments. THAT'S NOT HOW WE TREAT NEW MEMBERS AROUND HERE!

Okay, about your question. Busbars are basically adding big terminals, so think of them like that. When you have them installed, you basically have combined you batts into one big battery, and now are left with a big positive and a big negative.

So, if you want to run a cap, just run it as if your busbars are your only batt. Meaning, run your wire from the busbars, to the cap. Then from the cap, to the amp(s). The cap always goes between the batt and amp, busbars will not make any difference, since they are really just extented terminals.

But I will have to say, in my experience, having the cap hurt my set-up more than it helped. Also, they are right about the current draw from your amps. They are gonna be sucking down quite a bit power, and with the cap too, you may run into more problems. At the very least, run 2 + and 2 - runs of wire from front to back, you will be glad you did, I promise!

The reason people were saying stuff about the different amps is b/c they will be fighting each other for power, big time. The amount of wattage a person gets from their system is restricted by the voltage and amperage of their charging system (watts = amps x volts). So each auto is only going to be capable of producing a certian amount of wattage, period. It doesn't matter how many amplifiers they run.

So unless you have a really stout electrical set-up, then your amps will be sharing what power they have. And in most cases like this, a single amp will out perform multiple amps, cause it is getting all the power it wants, compared to two amps sharing power. But again, that is all dependent on ones electrical set-up. This is why most people don't mess with caps anymore, instead they just add more batteries. So instead of taking from your power supply, you will be adding to it.

I hope I was able to clear things up for ya, or help in some way, rather than being an asshole or a smart-ass.

Please let us know what you decide, and how it works out for ya. It's not always like this around here...

[rockFord_Expedition]

Hey Purp, thanks for the wisdom. I was going to just connect everything, cap, amps, etc. to the bus bars, but you say keep the cap between the bus bar and the amps. After the feedback, I just may ditch the cap idea, and spend the money on an extra bat instead.

I respect the fact that several of the more senior members on here have spoken up, it says good things about the overall integrity of this group, and makes me glad that I decided to join.

Like I said earlier, I am in the process of re-educating myself in this hobby, since I haven't done anything since 2004 and clearly, much has changed, but I can, and will be fluent in this stuff once again...

I may post a few more questions in the appropriate areas about reccomendations for my setup...

[cosmo10292]

Hey guys i got a noob question also having to deal with bus bars. For example im going to be running 6 xs power D3100 batteries ( 1 in front and 5 in the back on the bus bars) along with 3 dc power xp 370 alts. how do i wire this!?!

[skittlesRgood]

Hey guys i got a noob question also having to deal with bus bars. For example im going to be running 6 xs power D3100 batteries ( 1 in front and 5 in the back on the bus bars) along with 3 dc power xp 370 alts. how do i wire this!?!

um... in parallel.

[Tarball]

Hey guys i got a noob question also having to deal with bus bars. For example im going to be running 6 xs power D3100 batteries ( 1 in front and 5 in the back on the bus bars) along with 3 dc power xp 370 alts. how do i wire this!?!

If you have to ask, take it to a pro.

You'll need to wire the alts together. Need multiple runs of 1/0 or higher to the battery bank. A bunch of fuses.

For the bus bars, as mentioned above, you line up the batteries and tap one bus bar into the + of all the batts and the other into the - of all the batts resulting in one big battery.

[cosmo10292]

Hey guys i got a noob question also having to deal with bus bars. For example im going to be running 6 xs power D3100 batteries ( 1 in front and 5 in the back on the bus bars) along with 3 dc power xp 370 alts. how do i wire this!?!

If you have to ask, take it to a pro.

You'll need to wire the alts together. Need multiple runs of 1/0 or higher to the battery bank. A bunch of fuses.

For the bus bars, as mentioned above, you line up the batteries and tap one bus bar into the + of all the batts and the other into the - of all the batts resulting in one big battery.

thats why im asking on this forum! i was thinking the same thing i just wanted to make sure i was thinking right! to be honest where i live over here in tucson ive seen the work these "pro's" have done and its really sad. i could easily do better work and save hundreds of dollars on my friends systems. Thats why i come on here to see real pro's do some work!