Amp not getting proper voltage

[reedal]

Copper corodes at the same rate. CCA is copper clad aluminum, meaning it's aluminum with a copper wrapping. The difference in OFC and CCA is the current carrying capabilities.

[JakeMN]

Awesome... It's a $100 difference for an ofc spool vs cca and I almost went with the ofc because that's what I thought.. Thank you!

[reedal]

OFC is more expensive because it's more copper. Copper is a better conductor than aluminum, hence the higher current carrying capabilities. For >200A requirements, CCA is a perfectly ok choice. When you need more current, either multiple runs of CCA is required, or start going to OFC. As long as your wire meets requirements to include what your car needs to run, that's what matter when choosing wire.

[mrazandrewm]

Have you tried hooking you amp directly up to the battery by connecting your ground wire to your negative terminal and power wire up to your positive terminal? Try doing that and measuring the voltage to your amp. If it's still somewhere in the 2-6 volt range then amp is a goner. But I'll place a $1000 that it'll read >12 volts. If that's the case then your grounding location is not ideal so you'll most likely have to change it to another location.

I had the same issue like I stated before and thought my amp was blown as well.I tried connecting my amp directly to my battery (with the fused power wire) and ground on the negative terminal. Read the voltage and it read 12.6 volts. So my issue (as well as yours) was the grounding location. See my thread here: http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/198322-sundown-sae-10001d-blown/.

[RainStryke]

Most car audio OFC wire is silver tinned which does protect against corrosion, welding wire that is OFC is not silver tinned from what i've seen.

[prodigal_son]

Copper corodes at the same rate. CCA is copper clad aluminum, meaning it's aluminum with a copper wrapping. The difference in OFC and CCA is the current carrying capabilities.

Check out a chart of reactivity of metals....aluminum is quite a lot more reactive than copper and the process is slowed only marginally by coating aluminum with copper. I'm not saying don't ever use CCA, but know it's shortcomings when you're comapring prices.

Here's food for thought......if you've ever had exposure to heavy trucks or industrial equipment exposed to the elements, have you ever seen aluminum wire used on any of them? I haven't........yet. I'm sure that as the price of copper stays elevated, more aluminum is going to make it's way into industrial equipment, but from a performance/reliability standpoint, it's not the first choice.

[reedal]

Copper corodes at the same rate. CCA is copper clad aluminum, meaning it's aluminum with a copper wrapping. The difference in OFC and CCA is the current carrying capabilities.

Check out a chart of reactivity of metals....aluminum is quite a lot more reactive than copper and the process is slowed only marginally by coating aluminum with copper. I'm not saying don't ever use CCA, but know it's shortcomings when you're comapring prices.

Here's food for thought......if you've ever had exposure to heavy trucks or industrial equipment exposed to the elements, have you ever seen aluminum wire used on any of them? I haven't........yet. I'm sure that as the price of copper stays elevated, more aluminum is going to make it's way into industrial equipment, but from a performance/reliability standpoint, it's not the first choice.

Yes, but when you have OFC exposed and CCA exposed to see which corrodes first, either way copper is the top layer and will corrode at the same rate. The depth of that corrosion in relation to time will vary between the two, but the copper will corrode at the same rate given the same conditions between the two.

At least that's how I look at it. I've never performed a test, and I'm not worried enough about it to search for one. Corrosion will happen no matter what, the only thing you can do is maintain a cleaning/prevention method to help fight it. Never will it be eliminated though.

[prodigal_son]

We're going off on a tangent here, but it seems that what forums do. Consider galvanic corrosion of dissimilar metals, with the non-electronics grade "water" content of ambient air as the electrolyte, and it's easy to imagine how quickly the 0.0003" of copper electroplated to the aluminum could simply cease to exist in anything less than a ph neutral and/or arid environment, then it's on baby! I would strongly recommend anti-oxidant grease on any electrical connection involving aluminum, in fact it's required by most electrical codes, which of course don't apply to autos, but the chemistry is the same.

It's my opinion that CCA wire is the greatest wire marketing gimmick since OFC vs ordinary copper for car audio. Just my two cents on the topic.

[JakeMN]

Moved the ground to where another stock ground is in the inner fender wall and it's getting proper voltage! Yay! Now the amp just gets warm.. Any idea what would cause this? Voltage drop? The gain is literally as low as it could possibly be as well..

[Smoove]

Copper corodes at the same rate. CCA is copper clad aluminum, meaning it's aluminum with a copper wrapping. The difference in OFC and CCA is the current carrying capabilities.

Check out a chart of reactivity of metals....aluminum is quite a lot more reactive than copper and the process is slowed only marginally by coating aluminum with copper. I'm not saying don't ever use CCA, but know it's shortcomings when you're comapring prices.

Here's food for thought......if you've ever had exposure to heavy trucks or industrial equipment exposed to the elements, have you ever seen aluminum wire used on any of them? I haven't........yet. I'm sure that as the price of copper stays elevated, more aluminum is going to make it's way into industrial equipment, but from a performance/reliability standpoint, it's not the first choice.

Yes, but when you have OFC exposed and CCA exposed to see which corrodes first, either way copper is the top layer and will corrode at the same rate. The depth of that corrosion in relation to time will vary between the two, but the copper will corrode at the same rate given the same conditions between the two.

At least that's how I look at it. I've never performed a test, and I'm not worried enough about it to search for one. Corrosion will happen no matter what, the only thing you can do is maintain a cleaning/prevention method to help fight it. Never will it be eliminated though.

In a standard install, how fast will the corrosion happen? 2 months? 2yrs? 10yrs? The average person keeps a car about 3yrs.