What gauge wire should I use?

I am going to setup an amp and a subwoofer in my Camaro soon. I am just taking it out of my other car. I am wondering what gauge wire should I use for everything? I kinda just threw it together to get it together in my last car and I want to get it right this time. I am have a 12" sub that's able to handle 400 watts rms. I'm able to use the subwoofer at 2 or 8 ohms I believe. The amp puts out 230 watts bridged at 4 ohms. Now I probably missed alot of info on this, please fill me in on this. I pretty much forgot all my electrical know-how since high school. Thanks in advance.

if your amp is 2 ohm capable, you'll be able to get twice as much power and then you'll need 4 guage wire but if you can only run 200 watts or so, then get 8 guage wire

8 gauge for everything? For the ground, positive, remote? Also for the positive and negative for the sub?

200 watts u could use 8 gauge for that but usauly anything powering the amps i run 4 (cuz i always upgrade later, currently pushing 2500 in my car on 4 gauge)

You're probably better off using 4ga. The length of the wire will also affect the power being delivered to your amp, with more power being lost through longer runs. 4ga is dirt cheap these days and it's pretty flexible, given you purchase wire with a higher strand count. Also, this will give you peace of mind to know that you're not choking your amp and ruining it. Plus, you'll be able to upgrade slightly in the future if you want.

Be sure to properly fuse your power wire within a foot of the battery, and avoid sharp edges.

The ground wire should match the gauge of the power wire, so use 4 gauge for it too. The remote wire only needs to give a 12v signal to the amp, it's not carrying a load of power, so it can be 16 gauge if you want.

n-joy:cool:

if you plan on upgrading, go with 4 guage but if you plan on keeping what you have, all you need is 8 guage. make sure your ground and power are the same guage!!

4 guage power - Do not run it any longer than it needs to be. Also keep it away from sharp edges. make sure to use a grommet when running it through the firewall.

4 guage ground - Keep this 18" or shorter.

When setting this up, to get the most out of the system, run the Sub at 2 ohms if the amp is 2 ohm stable.

if the sub is runn at 8 ohms then you will only be delivering 115 watts to it.

Thanks for all the info guys. I am probably gonna go out tonight to pick up some stuff to install this stuff soon.

I was checking out the Camaro the other day and I was wondering, do I have to drill a hole for my power wire to go through the firewall? I seen that some wiring goes through the firewall close under the steering wheel, would I be able to run it through there with those wires?

I run both my 1/0 ga and 2 ga through the rubber grommet on the passenger side of the car under the dash, right under the computer. the grommet is a good size and has a lot of slack. You might have to poke a hole to slide it through, but once you start running it goes very easily. Probably one of the easiest cars to run wire through that i've dealt with!