Tower speaker and amp install

Adding 2 pair of tower speakers and amp on my new b52 and have a couple questions. I got the speakers mounted and wired (speaker wire was already ran through tower and down to observer are where amp is).

My question is on power. My master plan is to build a amp rack but that project will wait until winter. What I'm trying to figure out is where I want to run power to. See pictures below, they are of the factory set up which is a exile javelin powering in boats and sub. It's running to the breaker than the perko to the battery.

I'm mounting a exile 30.2 to power the tower. Can I run power to that existing breaker or do I need a distrobution block? I'm a total newb btw. I don't want to run directly to the battery

Run power form the resetable breaker to a distribution block then from the distribution block to the amps

agree^^^^

i ended up going with a 250amp breaker and a dsitro block. thank you

250A! will the cable support that load? That OEM 150 was more than enough for those amplifiers, but i think the cable gauge is the weak link here.

Originally Posted by chpthril

250A! will the cable support that load? That OEM 150 was more than enough for those amplifiers, but i think the cable gauge is the weak link here.

not following you, why do you think 250A is too much?

Agree the stock 150 is plenty mine is a 135

Mike,

First you have to understand the role of the circuit protection. Its there to protect the boat if there happens to be a short in the main amp B+ trunk line.

2nd, the circuit protection needs to be able to carry the potential load. Here, I feel that the original 150A breaker would have handled the current draw of both amps.

3rd, you dont want the current capacity of the circuit protection, to exceed the current capacity of the cable its there to protect. In this regard, I think your new 250A breaker will exceed the cable. You need to confirm the cable gauge, estimate the length of the circuit and do some calculating. This is also important to determine if that existing amp B+ will support the estimated current draw of those 2 amps.

Originally Posted by Mxguy741

not following you, why do you think 250A is too much?

Because unless you are running 00 gauge wire, you will literally melt the wire and catch on fire before the breaker trips! You basically just negated the whole purpose of a breaker. To find the correctly sized fuse or breaker, basically, just add the fuses for all the amps (or how many amps they draw at full power) and this is the size breaker you should have (or fuse).

I totally agree with the above two posts. Adding to that, the sum of the fusing of the collective amplifiers is the absolute maximum value you would need for the master breaker.
The amplifier fuses are for protection in case of a catastrophic event...and not normal usage. The amplifiers will never pull that much current when reproducing music material. And breakers do not trip instantaneously when they see their rated amperage value. So when adding up the amplifier fusing, an equal amperage value, at the most, or a 90% value will be fine.

ok i havent done the work yet. SO I should hold off on the 250a breaker and put the distroblock between amps and breaker.

Sounds good

Yes. Go back to your 150A breaker (which is probably still too large). Make sure to use cable large enough to carry the entire load of both amps from the distro block to the breaker (and breaker to battery), 4 or 0 gauge usually depending on length of run. Then you can go down in cable size to whatever is needed for each amp individually from the distro block to the amps, 4 or 8 gauge usually depending on length. I like to use a fused distribution block on the positive side to protect those runs.

Let's not get to crazy with fusing, a fused distro is excessive for the short run. Heck from the pic a distro block is excessive. I would have 2 gauge running to that 150 amp breaker mounted by the amplifier, Run two 4 gauge off the breaker direct to each amplifier. Looks like less than 4feet of wiring from Perko to amplifier, all exposed, doubt any issues would arrive anyways. You can use a distro for the ground side but the power side doesn't require one with your current set up if you want to save some coin.

I totally agree with True. In this case for a fused distribution block to protect the wire run it would have to be placed very close to the battery or battery switch. That would mean a shorter trunk run and longer multiple branch runs. Since the distance is so short there's zero point in adding any redundancy. As long as it is two amplifiers/runs only, and no more than that, then allow the breaker post to function as the distribution point. The correct size lugs become very important, in other words, 1/4" lugs on 1/4" posts, 5/16" on 5/16", etc.