This is a question for the people that have done the big three upgrade.
How much wire did you need?
Id like to do this in 0 gauge but since its about $4 a foot, I don't want to buy a bunch of extra to have sitting around.

 

what the hell is the big 3? haha

 

It's a ground kit I believe from what I can find on google. Well, your best bet is to measure the length of your stock ground cables after removing them, and checking their length.

 

gotcha, i havent hooked up a system in a cobalt but it has to be pretty damn easy seeing that the battery is in the trunk. its in the trunk for the lts too right? lol

so you shouldnt need all that much.

 

Well i was mostly concerned about the power wire coming from the alt to the battery.
Thats the longest one and id like to order the right amount without too much extra waste. Also I'm leaving the stock wiring in there it still carries current so theres no point in removing it.

 

about 4' for alt.

3' engine ground

2' for rear ground

 

and 1' for you

 

By 4' do you mean to the positive terminal thats next to the fuse box under the hood?
How about the rest of the way to the battery in the trunk?

Just for reference theres a $30 difference between 20' and 25' with shipping. this is why I don't want to order too much.

 

yes thats what i meant.

 

technically that 4' strip would be a waste because the gauge of the wire running from the terminal post to the battery itself isn't as sexual as the 1/0 gauge you'd be running....I'd run the full length from alt to battery.

also how much are you paying for this "kit"?

 

I'm probably going to use Stinger wire which is $4.49 per foot for 1/0 on Amazon.
Stinger is what I have used in my car exclusively so far, thats why I'm looking at that.
There are cheaper brands but I'm hesitant to go with a cheaper brand since the whole point of doing this is to put better than stock wire in my car.

 

keep with stinger.

and no it wouldnt be a waste considering its like 2g/a going from the front to the battery in the rear. and if i remeber right like 6 or 8 going to the alt to the post.

 

Might as well buy this instead of paying per foot....about the same price and you get fuse holders, pre-crimped wire, mesh-conduit for the engine run, etc....

AMP KITS STINGER SHK201 NEW 1/0 GAUGE AMP 3400W AMPLIFI on eBay!

and yes, if you use the 4' like you said, your stock wire from terminal post to battery is still the weakest link, especially if you put a load on it with other electronics from your car.....it is ALWAYS better to run another strand than to leave a part of "the big 3" relying on a factory wire(s).....

 

thanks c4 that kit looks like a good idea. 18' should do the job.

 

i want to know what kind of power you guys are running along with names because I had no issue running my rockford t600-4 and t1500-1bd with a tiny spare battery and thats it.

 

1. tities
2. beer
3. guns

oh wait wrong thread my bad

 

I have a pioneer 600/4 and a JL 500/1 and my lights BLINK not just dim. This is why I'm doing the big three. If this doesn't stop the blinking I'm buying a kinetik battery

 

yea dude the kits nice...and actually its 21 feet...you get 18 feet of blue and 3 feet of white....

running a 2500-1bdcp at 1 ohm....huge current draw as well as a t600-4...adding another 2500 soon and strapping it...

and god damn....i have NEVER been so surprised by an amp in my life....those 500/1s are underrated as hell....i saw one of those things beat the hell out of an orion HCCA 15 while the memphis PR 1000.1 we threw on it barely moved the woofer....nice little amp you got there, and i'm not really a fan of JL either...

 

haha, yea nobody believes me when I tell them I have ONLY 1 12'' sub and only 500 watts, lol. JL is very efficient with power.

 

Jl is quality and underrated. Want to buy another 500/1 ? lol its just sitting here along with 2 L7s that would never go in the balt.

 

hmmmm.. Im not planning on adding another sub for a while but if the price is right, maybe. PM me with the details.

 

i would do the grounds and if that doesnt work buy a battery. idk if the power run would even help 18ft should be plenty for it thou if you run it right.

oh idk what it is but the only amp to ever make my lights dim was the jl 1000/1

 

no efficient shitty amps lol.

JL has been the most amps/ speakers I have seen come back for warranty. I think they are complete ****. Their old stuff is not comparable to the stuff they make now.

 

Well what could be causing my lights to dim so bad? Is there something that I could have done wrong?

Im gonna ground my amps to another spot and check all my terminals to make sure they are crimped tight. Anything else I should check?
By the way my lights would dim when I had just my Pioneer 600w amp installed and only got worse with my jl amp.

 

I think we have to be fair and apply this to rockford as well :P....their T line and the 360's are alright, everything else is pretty much ****.

Ground the amplifiers to your battery if you can and then ground the battery to your frame rail.....make sure to upgrade that groud from your frame to your engine...keep in mind that the true ground of any running vehicle is the alternator case (cases in JJ's car), so the ground strap from the frame to the engine is, imo, the most important. If you're really worried about dimming lights, grab that extra battery (helps with the current draw), grab an HID kit, and change all the incandescent bulbs in your car to LEDs; that is, if the big three doesn't help.

By the way, if you do an extra battery, make sure its the same as the stock one...If you want to upgrade to kinetik, either get 1 1800, or 2 800's.....don't tie these in to your stock battery, they will only fight eachother due to their different properties (e.g. ESR, equivalent series resistance) and one will get more charge than another, draw more from the alt, etc.