Big 3 wiring upgrade, couple of general questions seeking specific answers.

[91stranger]

Coming from experience with a good quality 1000w amp in a ranger. I had a old school Memphis pro comp 1000w amp pushing a kicker L7 12" sub. It was LOUD AF!

You will be just fine with 130 amp alternator. I only had the 95 amp and it never acted up. Biggest issue was lights slightly dimming whenever the bass was bumping hard, but that can be fixed with the 130 amp alternator and a farad capacitor. You can buy nice wiring kits for your amp and speakers for pretty cheap online, I got my last kit for $20 and it was all 4g wiring with rca's and nice big fuses. A lot better than the cheap ass kits at Walmart that sell for the same price.

As for how to wire it up, I ran straight from the battery for my amp. Never had any issues and I've had car audio systems in just about every vehicle I've owned for the past 15 years so I have some experience. Just make sure the fuse is within 18" of the battery for the hot wire.

I have no experience with the e-fans or installing a bigger alternator but the thicker the wire the better. I'd rather have more than whats ever needed than need a little more than what I got. Things get hot when wrong sized wires are used...

 

[Eddo Rogue]

The FFD 16" fan is only rated 9 amps. That's not bad. Comes with 14 gauge leads. So 14 or 12 gauge wire to supply it, 12-15amp fuse.

4/0 or 2/0 wire is pretty huge. For 135 amp alternator, I would probably use 4 gauge wire for battery ground and alternator-battery cable. 6 gauge would probably be ok if the cables are really short.

Wire seizes are weird. Starting at 0, the wires get smaller as the number gets bigger. So 4 gauge is bigger than 8 gauge. When wires need to be bigger than "0", they add more 0's. So 2/0 is bigger than 0. 4/0 is bigger than 2/0, etc.

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Yea I pretty much chose it because of the amp draw to cfms ratio. And with the custom shroud, it really moves air! Also not very loud, which is one of the reasons I want to get rid of my airplane sounding fan clutch. The fan/shroud is awesome, rest of the kit is junk. Intstructions were good tho lol.

The kit supplied an 80 amp relay for the fan, and a 40 amp relay for the adjustable temp fan controller, and some inline fuses as well Although Im nixing that controller for a non adjustable thermostat switch from american volt, and maybe simplify the system altogether. I dont think I need 2 relays for this.

Thanks for that clarification, I wasn't sure what the heck the /0 was but get it now.

It looks like my cables are already 4/0...but they are pretty hammered, so Im gonna replace them anyways. Plus the other wires coming off my terminals are also not in great shape.

I am just worried because my intial swap to 130amp alt burned out and the 15amp fuse in main relay box blew as well.. and when it was running, I noticed my starter relate was very hot! I swapped back in my original 95amp for now.

Im thinking of replacing more than just the 3 wires, with whatever is thick enough. Overkill is nice, but would make routing and connecting more of a PITA, so just thick enough wire seems ideal.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Coming from experience with a good quality 1000w amp in a ranger. I had a old school Memphis pro comp 1000w amp pushing a kicker L7 12" sub. It was LOUD AF!

You will be just fine with 130 amp alternator. I only had the 95 amp and it never acted up. Biggest issue was lights slightly dimming whenever the bass was bumping hard, but that can be fixed with the 130 amp alternator and a farad capacitor. You can buy nice wiring kits for your amp and speakers for pretty cheap online, I got my last kit for $20 and it was all 4g wiring with rca's and nice big fuses. A lot better than the cheap ass kits at Walmart that sell for the same price.

As for how to wire it up, I ran straight from the battery for my amp. Never had any issues and I've had car audio systems in just about every vehicle I've owned for the past 15 years so I have some experience. Just make sure the fuse is within 18" of the battery for the hot wire.

I have no experience with the e-fans or installing a bigger alternator but the thicker the wire the better. I'd rather have more than whats ever needed than need a little more than what I got. Things get hot when wrong sized wires are used...

I been looking at kits on ebay, and they are either spendy or super junky lookin no name brand. Please share if you got a good source for a wiring kit.

My previous ranger had sony xplod 400w amp pushing 4 stock speakers and a 10" bazooka tube, with no wiring upgrades lol (I was a dumb kid). I dont know how I got way w/ some of my mechanical antics when I was younger smh.

Good info, but the stereo upgrade is further down the list. Right now I am more concerned about powering my efan and off road lights, especially if they are ever on at the same time (like wheeling on a summer night). And future stereo will be under 500watts. I dont need too loud, I just wanna add in some bass bump.

Yea the starter relay burning my arm it was so hot is what freaked me out initially...

 

[91stranger]

This is the kit I bought on ebay. I was wrong on the price but they are really good quality wires. Nice insulation that doesn't feel stiff or like it's going to turn brittle after a year. I'm happy with it.

Warzone 4500 WATTS 4 Gauge Car Amplifier Installation Wiring Kit Amp 4Ga COPPER 704129640870 | eBay

Premium 3 Feet FT 4 Gauge GA Ground Cable / Inline AGU Fuse Holder & 80A Fuse Included! High Quality Thick 17 Feet FT 4 Gauge GA Power Cable. High Quality 17 Feet FT / 18 GA Turn-On Cable & 20 Feet FT / 16 GA Speaker Wire.

www.ebay.com

 

[RonD]

Electricity travels on the path of least resistance, that's why things can short, its easier for the electricity to travel directly back to the battery than running thru a device that has resistance

And you can use this in your wiring, specifically for your alternators B+ wiring, the stud on the back
And car makers do use this, "path of least resistance"
Instead of one large wire, they will use 2 smaller wires, of the same gauge, the wires share the load and are MUCH easier to work with and CHEAPER than a single larger gauge on an alternator
If you are putting in a high amp alternator then you can add a 2nd wire, of the same gauge, to B+, or if there are already 2 wires check the gauge of the wires,

For battery cables its just easier to use 2 larger gauges(6ga or 4ga) for Ground and starter motor(highest AMP draw)

Alternator wires will be 4ft or less, and a single 10ga can handle 85amps at 4ft, so 2 10ga would handle up to 170amps

2 or 4 gauge would be too large for engine bay wiring, they can handle 200+amps at 10feet, so maybe for a winch