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Recommend some wire?

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Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 4th, 2021, 7:34 pm

So i am at the last stage of my equipment purchase for my system....
Need wires for current to complete equipment.
Looking at some 0awg from battery to distribution block
And some 4awg from the block to the amps
Looking at OFC options only.
5yards of each (over estimated to get extra for ground wires)

I have been asking around and getting mixed reviews:

1 man say "doh use big-branded wire, use welding lead, its pure copper and works better than music wire"

Next man say "XS wire does turn green, it eh good."

Next man say "stinger lose their quality, it aint good like long time"

Next man say "XS wire does lose voltage along the run"

Next man say "best wire is rockford fosgate, i have it long time and it never oxidise"

Yes; i can go online and read 100 million reviews and end up back right here.

I wanna hear from the men on the ground, the actual end users

So its your turn to tell me about your experiences:
cost per yard?,
true to size?,
OFC vs tinned OFC?,
issues experienced?
Anything i may have missed or should have considered?

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby adnj » September 4th, 2021, 8:26 pm

*KRONIK* wrote:So i am at the last stage of my equipment purchase for my system....
Need wires for current to complete equipment.
Looking at some 0awg from battery to distribution block
And some 4awg from the block to the amps
Looking at OFC options only.
5yards of each (over estimated to get extra for ground wires)

I have been asking around and getting mixed reviews:

1 man say "doh use big-branded wire, use welding lead, its pure copper and works better than music wire"

Next man say "XS wire does turn green, it eh good."

Next man say "stinger lose their quality, it aint good like long time"

Next man say "XS wire does lose voltage along the run"

Next man say "best wire is rockford fosgate, i have it long time and it never oxidise"

Yes; i can go online and read 100 million reviews and end up back right here.

I wanna hear from the men on the ground, the actual end users

So its your turn to tell me about your experiences:
cost per yard?,
true to size?,
OFC vs tinned OFC?,
issues experienced?
Anything i may have missed or should have considered?


Copper wire is 99.9% pure and is meets the conductivity standard at 100%. Oxygen free (OFC) gets you about 101% of the standard at normal temperatures. OFC doesn't work significantly better than building copper wire of identical cross-sectional area except at extreme temperatures.

Welding cable has more strands, is more flexible, will stand up to vibration better, but will not terminate as easily as a cable with fewer strands.

Tinning makes soldering cables after termination easier. Finely stranded cables are more difficult to tin than cables with fewer strands because of the amount of heat, flux and solder needed for the increased surface area of the cables with thinner strands.

More expensive cables will use XLPE casings instead of less expensive polymers that are less flexible and more susceptible to high temperature.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 4th, 2021, 9:22 pm

So.....welding lead is the better choice?

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby adnj » September 4th, 2021, 9:49 pm

I would use welding cable because it is more flexible while offering similar performance but some may disagree.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 4th, 2021, 10:31 pm

Well my theory is: if welding lead wire is so good, why do car audio manufactirers go thru all the stress to make 0/4/8/12/16/18 awg wires if the commercial grade stuff good/better?

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby altec » September 4th, 2021, 10:38 pm

I have used 2 and 4 gauge "car" branded wires in the past and all were tinned. They have lasted years with no visible deteriorating of the metal; jacket got stained however. Last install I did I used 0 gauge welding cable from a friend (I did not buy it at retail price) from front to back of vehicle. Pros and cons; welding cable is way cheaper than auto grade wire. It is built to take abuse from heat and dragging around. It has a rigid set of standards that are enforced so wire specifications have very little variations across different brands . If using AWG standard recommendations for wire selection, welding wire is based on it. Depending on what spec welding cable you buy, it will be a bit stiffer or a lot stiffer. Examine your vehicle's battery to chassis ground if you want to know what stiff cable is.

Auto branded cable typically do not follow AWG even though it is the standard often recommended. For example 8 gauge wire will have a lot of variation in conductor diameter across brands. It is more flexible for tight bends....high strand count per diameter allows for tighter bends. Some are sold as "over sized" 0 gauge, but that is like buying a 15 meter measuring tape that is 2 feet longer and still ends at 15 meters.

My assessment.....tinned drastically cuts down on oxidization but the wires in your vehicle are most likely just OFC. Aluminum is a no no in a vehicle. If cost is a consideration go welding cable. If making sure you meet the watt/ amp spec and do not want to go through checking a crap load of wire brand actual specs, go welding for the front to rear run at least. If "pretty" is priority then auto cable is the choice just check actual specs, not the advertised and know that you will be paying more for the hype in advertising. If money is not a priority or you want better ease of install then a good auto wire brand in OFC is the choice for me.

I did a compromise; I used 0 gauge welding to the rear and streetwires 8 gauge to the amps.
Last edited by altec on September 6th, 2021, 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 5th, 2021, 9:37 am

altec wrote:I have used 2 and 4 gauge "car" branded wires in the past and all were tinned. They have lasted years with no visible deteriorating of the metal; jacket got stained however. Last install I did I used 0 gauge welding cable from a friend (I did not buy it at retail price) from front to back of vehicle. Pros and cons; welding cable is way cheaper than auto grade wire. It is built to take abuse from heat and dragging around. It has a rigid set of standards that are enforced so wire specifications have very little variations across different brands . If using AWG standard recommendations for wire selection, welding wire is based on it. Depending on what spec welding cable you buy, it will be a bit stiffer or a lot stiffer. Examine your vehicle's battery to chassis ground if you want to know what stiff cable is.

Auto branded cable typically does not follow AWG even though it is the standard often recommended. For example 8 gauge wire will have a lot of variation in conductor diameter across brands. It is more flexible for tight bends....high strand count per diameter allows for tighter bends. Some are sold as "over sized" 0 gauge, but that is like buying a 15 meter measuring tape that is 2 feet longer and still ends at 15 meters.

My assessment.....tinned drastically cuts down on oxidization but the wires in your vehicle are most likely just OFC. Aluminum is a no no in a vehicle. If cost is a consideration go welding cable. If making sure you meet the watt/ amp spec and do not want to go through checking a crap load of wire brand actual specs, go welding for the front to rear run at least. If "pretty" is priority then auto cable is the choice just check actual specs, not the advertised and know that you will be paying more for the hype in advertising. If money is not a priority or you want better ease of install then a good auto wire brand in OFC is the choice for me.

I did a compromise; I used 0 gauge welding to the rear and streetwires 8 gauge to the amps.
This was actually very helpful

In my case, cost per yard has not been made an issue, not saying i go buy wire @200 per foot but i prefer do things right on the 1st try.

I think some of my opinions received (before coming here) are biased due to maybe installer/seller disagreements.

The thing is, all the supplementing parts are car audio spec.
Eg: firewall gland is for 0awg audio wire
Ferrules, lugs etc
So i would have preferred to stick to actual purpose-made wire for that reason

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby altec » September 5th, 2021, 10:40 am

I bought all AWG accessories like ferrules and glands and they were a fit as per spec with the welding cable and the streetwires. If you are sticking with auto branded wire, make sure to check the conductor diameter on the the brand's internet site. checkout this vid and look at the cheat sheet link in the description. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06MWWHKLyg&t=635s

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 5th, 2021, 10:54 am

Aite cool

Will take a look

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rovin » September 5th, 2021, 2:45 pm

op i think ur over thinking it , unless ur an spl competitor & u need reassurance that ur gonna need\get every milli-amp of current then dont sweat it for a daily use system

like previously said tinned copper is to prevent oxidation , i have seen pure ofc oxidizing

just like in everything else : if u ask 100 ppl their opinions on every brand ur gonna get fanboys for each

i have used other brands but mainly stinger for yrsss & never had any issue, i dont really see any additional benefit in paying considerably more for "prestigious" brands

some brands use less/more insulation, some strands are more tightly packed together while others are more loose , some more copper some less ..... no need to do testing of copper weight, insulation & flex ability of dozens of brands ur self when u can look up hifivega on youtube who has already gone thru d trouble of doing all this work

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 6th, 2021, 7:38 am

Rovin wrote:op i think ur over thinking it , unless ur an spl competitor & u need reassurance that ur gonna need\get every milli-amp of current then dont sweat it for a daily use system

like previously said tinned copper is to prevent oxidation , i have seen pure ofc oxidizing

just like in everything else : if u ask 100 ppl their opinions on every brand ur gonna get fanboys for each

i have used other brands but mainly stinger for yrsss & never had any issue, i dont really see any additional benefit in paying considerably more for "prestigious" brands

some brands use less/more insulation, some strands are more tightly packed together while others are more loose , some more copper some less ..... no need to do testing of copper weight, insulation & flex ability of dozens of brands ur self when u can look up hifivega on youtube who has already gone thru d trouble of doing all this work
Lol

Maybe i am overthinking it a bit, but ppl no longer interested in giving fair and real info. They just wanna sell you what they have or what brand they believe in. And that opinion varies a lot as you mentioned.

And for me, its simply wanting to buy something good.
Not the best, but good.

But i have narrowed down my options
It will be either XS or Stinger as thats what i can get easily.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby adnj » September 6th, 2021, 8:19 am

And that is the number one answer!

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rovin » September 6th, 2021, 11:25 am

in case anybody wondering about hifivega YT videos i mentioned ... there are 10 videos with dozens of wire brands tested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moJGh00 ... tTmb0JGWUA

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby timelapse » September 6th, 2021, 1:04 pm

Moral of this.When in doubt, check Rovin

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rovin » September 6th, 2021, 5:31 pm

it sounding like i bribe u to say dat ... lol

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby X_Factor » September 8th, 2021, 8:18 am

i have used stinger pro ofc and xs ofc and had no issue

for those who used welding wire, how does it hold up to oxidizing as it ages?

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 8th, 2021, 8:29 am

X_Factor wrote:i have used stinger pro ofc and xs ofc and had no issue

for those who used welding wire, how does it hold up to oxidizing as it ages?
Noted

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Ted_v2 » September 18th, 2021, 11:04 pm

i used orion already and it was junk, had to keep chopping out the last couple inches. ill redo my whole audio system when i get some time, my system was thrown together and its just okay atm.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby android79 » September 19th, 2021, 9:33 am

*KRONIK* wrote:Well my theory is: if welding lead wire is so good, why do car audio manufactirers go thru all the stress to make 0/4/8/12/16/18 awg wires if the commercial grade stuff good/better?
To get a piece of the market of course.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby android79 » September 19th, 2021, 9:38 am

All high purity copper will oxidize eventually if exposed to air, use liquid tape to seal off where the terminal meets the wire.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby 16 cycles » September 20th, 2021, 3:02 pm

where ya getting the 0 gauge XS/Stinger pls?

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby *KRONIK* » September 20th, 2021, 3:49 pm

16 cycles wrote:where ya getting the 0 gauge XS/Stinger pls?
2lo2flo for XS
7844284

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby 16 cycles » September 20th, 2021, 6:58 pm

Thank you

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby altec » September 20th, 2021, 7:05 pm

think rovin has stinger

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rovin » September 20th, 2021, 8:13 pm

yes my store carries stinger wires , 0g is $135\yard ...

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rayden6 » May 9th, 2022, 8:56 pm

Looking for 1/0 OFC welding wire for front to back conversion who has the better price per Ft/yard.
Thanks

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby SR » May 10th, 2022, 6:13 pm

Check people who sell welding equipment edoos southern wholesale stores etc

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby X_Factor » May 10th, 2022, 8:51 pm

Rayden6 wrote:Looking for 1/0 OFC welding wire for front to back conversion who has the better price per Ft/yard.
Thanks
Royal excelene and eb flex are good brands ask for those

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby altec » May 19th, 2022, 5:35 am

Edoo's welding for the EB flex.. think they also do delivery but not 100% sure.

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Re: Recommend some wire?

Postby Rayden6 » August 4th, 2022, 1:02 am

Got Royal excelene 3/0 @$38/ft best price anywhere

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