This is hands down, the best car audio install channel on youtube!

Brother of mine... I have to give you what you definitely deserve... A WHOLE LOTTA PROPS! You are the Master of car audio and, I think, video! I am a commercial electrician with 31 years in the trade! I say this cause I see you touching on a lot of basics that many DIYs do not pay attention to and end up getting themselves into trouble down the line. Thanks for all your hard work and patience!

4 years on and still excellent information. Thanks Mark.

Mark, your videos are on point! I became a fan while watching videos relevant to projects I needed help with and now regularly find myself watching videos on subjects I feel I know pretty well and videos which are completely irrelevant to anything I’m working on. Point is, your delivery offers something for both the novice and the expert, and you’re producing the most compelling car audio content on the web by far. Strong work, thank you. God Bless, Jay

Great video Mark! I'd also add that fuses can carry 2-3x their rated current for short bursts, so in many cases slightly underfusing is ok. I get the question all the time how an amp with a 100A fuse can pull 150A or more with my Dyno tests. Fact is, it can't for very long! But for short periods it can which is good. As you mentioned, music playback in most cases draws far less current than test tones or music with long bass notes. I also agree it's *BAD* to be on *#TEAMNOFUSE* and there's NO reason to go this route. Use quality components, good wiring and the fuse will never be a bottleneck in your system.

You hit everything hard. Nobody explains it better than you, thank you.

This comment is for all of your videos all together. I started watching your channel video's 2 months ago and I learnt so much from you and I purchased everything online from amazon and so. And installed it all by myself and I'm so happy how it turned out. I'm so glad I found your channel and you're amazing. Thanks for all the video and you helped me save couple hunder bucks and a awesome built (if I go to a car audio place and tell them to do what I did, they'll just say oh no it's not necessary, you don't need fast rings, you don't need 4 gauge wire, 10 gauge is enough to power 2 amplifiers, you don't need spacers, we can screw our speakers on bare metal, you don't need to scratch paint for body earth) not every professional place does this but I see so many places do this and I'm so glad I did my car audio all by myself and it sounds so good. Lots of love from India 🇮🇳 ❤️ stay safe and make more videos about car audio improvement

I just spent the entire day diving into the mysteries of Ohm's Law, all while trying to plan out my very first electrically charged adventure! And let me tell you, this guy making the video is so intelligent and handsome that I almost forgot I was learning physics! I wish I had stumbled upon this video sooner because it's been a real game-changer. It's like finding out there's a shortcut to the treasure chest at the end of the rainbow! Thanks to this, I can finally confirm that I've spent my day doing things right, and now I'm feeling more confident than ever about my grand master electrical setup plan. So, wish me luck, it's all about the small details in audio physics!

I been trying to get my music system to work for around a week and watching these and a couple of your videos made me understand everything more and I ended up getting it working, that been said…… I love you!

Hey man. I just wanna say you nailed it. I mean nailed it. Thank you for the thorough explanation. EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Hey friend.. If I had found you online a few years ago , my install would not have turned out the way it is now, but with your videos I managed to track many issues I was having....thanks for sharing your knowledge,

I've always been a DIY car audio guy, and your videos are awesome for expanding knowledge. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos!

Hey whatup Mark! Anthony here - I just wanted to say, that all of your fabrication designs are simply to perfection, you're the man! Wish you well bro!! and thank you so much

Mark, To get the proper fuse size in the equation, do we use the amp's max power, or the power I'm using via the ohm rating for my subwoofer? So, I have a 600watt 1-ohm subwoofer connected to a 600watt @ 1ohm class D amp (which the specs say is 2000w max power). Would I just do 600/.8/13.8? Also, my amp has no fuses, so would you recommend using a distribution block? I'm also installing a LOC with a smaller guage power wire than my main power wire 4 awg, so a block should be used, right?

Wow man I know absolutely NOTHING about car audio, I repair other electronics such as laptops and iphones but after watching this video I'm totally subbed! Thank you. 😇

I like knukoncptz products but make sure to check the screws in the distribution blocks every once in a while or add lock washers. Had the the dual 1/0 fuse block start melting on me once because the screw holding the fuse down came loose. Was installed for about 7 months then one day started smelling something burn, thought it was the subs but they were cold. Then found the fuse block plastic melted

CarAudioFabrication YOU ARE A BADASS!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

thanks.. this was a great lesson.. i am now looking for fuse holders and blocks for my 2 amp system..

You always know it’s going to be a good video when Mark busts out the whiteboard!

Love this video. I am currently planning to add another amplifier to my truck, and I needed a guide to get everything proper. Thanks!

I already know I'm gonna be freaked out about my install after watching this 😂

Great video, thanks! The amp efficiency segment of your video was very helpful! I never took that into account when picking my fuse before! Thank you!

CarAudioFabrication are you talking about peak watts on amplifier or RMS to count the fuse size?

Professional, as always. One of the best channels on youtube.

My sub amp is 500.1 and has 4 15 watt fuses. I recently blowup all those fuses replaced them with the same fuses and now it's running great like it used to. I also replaced my 100 amp fuse also.

Thank you for doing this amazing page! Your videos are great and super helpful. I had a couple systems in 93-95 (PPI, MB Quart, Phoenix Gold, Red Line G&S subs....) and its cool to see what has changed and evolved since then!

Yes, I learned the hard way with straight wiring and had a fire of course.

This was actually way more informative than I thought it would be. Good job.

Fantastic! The very best video for a car audio fuses explained that has ever been made.

10:55 and 11:05 Mark says a "sine wave", not a sound wave like I originally thought. (Per YT Auto Captions) DEFINED: A sine wave is a continuous wave. It is named after the function sine, of which it is the graph. It occurs often in pure and applied mathematics, as well as physics, engineering, signal processing and many other fields.

I generally just fuse to a little under what the max amperage of what the wire itself can handle. I try to stick to one amp for the whole system though to make it easier. Just use the recommended wire size from the manufacturer on a 5 or 6 channel amp. Good info as always.

This is definitely a video I will have to be watching a few time to grasp the concept but thank you for explaining it so well! 👍🏾

Old bugger here, back in my day once I started doing large systems for competition, we did not use fuses, this was before lithium batteries, so just lead acid batteries. We would use 95mm^2 cables, so less of a fire risk than using any sort of normally sizes cable.

Hi Mark, don't know if you reply to comments but I can only hope lol. My question is, when calculating the Watts of the amp. Is the Watts of the amp RMS or PEAK that we are calculating? Thanks

That formula for solving for the size fuse is golden thanks man

How do you fuse dsp at distribution block going from a 8g to 16g they don't make a 1 amp anl fuse i don't believe

Working on my Expedition install and been out the game for a few years and needed a brain tickle to remember. Thanks

This dude is doing God's work. I'm system savvy and this was in sinful. Thank you

For you calculations, are you using the total peak power of the amp or the RMS rating for the amp?

Wow thank you for explaining this bro, I finally understand what short circuit is and why the cable gets hot. Very well done video

So humble, knowledgeable, well spoken and extremely on point 💪👌

Beautifully explained I just got a new fuse for my second battery

so glad i found your channel again! i subscribed probably about 5 or 6 years ago but lost that account! great vid thank you!

One thing you did not point out is that IF you blow a fuse not to keep putting them in there and blowing them. Fuses (especially 200A ones) blow for good reason and you absolutely have to figure out what is causing them to blow.

My man, I feel like I'm back in college listening to the professor! Awesome channel! Subscribed.

Thanks for this video. I needed this after I added a 12" sub to my system to see how it would sound and melted the fuse box. The wire is on the small side. I bought the system already installed I just updated the factory speakers.

Really well done video! I’ve always installed a circuit breaker at the battery vs a high rated fuse. It’s convenient to throw the trip/reset lever if I’m working down the line.

Some old school stuff: fusible links. What are they? Basically a short section [maybe one foot] of purposely undersized wire to guarantee failure point stays under the hood in the event of a hard fault or short. Basic rule of thumb: size down by 4. So, if a distribution wire is 10awg, the fusible link will be 14awg. I like fuses better because failure point stays contained, and replacement is so much easier.

I watch this video 4 time 1 week.😂for me to get more detail understanding.thanks Mark for the video. -subscriber&follower from Malaysia.- ❤ from Malaysia❤

Very good video! I'm already a pretty experienced installer, but every now and then I peruse KZfaq to see what people are doing. Personally I shoot for a wire and fuse that can handle at least 125% of whatever it needs to power. For example, if I have a system that pulls 100amps, I'll wire and fuse it for 125 amps. Also, I prefer circuit breakers because of easy reset as opposed to having to unscrew an ANL fuse in the field. Personal preference though.

Good looks, now I'm aware about FUSED distributions blocks. Will be one of the first upgrades I make when i can work on my truck again!

It’s not like car people have a code for them like electricians do. We have NFPA 70, 70A and 70E. Your calculations are correct based on your math and I see you are correct in being on the safe side in your choice of fuses. Burning up your investment is never a good thing. Protect that investment and your hard work and size that wire and those fuses to give yourself that protection that will keep that equipment on the safe side of things. You won’t burn up and you won’t lose your money from stupidity! Good video Mark!

This video is exactly what I was looking for on KZfaq. Very informative and easy to follow. Thanks for explaining in detail what fuses to be used in distribution blocks. All your videos are very well made. Thanks again Mark!

You answered a huge question for me on fuse and wire size. Now I know how to calculate both sizes. Glad I found your channel because I was going to run my system (1200w sub amp and 400w high end amp) with regular distribution blocks. Now I know the proper way! Thanks!! Subscriber!

Perfect answered all questions I'm running the 200amp stringer your using for example, on 4 gauge wire now about to switch to 0 gauge and wanted to research a the 200amp still good enough.

Also keep the fused dist. block close to the amp as possible. this keeps the reduced size wire short as possible, which will be able to carry more current than a longer run. Actually, just a good idea to keep all cables short as possible. Don't leave 5 ft of extra wire just balled up in the trunk. Looks bad too.

thank you thank you thank you. i don't speak english, i use app to translate this message. In Spanish I struggle to find videos with the information you share. I thank you and I would like to make videos in Spanish with the information that you share for people like me, who do not speak English. My wife translates some things for me and the rest is easy for you to understand. thank you.

Super eye opening video tutorial. Thank you CarAudioFabrication. Rob from South Africa

Thank you for the great video!!! I keep learning something every time I watch your videos!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

Very informative video currently I'm working on my motorcycle system and needed to figure out how to wire up everything as my motorcycle wasn't factory installed with nothing! So 2 6.5" and 1" components with xovers for upper fairing 2 8" woofers and super horns in my lower fairings 2 6.5" sub woofers and 2 8" sub woofers in the saddlebags 2 6.5" and 1" components with xovers in touring pack and a 12 inch sub in the touring pack itself, ok there's 1 4 channel 1600 watt amp for front side a 2400 watt amp for back side and a 1500 watt mono amp for my 12 incher. Now I had to run the amps 1 in fairing 2 in bags inline fuse, power distribution, a 2.0 farad capacitor in the opposite bag, all the wires to my 7" Android head unit (so in that mess was power aux gnd all speaker wires remote turn ons as well as how ant radio ant and a 2 camera dvr setup for insurance reasons) to add to it I also went LEDs all around for ruining trail head lights and a 24pc LED rgb lighting kit with music processor to make a light show with music.! Wow anyways using what I've been learning of your videos it's coming together nicely! So well thanks

How do I determine what size main fuse to use between the battery and distribution block?

I usually "under" fuse my stuff. Figure out the actual capacities of the wire and all, then de-rate by 20% or so. I do that with just about all my electronics that have user replaceable fuses. I worked as a A/V service tech for many years and learned that a lot of equipment "blows up" but does NOT burn the fuse! The old joke was that the $250.00 picture tube in the TV set will burnout to protect the 30 cent fuse! So, unless you're in a SPL comp event and would rather risk smoking the amp to get that 1st place award, I'd put lower amp fuses in the equipment. If you de-rate the fuse in your amp and it does not pop during power up, you're fine.

this video was funny in so many ways. not questioning any of your knowledge just saying listen to this with a dirty mind and it will be funny as hell and a little internal dialogue.

Great video and really informational, but damn it went over my head. Will have to watch this multiple times

@Car Audio Fabrication Excellent video, Mark, and one of the most thorough discussions on the topic that I've seen. 👍 FINALLY, now I can refer the hundreds of questions I see about this to your video instead of having to type it all out again each time! So that's for that! I think that Big D and Curt Chase in the comments addressed my other thoughts on this topic eextremely well, too. Thanks again for the concise video. 👍

Too many things learned today damn i feel like a professional now

hi caraudiofabrication, look at the minute 10.06, why the power (1400 watt) of the amplifier must divide by the 80% efficiency. it supposed the value watt to be more less if the working efficiency is 80%. if im not mistaken, 1400 watt must multiply with 80% and the result is 1120. i'm enjoy your video. keep up the good work. thanks...

Still have much to learn but I got a lot of information from this video, thank you for the help.

Been following you for years! No clue why you aren't over 1m subs man

Best information found on KZfaq !

What if I'm running an amp and 2 compressors for my air bag suspension system? Is it the same method?

Good info, well explained.

As always, i love learning from you. This helps me do my own installs better on my cars. I appreciate it you alot Mark. Thank you!

I have learned so much from this channel . Thank you for all the great content

This is top of the line best car aidio install and the best explanations that i have seen you are the bobmb

Wow. Someone who actually makes senses and you can understand. Great video I actually learned something. Made me subscribe. I work on my car electrical system all the time bit don't know much about electricity besides ther basics and common sense. I installed a 2 inverters a pure sine and a modified sine, auxiliary battery new head unit ,amplifier, subwoofer, 6.5 and some tweets. Also put in ther 24 inch tv ,microwave, coffee maker and a solar battery charger/maintainer and a DC to DC charger/maintainer. I have room for all that I drive a 2019 mercedes sprinter.

Great video and explanation Mark! I was just wondering why are fuses used instead of circuit breakers, since there are many made specifically for cars.

Thank you very informative! I am rewiring my sailboat and this came in handy!

This information can be life or death. It is funny to me that we pay all this money for heavy wire and all our current goes thru a tiny strip of metal inside a glass enclosure. 😂😂

Great video Mark

Would also add however, zip tieing cables is good, be mindful however you can have the cable rub thru and cause a short. Also ensure that where you have your cable run you are not putting it in a position where it can rub through or cut through.

fuse and fuse holder resistance.... Excellent point.

Best way for people to think of fuses would be that it is not only a controlled failure point but being covered etc it's safe. Without the fuse, the wire becomes the fuse and it's far more exposed, which takes longer to burn but as you state can of course be fire hazard. So if the current doesn't kill your gear due to lack of fusing, the fire will and potentially destroy your entire vehicle with risk of hurting you or someone else in the process. In other words, don't skimp on a fuse because you're worried you're losing power to it as the damage that can be caused without them is far worse than the .01 volts you "might" lose.

I want to say congratulations for your channel, I admire you and I like your perfectionism in everything you do! I just have to comment there is a mistake in this video. When you want to calculate the overall current draw of an amp you don't have to deduct the efficiency and this is because if an amp has efficiency for example 80% the rest 20% converts to heat and this energy comes also from the same source which is car's battery. So to finalize if an amp is 1000W that means 1000W / 13.8V = 72.5A (We don't care at this point if 80% of the energy will convert to music and the rest 20% will convert to heat) We just want to calculate the current draw in order to be able to pick up the right fuse. Sorry for my English hope you understand me :)

I am really struggling with the fuse size calculation, seems way over kill and too large of a fuse for any electrical application can be like no fuse. If i go off of your calculations of max watts per amp for my 3 amps i need something like 280 amp fuse for my 3 amps, if i go off of RMS watts it is like 135 amps. If that were true how come running maxed out i do not blow a small 40 amp fuse ? if I was drawing anywhere near 100 plus amps my battery would go dead because it is much more than my alternator puts out. None of this is adding up and when i look at the manual for my 1200 watt max amp it says average current draw of 3.1 A, this makes much more sense as to why 3 amps would only be drawing maybe 10 amps top.

Would that be the same for the ground wire distribution block?

My brain fuse blew when you started doing the current calculations 🤪

Hi Bro, Congratulations 🎊 🎉 ❤️ Brother I'm from Srilanka Can you upload a video about Auto Wire? How we chose a correct wire size for the circuit? Gauges, Ampere lost for the meter etc... All the thinks include in the video. Thank You.

such a very great and informative video! Especially really enjoyed how to determine if amplifier companies are really distributing enough power they claim to their amps by solving for the fuses they should be using! Thank you so much Mark for this awesome and insightful video that was much needed by car audio newcomers like myself!

I watch this video often to reinforce my “expertise”, as my system is always evolving. Just wanted to point out that you cannot put too many fuses… (well technically you could get stupid with them) but better safe than sorry if your not sure. As Mark hilariously and dramatically states here: 14:09 , an inline fuse does not put a bottleneck in your system, but fuses everywhere they’re not really needed can potentially lol.

how many physics class would i have to go for me to learn all that he just taught me. A LOT !!! Thank bro i appreciate the lesson.

Is a busbar ok to use at the rear of my car? I am connecting a kicker keyloc and my 500 watt amp to the busbar and adding a 2amp fuse connected to the busbar then to the keyloc. Do I have to worry about fires using a busbar considering on the side of it is somewhat open?

Are you using the RMS or Max watt rating to calculate the fuse size?

Thank you for the very informative video. I am in the process of building my system, and am bit confused on the fuse size calculations. The amp I am planning on using for the sub is rated at 150 watts @ 4 ohms, 300 watts @ 2 ohms and 500 watts @ 1 ohm. I will be running the sub @ 2 ohms so the amp will only be producing 300 watts. Should I calculate fuse size based on the 500 watts that the amp is capable of, or the 300 watts that it will actually be producing? Similarly, I plan on utilizing a small 4 channel amp where I will only be using 2 of those channels to power the rear speakers for rear fill. Should I calculate fuse size on the total output of the amplifier (all 4 channels) or just the actual output that will be used ( 2 channels)?

GOLD Content!! Thank you for your time.

Amazing channel. I assume when you review the 2 amps in this video and quote 1000W for one amp and 400W for the other amp that these are the MAX POWER RATING and NOT the RMS RATING

I love ur videos they been so much help! But what if ur amp dont have a fuse on it?

I have a 8000 watt amp wire at 4000 watts 1ohm for 2 subs, 1500 watt wired at 600 watts for mids, and a 4 channel wired at 100 watts per channel for highs,,,, could you tell me if i figured right at needing a 500 watt main inline fuse. that seems like a lot. learnt just about all on installing from you videos and still learning. thanks

Great video! I bet it sells a lot of wire, fuses and distribution blocks.

can anyone suggest a good quality inline fuse holder and 2-way fused distribution block for use with ring terminals instead of set screws? it seems like almost all of this stuff uses set screws, despite their bad reputation