Changing wire gauge from the amplifier and fuse?

[UndercoverVLS]

The siren amplifier has 3 wires that need to go to the battery. States minimum 8 gauge for 2 relay power wires (each with 40A fuse) and minimum 10 gauge for the other (siren - and use 20A fuse). It says to use those size fuses which Im assuming is the max for each relay. However, my total setup (minus the siren) is 15 Amps, and no plans to expand.

So the question is, am I doing myself a disservice by going with the 40 amp fuses they say to use? Im thinking I should lower the amps on the fuse. And also, could I techincally drop the wire gauge to 10awg instead of 8? Or is that not advisable? Just makes things much much easier and thinking its overkill.

Thanks!

 

[buddek09]

You can drop the fuses down as well as the wire gauge without any problems. Even though you have no plans to expand, depending on the length of the 10 gauge wire, you would still have a little room to expand should you ever need too.

It would be overkill to stay with the 40 amp fuses and 8 gauge wire, especially if you are only using 15Amps. They write the instructions to make sure if who ever is installing it doesn't know what they're doing, they won't use too small of wire or fuses that are too big.

 

[UndercoverVLS]

Thanks for the reply! I figured as much, but just wanted to be certain. Always second guessing myself. Going to run 10awg and probably drop it to 25 amp fuses.

 

[C17LVFD]

What type of siren system do you have? Figure 10amps to be safe per siren speaker. So if your running 200 watts of siren output, with your lights your at 35amps.

What is the distance from your battery to the amp?

General recommendations are to increase wire gauge one size from what you need for the run.

Attached is Whelens wire gauge and size chart. It's always worked for me and gives a pretty good idea of what size wire should be used where.

Good Luck,
Seth