Voltage Drop Calculator by electrician.com,
and HEAVILY MODIFIED by KyferEz and TheCarPCStore.com

The following calculator calculates the voltage drop, and voltage at the end of the wire for American Wire Gauge from 4/0 AWG to 30 AWG, aluminum or copper wire.

For all applications, but especially car stereo, you want minimal voltage drop due to the wire. The higher the voltage drop in the wire, the more sound you're losing, as your amplifier is seeing a lower voltage at it's input, which means it will produce less power, which means less sound. With me so far?

Now you don't want to go overboard; all wire is going to have voltage drop - that's no reason to use 4/0 wire on a 100 WRMS amplifier!

Using the calcualtor: For car stereo, select, from top down, "Copper", the gauge of wire you intend to use, "12 VDC or 1-phase AC", how long your wire will be when run in the car, and how much wattage OR how much current you intend to conduct through the wire.

Questions:

Select Copper or Aluminum wire

Select American Wire Gauge (AWG) Size
(smaller AWG #s = larger wire)

Select Voltage (car audio select 12V DC)

Enter 1-way circuit length in feet: (how long is the wire)

Enter Current Load in Amps OR
Total Peak Amplifier Wattage NOT BOTH

   







Results:

Loss (in Heat) across wire: Watts

Voltage drop across wire: Volts

Voltage at the load end of wire (the side hooked to the amplifier): Volts

Per Cent voltage drop: %

Wire cross section in circular mils:

The values below are derived from the gauge and length of wire and current load or wattage entered above the Calculate button, and are considered 'safe' under certain conditions. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the next size up wire if approaching these Max values.

Max Continous Current Load for this gauge and length of wire (if not bundled with others): Amps

Max RMS Amplifier Wattage for this gauge and lenth of wire (if not bundled with others): Watts