Car Audio

Several aspects of the automotive industry have always been embraced by hobbyists and do-it-yourself enthusiasts. Being able to say that you created something with your own bare hands would make anyone feel proud. In the mobile electronics industry, carmakers have been rapidly advancing the technology used in new cars. From computer data networks and advanced vehicle construction materials to elaborate factory audio system tuning, all of these technologies present unique challenges that many people simply aren’t aware of. Failure to compensate for these can wreak havoc with your vehicle’s electrical system, damage the products you are installing or simply result in poor performance from your audio equipment.

Let’s look closely at why it’s best to put the reliability of your vehicle, and the performance of your audio equipment, in the hands of a a shop offering professional installation.

Computers

Automobile manufacturers are always striving to make their vehicles as fuel-efficient as possible while offering the latest technologies and features. One way they save weight is by putting different devices and computers on a computer data network. Rather than running a myriad of control wires from component to component, they run power and ground, and a pair of data wires. Everything from door locks and trunk release modules to ABS brake and traction control systems can talk to each other on the data network.

Where these networks pose a challenge is when you want to add or remove something from the vehicle. Say you have a vehicle that has a secondary radio display in the dash, but you want to upgrade your audio system. The display may get very upset when you take the radio away. Likewise, you typically can’t add new devices to the data network to add new features.

Your car audio specialist retailers have the experience to work with these data networks. They know what interfaces are available for options like a remote starter or backup camera integration, and they have the manufacturer support to program and install them without causing Check Engine or MIL lights.

Reliability

When working on a vehicle, there are many different ways to run wires and make electrical connections. Automotive mechanics know that it’s hard to beat the knowledge and experience that a veteran car audio installer possesses when it comes to working on vehicle electrical systems. They make dozens, if not hundreds, of electrical connections each and every day.

The connections are electrically sound, offering little to no resistance to current flow. Equally, the connections are mechanically sound, ensuring that they will be at least as reliable as the factory connections, if not much better.

Finally, many shops use materials like split loom, nylon sleeves or cloth tape to protect wires as they run through the vehicle. These protective coverings also make the wiring look as if it came from the factory.

Product Warranty

Many mobile electronics manufacturers offer extensions on their product warranties when the products are sold and installed by an authorized dealer. Authorized retailers have been trained on the features of the products they sell. In the case of high-end brands, this training often extends to techniques and methodologies that make the products sound better in your vehicle, and subsequently last longer. The proper installation and configuration of mobile electronic components is the key to their performance and reliability.

Audio Integration

Factory audio systems are becoming more and more complicated. They still don’t rival what is available from the aftermarket, but they have improved. One big step automakers have made in the performance of their audio systems is in their tuning. More and more factory source units and amplifiers include advanced equalization and time correction to maximize the performance of the audio system. When it comes time to upgrade these systems, installers have the techniques and equipment required to test the signals going to the speakers to determine if signal correction is required. If you omit signal correction when installing a new speaker, the tuning that made a cheap factory speaker sound mediocre will work against you, and make a great speaker sound only so-so. Factory audio system signal measurement and correction is now a way of life for a car audio installer.

Modern Vehicle Chassis Design

Did you know that automakers are now using aluminum panels in the construction of their vehicles? In the ongoing battle to reduce weight, the use of aluminum will continue to increase year after year. The downside for the mobile electronics enthusiast is that aluminum is not as good a conductor of electrical current as steel is. In fact, pound for pound, it offers 30% more resistance to the flow of electrical current. This dramatically affects the amount of current we can deliver to high-power audio amplifiers.

Worse than the fact that they are using aluminum is that they have also started using structural adhesives to bond panels together. Spot welds are quick, but they only connect a small area. A good bead of 3M, Loctite or Proform structural adhesive between two aluminum panels connects the entire overlapping surface of the panel together. There is less chance of movement and less chance of corrosion. There’s a downside to this as well: These structural adhesives do not conduct electricity.

If you work with experienced installers, they know how to deal with vehicles that have aluminum chassis and/or adhesive construction. Failure to compensate for these modern construction methods could result in damaged equipment and poor performance.

Choose Professional Installation

For most people, their vehicle is their second-most expensive purchase after their homes. When it comes time to have work done, the knowledge and experience of a trained professional can help ensure that you get all the performance you want from your purchase without any of the headaches of nonprofessional installation. Contact your local car audio specialist retailer today.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

When it comes to high-current wiring in a vehicle, there are two types of stranded power wire available: solid copper and copper-clad aluminum. This article looks at the differences between each kind of wire, and explain the challenges of ensuring your high-current device gets the power it needs to do the job you want done.

Car Audio Power Wire: Background

In mobile applications, or anywhere that a conductor may be exposed to movement or vibration, it is recommended to use only stranded conductors. Solid conductors (like single-strand house wiring) may offer slightly more conductor area for a given wire diameter, but over time, the solid wire can work-harden, become brittle and eventually break from repeated back-and-forth motion. Imagine using large-gauge solid copper wires in the wire boot in a door jamb or to your trunk or hatch lid. That is a recipe for disaster.

The term OFC (oxygen-free copper) has become abused and is used synonymously with solid or all-copper conductors. In actuality, OFC is a type of solid copper. When molten copper is cast and drawn into a conductor, the process to make an OFC conductor reduces the oxygen content of the wire. If all is done perfectly, the copper-oxygen content is around 42 parts per million (PPM) vs. a conventional copper with content that is roughly six times that amount.

In the mobile electronics industry, there is no way to know if the solid copper conductor you are purchasing is oxygen-free or not unless you can witness the casting process in person. Everyone in the industry uses “OFC” for a piece of wire that is not copper-clad aluminum (CCA).

Looking at the alternative, we have CCA conductors. In these conductors, the core of the wire is a cylinder of aluminum and around it is a layer of copper. From the side, it looks like copper, but if you cut off a piece and look at the end, you can see the gray aluminum content.

There are further variations. Some companies manufacture all-copper strand wire but coat the outside of each strand with a thin layer of tin to help prevent corrosion.

Car Audio Power Wire: Size

When it comes to flowing electricity, or, more specifically, flowing electrons, the most important thing to consider is wire size. In the mobile electronics industry, we use the American Wire Gauge (AWG) standard. This sets a specific diameter for a conductor. It’s not a debatable number – the conductor either meets the standard or it doesn’t.

Here is where the games begin. There is a second term used in our industry: gauge. In the steel sheet industry, gauge is an important tool for specifying material thickness. In car audio, it means nothing. If you have been around the industry for any amount of time, you will have seen wires that claim to be 0 gauge but have a conductor area equivalent to a 6 AWG. If a wire is labeled as 4 gauge, then sadly, you have no way of knowing how big it is, other than attempting to measure it.

Cutting a wire and looking at the area also doesn’t always tell the story. Some wires are wound quite loosely. This makes the wire very flexible, but does so because there is space around the strands. You sacrifice effective cross-sectional conductor area for flexibility.

Car Audio Power Wire: Materials

In solid copper stranded wire, we ideally want everything to be pure copper. That said, pure copper is quite expensive, even though the cost of pure copper has come down over the past few years; it currently sits at around $2.00–$2.25 a pound on the commodities market. When a manufacturer wants to purchase wire, there are many options: strand count, how the strands and bundles are woven, how tightly they are woven, and so on. Manufacturers also have a choice in the “kind” of copper they make the conductors with. It could be pure copper, recycled copper or a copper alloy. Again, you have no way of knowing unless you are witness to the process.

Don’t let the variations in copper scare you. A solid copper conductor always outperforms a CCA conductor. The biggest challenge with car audio CCA wiring is that it does not, and will not, specify the ratio of copper to aluminum. There are publically displayed measurements of different CCA wire samples where a smaller-diameter wire outperforms a slightly larger wire because it has less aluminum and more copper. Unless you measure it yourself, you just don’t know.

On its own, pound for pound, aluminum has about 60% more resistance to the flow of electricity. When we talk about CCA wire, there is some copper in there; in most cases, the difference diminishes to 30 to 40%.

Car Audio Power Wire: The Challenge

When you look at car audio wiring, there is no way to know what you are getting with a CCA amp kit or roll of wire. Some manufacturers make CCA wire that functions nearly as well as solid copper. In fact, one company makes an oversized CCA that has less resistance per foot than solid copper. The downside is that the wire doesn’t fit into a lot of connectors or terminal blocks. Overall, unless you want to take the time to measure the properties of the kit you are buying, it is better to stick to solid copper.

From the standpoint of long-term benefits, solid copper wire resists corrosion much better than CCA wiring. In climates where road salt or brine is used in the winter to keep surfaces clear of ice, we have seen instances where unprotected CCA power wires have failed completely in less than two years. Why risk the performance of your audio system, when you can simply choose the solid copper wire?

How do you know if you are getting something good? The Consumer Technology Association (formerly the Consumer Electronics Association) has developed a standard for wiring. It is called CTA-2015 (formerly CEA-2015) specification. It describes the minimum standards for wiring for use in mobile electronics applications. The standards include that the wire must be stranded solid copper, the minimum number of strands for a given AWG wire size, and the area of the wire and its maximum resistance. If you stick to the brands that support the CTA-2015 standard, you should never have any problems.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.