Anyone installed a car stereo lately? Aluminum amp wire???

[pago cruiser]

So I purchased some car stereo stuff a few weeks ago, and started opening the boxes this weekend. 

One thing I thought would save some time on was a packaged install kit for the amp - it included 8awg red amp wire, 8awg ground wire, RCA wires, fuse holder, and some other hardware.  Great; save me the time of purchasing each item.

As I opened the box, I thought... this sure seems light. Thought the wire would weigh more....

 

The dang 8awg wire turns out to be aluminum!   Not CCA (another bad idea) but actual aluminum, with micro thin, hair like strands.  Have not installed a stereo in probably 20 years; so when did this start?

 

Called around this afternoon, and my friendly NAPA has copper 8awg on a spool: "How much do you want?" So tomorrow I will lose another 2 hours going into town to replace this... failed exercise in " how cheap can we make this"... 

 

The engineer in me thinks this is a terrible idea.  I feel like I am living in a Dilbert cartoon panel, with his boss always coming up with these hair-brained ideas that sound great, but ignore reality...  Connecting copper or plated connectors to aluminum wire with a third metal (solder) is literally going to be a corrosion factory. 

 

I guess I could always use a positap connection at each end, to transition to a short copper wire to solder on connectors; but this seems nuts.  Why would I want to add even more connectors (every connector is a potential failure point) in my wiring?

 

Grrrrrr.

[pizzaman09]

I'm unaware with respect to car stereos but aluminum wire is fairly common in thick wire such as house connections to the grid.  It's significantly less expensive than copper.  Last time I went to the scrap yard I got $3.30 per lb for copper and $0.90 for Aluminum.

[DirtyComanche]

I've never seen aluminum wire used in automotive.

 

I wouldn't use it either.  It "works" in certain residential/commercial/industrial applications because the corrosion risk is low and all connections are designed to use it, so they're made out of plated metals that will not induce corrosion, plus they use a specific conductive grease with it.  Even despite that you should check the torque on aluminum connections regularly...  They tend to come loose due to the thermal expansion coefficient.

[Minuit]

Sounds like the typical trash tier "wiring kit" you'll get from the usual suspects. Probably not the actual gauge it says it is either. Aluminum has significantly less current carrying ability than copper for a given cross sectional area, and has absolutely no advantages I can think of. I have seen all aluminum wire, but maybe it's getting more common?

 

The only way to do this is the right way. 8awg thin strand welding cable, hydraulically crimped name-brand lugs, fused as close to the battery as possible and grounded with something more than a sheet metal screw, etc. But almost nobody gives enough of a damn to do it the right way.

[75sv1]

3 hours ago, Minuit said:

Sounds like the typical trash tier "wiring kit" you'll get from the usual suspects. Probably not the actual gauge it says it is either. Aluminum has significantly less current carrying ability than copper for a given cross sectional area, and has absolutely no advantages I can think of. I have seen all aluminum wire, but maybe it's getting more common?

 

The only way to do this is the right way. 8awg thin strand welding cable, hydraulically crimped name-brand lugs, fused as close to the battery as possible and grounded with something more than a sheet metal screw, etc. But almost nobody gives enough of a damn to do it the right way.

The XJ in '99 actually went from a sheet metal screw to a threaded bolt for the ground wire for the battery negative.

[Smokeyyank]

I just finished wiring up my stereo a bit ago and this is the kit I went with for mine. I did install an amp but I rewired everything for speakers and the deck.  

 

https://www.knukonceptz.com/mobile-audio/amp-installation-kits/sp/complete-8-gauge-amplifier-installation-kit/

 

Very happy with the quality for the price. 

 

 

[pago cruiser]

Thanks for the confirmation guys; was beginning to think I was just venting in the wind.

 

Coming from 20 years on a 37' sailboat (hence, Pago Cruiser), all wiring was Anchor tinned copper (except 4/0 for the windlass was welding cable), terminals were tinned copper, and all joints were both crimped and soldered. Anything over 8awg was also heatshrinked. Never had one wiring corrosion problem in that very harsh environment. 

 

Cannot say the same about aluminum cable stays.  It took about 5 years for my semi-rigid aluminum cable stays (I had used dozens of these, all different sizes) to turn to aluminum dust.  See pic. Note that there was never water IN the boat. All the water came from humidity in the air, over time.

 

For anybody interested, it happens like this:

2Al + 3H20 ---> 3H2 + Al203

 

Aluminum + water = hydrogen + aluminum oxide.

Yes, hydrogen is a product of this reaction.  But even though hydrogen has a lower flammability limit of about 4%, the reaction process time is usually measured in years so that level is never (AFAIK) reached.   Although the pressure from the freed hydrogen can result in separation of the insulation from the conductor, providing even more pathways for more H20 ingress and faster Al203 production.  

 

Caveat emptor, once again.

Sigh.

Rant over.