Raptor Wiring

[Ryan from Ohio]

Well where to begin...

Ive been noticing lately some wire has been deceiving lately. Like you buy what you think is 1/0 and its equivalent to 4 Ga...

I got some Raptor "4 Ga" wire. Before I ordered it I went over this with Mike. Who has some sort of information on it. Im not sure where he got it from, but I believe it to be inaccurate. Direct quote:
I had a hunch so I thought I'd double check since I've done a few of the 4 ga. wiring kits from Raptor... And actually it has a higher strand count than the Stinger (It's the same as the Tsunami, but the 0/1 is smaller than the Tsunami 0/1 competition grade).
Raptor 4 ga. is 1862 Strand count
Stinger 4 ga. is 1666 Strand count

Now Im not slating Mike or saying he is a liar. I know better. Its my belief the information provided to him is false. Whether this is from the Distributor, manufacturer or some other 3rd party source...

Im not sure what his information on the wire is exactly, but heres my finidings:

I put the Raptor wire up against the IXOS GT 4 Ga wire I have here.

Both wires each strand measures .004", so the strands are equal diameter. You can also see each sample piece is close to the same length...

This is the results, in pictures.

[breakjunki]

wow, I was thinking slight difference as I read it, it looks like 12 gauge speaker wire next to the other....

[Ryan from Ohio]

Im thinking its closer to 8ga in a 4 Ga case...

[Bwcad1]

yup. for the price you pay what do you expect lol. raptor is tsunamis little brother.

[Ryan from Ohio]

I expect 4 Ga to be 4 Ga for starters...

Its deceiving and ill advertised, simply misleading...

Ive E mailed Raptor about this to no response, go figure...

[smoker]

yea, i dont buy raptor at all.....i sell either tsunami, scosche or audiopipe...the raptor is easily at most 8 guage in a 4 guage thick sleeve but its also less than half the price of quality 4 guage wire....

[loudwagon15s]

i've worked with raptor 4 guage, and it was about the same size as knu koncepz 8 guage kolasus.

[Bwcad1]

how many times have you said you get what you pay for? we even showed you the raptor in the Buick lol. its not false advertising the jacket is thick enough to be considered 4awg yes that maybe misleading but its not false.

[solacedagony]

I remember seeing 1/0 gauge on eBay. The actual wire area was so small that it looked like a practical joke or something.

[Bwcad1]

u get what you pay for.

[Scarrell]

check out Amp King.. their wire isnt bad.. i have some of their 2 gauge, but i havent compared it to any other wiring.. i have some Raptor wire but it doesnt look anything like that, its red..

[cargodz]

Now Im not slating Mike or saying he is a liar. I know better. Its my belief the information provided to him is false. Whether this is from the Distributor, manufacturer or some other 3rd party source...

You'd be correct in the assumption of it coming from the manufacturer...
Hit me up some time next week and I'll get ya some Audiopipe 4 ga. or similiar for replacement... I think there is a good possibilty that Metra's Raptor line is going cheaper and I think I'm going to have to quit using them myself... The 0/1 in the Buick was the first time I used the 0/1, but I had used the 4 ga. last year on a few installs and it was larger then and seems to now be going the route of the 0/1 and getting smaller, but Metra isn't changing the info on the Raptor line for some reason... - 10 in my book for Raptor

[Ryan from Ohio]

how many times have you said you get what you pay for? we even showed you the raptor in the Buick lol. its not false advertising the jacket is thick enough to be considered 4awg yes that maybe misleading but its not false.


Hahah, I didnt pay for it! Honestly Im not even sure what the kit runs! Im assuming about 30ish?

I wasnt sure if that was Raptor or something else in the buick, but I do remember the wire, lol :)

Im not 100% sure, but I believe the wire rating is done by the amount of current the wire can carry. Not the outside diameter of the insulator. I find it hard to believe the Raptor wire could carry the same current as the IXOS, or the standard current of 4 Ga rated...

[Bwcad1]

next time ill show you some hooker 1/0. that will knock your socks off.

remember your not pulling 300 amps continuously. maybe at most for a brief second. so they can get away with it.

[solacedagony]

Here's an interesting gauge to inches converter. :)
http://www.onlineconversion.com/gauge_wire.htm

[Ryan from Ohio]

Im pretty sure that calculator is setup for solid conductor.

When you go with stranded it takes more to carry the same current ;)

It may Bill. Even though, the Raptor isnt 4 Ga, no way.

[solacedagony]

Im pretty sure that calculator is setup for solid conductor.

When you go with stranded it takes more to carry the same current ;)

It may Bill. Even though, the Raptor isnt 4 Ga, no way.
But gauge isn't a measurement of current capacity, it's a measurement of diameter, isn't it?

[breakjunki]

I thouht it was a diameter measurement.. I know smalller = bigger. For example, piercing jewelery, the gauges for those pretty much correspond to a standard gauge 4 gauge= a certain diameter. they have a little gauge wheel, that I've also seen shops use for wiring.. But I guess in raptor case it is 4 gauge, the outside diameter, not the wire gauge, which is pretty shady...

[Ryan from Ohio]

But gauge isn't a measurement of current capacity, it's a measurement of diameter, isn't it?

Youre right. But it isnt determined on the insulator, but the conductor. Furthermore, when you deal with stranded wire, the diameter has to be larger to make up for the difference between it and solid.

But the issue lies in current capacity.

All 4 Ga is supposed to be able to carry 150 Amps. 8 Ga is 100 Amps.

Now if this raptor is more of an 8 Ga, then it wont carry the 150 Amps...

http://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp

Here is a table, took a bit to find. You will see as the strand diameter decreases, the diameter of all the strands together increases...

http://www.brimelectronics.com/AWGchart.HTM

[solacedagony]

Youre right. But it isnt determined on the insulator, but the conductor. Furthermore, when you deal with stranded wire, the diameter has to be larger to make up for the difference between it and solid.
But the issue lies in current capacity.
All 4 Ga is supposed to be able to carry 150 Amps. 8 Ga is 100 Amps.
Now if this raptor is more of an 8 Ga, then it wont carry the 150 Amps...
http://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp
Here is a table, took a bit to find. You will see as the strand diameter decreases, the diameter of all the strands together increases...
http://www.brimelectronics.com/AWGchart.HTM
Absolutely, insulation can't conduct electricity. :)

What does CMA on the chart stand for?

[William from NOLA]

Absolutely, insulation can't conduct electricity. :)
What does CMA on the chart stand for?
This:
The circular mil area (CMA) of a conductor is computed by squaring the diameter of the circular conductor is mils. Thus, a wire having a diameter of 4 mils (0.004 inch) has a CMA of 42, or 16 circular mils.

[cargodz]

Well as far as I'm concerned with the newer Raptor power wire and amp install kits... I'm done. I even tryed to contact them about it with no response. I haven't seen a drop in the quality from the speaker wire, RCAs, or Fuse blocks and such, but the Power wire is really getting to me... Heck that 4ga. Install Kit has a retail of $49.95 and regular price of $34.00 (Not worth it in my book now that I see that the quality is dropping off). So I guess I'll stick with just getting the speaker wire, RCA's, and Fuse blocks if i need them and go with Audiopipe, American International, and Tsunami... Heck even the XXX's and Boss Audio's Install kits are looking to be an improvement over the way Raptor is going.

[Ryan from Ohio]

Anderson's has the XXX wire also. Its much similar to the Raptor issue... Just a heads up ;)

[cargodz]

Anderson's has the XXX wire also. Its much similar to the Raptor issue... Just a heads up ;)
That's exactly what I meant by it... If Raptor gets much smaller with their power wire... They'll be smaller than XXX and Boss.

[joeyc]

Wow, I missed this thread. I tried the raptor myself, boy was that stupid. I ended up using it to run from a distro block to a small amp, and thats all its good for. There rca's, especially the "shiny" ones, are not recommended either. I guess if a guy was broke he could buy the 1/0 and use it as 4 guage lol