Tahoe 30kw System Rebuild (Vid 11) Power Wire MADNESS!

wired up the buss bars, the alternators, and 6 of the 10 batteries. Soldered everything - very time consuming with the big wires like 1/0 and 2/0. Watch for the next vid!

[@meade916]

i used to compete with my systems - i havent in at least 3 years though....burnt out. I just like having a big ass system and doing demo's for the people now :)

[@clvnblnkee]

Even your power wires look clean... I like how you take your time to make them look nice instead of just crimping them.

[@EXOcontralto]

This is so amazing - I love the Buss Bar with custom fuse holders!! 5*****

[@meade916]

that is a wood box they are sitting on and even though its got some foil from the sound deadener there, i have the bars sitting on rubber mounts about 3/8" off of it. (i didnt put it there to deaden the wood BTW, its just there because i was covering EVERYTHING in the back that was in the way at the time)

[@darkstar286]

These kind of videos are the kinds I like to see. Sure it's cool to have videos of some guy just running around thumping, but to a nerd like me, it's also cool to see how he got to that point. It also helps to be a sort of reference when you're doing stuff yourself. Thanks for the quality videos Steve, keep up the good work.

[@meade916]

right on man thanks for the comment!!! btw: nothing wrong with a 500-1000 watt system at all!! It dont matter how much power or speakers you have, or which brand for that matter (to a point LOL) but doing it right is the important part.

[@stijnmartens9952]

Very nice job Steve!!!! Those are some massive wires but they all connect very nicely to the buss-bars!!

[@smokey420allday]

200th rating!!!!!! Very nice steve, its all coming together real good, Thanx for helping my bro-in-law with his system tuning ill post a vid of it soon. Keep it up man. Mad Props.

[@Kevin6432]

I just wanted to let you know, although I have little interest in really really loud systems (but a little bit of knowledge installing wimpy 500-1000 watt systems), that I have thoroughly enjoyed going through these videos. It's very rare to come by someone that is as skilled and as passionate as you. Keep it up dude.

[@ridered7262]

Nice job Steve, I'm currently doing same thing to my boat and the connections are super tight and very strong. Thanks!

[@Monkeypumper420]

Looking good Steve! One lil thing(Not that you don't know what your doing or anything), but when your pushing the solder into the power connections, heat the rings like you did, wait for the heat to soak through to the wire, and add the solder to the wire itself. The flux core in it will seep down into the wire, and the solder will follow. It's got to be a bitch with 2/0. My 1/0 took TONS of solder to get the joint full. Your finnished product looks perfect bro. Nice work. Keep them coming!

[@raarsnafu]

ok, that makes sense. awesome, that must work out really good to have such a great location to have all your hookups. very good idea steve.

[@legend6882]

loving the long video. and you made me lol when you go ''im running out of terminal rings'' then you into your box of goodies .lol so good.

[@williamsfleal]

thats a nice and clean installation bro i did the same on the installation on my car all the soldering its a pain in the neck because its hard to deal whit those 0 ga cables thumbs up for u because u know how to do great thinks

[@SpenserRoger]

I heard a proper hydraulic crimp makes the best connection, literally cold welds it and all the wire strands together in an octagon shape. Where as solder not only has higher resistance but can fail and lead to overheating which is the most common cause of electrical fires. I hear soldering power wires is even outlawed in some situations

[@meade916]

you heard wrong. That is total bullshit. lol Stop listening to noobs it will make you stay a noob longer.

[@meade916]

"noreaster playa" is a fucking ignorant fool. You cannot compare working on a building with working on car audio electronics. Nobody in the history of car audio has had a car (or wire) burn down just because it was soldered (properly). Nobody, not even your mommy cares about your 35 years of twisting wires. Show me your best car audio install. You have none and you know NOTHING about it so the best thing you can do is shut up.

[@meade916]

and stop liking your own post. It's a bad look. NOBODY likes you lets not pretend you have a friend. SMH LMAO

[@meade916]

Soldering power wire in a car is not outlawed that is the goofiest thing i have heard in my entire life. Solder does not have a "higher resistance" and is not going to overheat or cause a fire in a car (if soldered properly). A bad crimp is as bad as a bad solder and a good crimp can be as good as a proper solder. Don't let anyone tell you anything different, not even that troll bag "noreastern". Don't confuse some building code with car audio electronics. Two totally different situations.

[@meade916]

thanks man!!! glad you like!

[@meade916]

@BlvdCustomsLakeland damn i just noticed this! 4 months later LOL! thanks Jon i appreciate that!

[@dollphinspirit]

you`re that much closer to getting you`re deck to power up so that you can listen to some tunes while driving. Keep up the good work

[@meade916]

thanks!! amazing i have 11 vids and i still dont even have all the batts done....but this shit is a LOT more work then people think :)

[@krogerman30]

Thank you Steve for the tutorials bro I am doing this to my truck come this winter and this is some awsome info for me man. I hope when I get finished I can give you a demo and get one Take care bro and have a great day.

[@andiesel06]

The veins, arteries, heart and skin of a serious beast! Can't wait to see the muscle get put in!

[@gurkdoinwork]

steve great job designing the set up. it looks like it is coming along really well.

[@trogdor097]

this is why you are the king Steve! for real man I love your work!! lots of love

[@meade916]

i have no idea what your trying to ask me but dont worry they are secured.

[@dynamatlancer]

When you see 10 batteries and a box full of ring terminals, you know it's serious. lol

[@meade916]

nope no room for another up front. I think 10 is plenty, its already 770lbs all by itself :D

[@SeRReAL6]

god damn i would of called it quits after i ran the alternator wires lol, keep it up cant wait for more updates on the install

[@meade916]

its always best to get batteries the same make, model and age if possible to prevent that....but if you use a quality battery like i do the age thing wont matter as much (unless its REAL old and used/abused). My batts have always been on 4 alts and also i condition them with my intellicharger from time to time...its not an issue. If you had 6 walmart batteries, some old, some new, and a bad one in the middle, it would for sure pull the other ones down with it - so your not far off bro.

[@meade916]

you can, if you go to work every day and save your money :)

[@meade916]

ya it is, thanks!!! :)

[@luminaeus]

Oh, didn't know about soldering those. I'll have to remember that next time I do a system.

[@TechRefreshed]

awesome rebuild. cant wait until its done!

[@FectoReviews]

Looks like your building a freakin spaceship. lol Awesome work Mr. Steve. Looking forward to the next video. -JT

[@zummrox]

wow, this must be one hell of a job. Keep goin. Can't wait to see the new system up and runin.

[@meade916]

bolted directly to the alt brackets.

[@meade916]

straight to the alts

[@meade916]

thanks!

[@Bulletinjection]

very nice, I don't really know how to solder the rings like you did, looks nice and will make for some nice connections!

[@NewProductions]

Lol when he says there might be some in here. In a huge crate of RF stuff.

[@meade916]

thanks, but what do you think i did? and yes, 2/0 takes a shitload of solder.

[@Monkeypumper420]

It kinda looked like the solder was applied to the connector, then ran down to the wire. I know you know your shit bro, I was just making sure you got the flux to the wire too to get that solid connection your looking for. That's one hell of a mean electrical system you got going on there.

[@skaterbsl910]

lol steve i saw like 6 packs of ring terminals that u missed when you were diggin through the bix lol i have 2 awg cables runnin in my truck now and those terminals are expensive good job man i love the tahoe

[@jylp4u]

lol I love watching your videos, get to learn stuff and then reading the comments is like watching cartoons

[@meade916]

what i do is i heat the connector up, drop a fat pool of solder into the connector then keep feeding it till its ready to spill over - then i heat up the sides of the connector till it "wicks" up the entire pool. Then, i lay another layer over all that. I never heat the wire up with an open flame and niether should you bro - thats not good. I know you mean well but i have done HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of these, i know what im doing :)

[@bigbull454]

very nice... cant wait to see the finished product!!

[@xXSwooshXx]

lol gotta tell you, i actually couldnt help but let out a little sigh or gasp lol when you were like, THATS JUST 4 ALTERNATORS AND 6 BATTERIES, I GOT 11 AMPS AND 4 MORE BATTERIES TO GO, I GOTTA DO THIS ALL AGAIN. i was just like ugh. cuz for some reason it hadnt hit me yet that that was only half the batteries! lmao. LOVE THE VIDS MAN.

[@PTight]

thats a valid point, thanks....i think ima do that with my wires too when i find some free time

[@lauris47]

I love when video is longer like this .

[@meade916]

thanks!!!

[@ShadowGroundENT]

thIS IS LIKE MY FAVORITE SHOW I BE JUST WATIN FOR THE NEXT EPISODES LOL

[@raarsnafu]

so this might just be a simple question, but i cant wrap my mind around it. with mounting the POS bussbar, how do you have it set up so its not grounding? mount the bussbar to something not metal and then mount that to the chassis? with the screws or bolts covered up so they dont ground either? it just looks like steves bussbars are bolted right to the chassis. i love the location, just might be too dark to see.

[@judeh101]

NICE STEVE! I wanna be the "next" you in a few more years ;) Let's just say... I'm a teenager. You're a real inspiration.

[@Tdawgthegreat]

Getting closer and closer.

[@meade916]

still processing, read the top..unless your on a iphone or something.

[@CampersofChaos]

Looking real good steve..some serious progress today!

[@mx450rex]

That is some true man's wire right there.

[@streetstomper]

Great work steve, looks really good, can't wait for the next videos.

[@Tarin01]

you have the best system of the world!!!!!!!!!

[@RJBarb69]

idk if u still are confused about the amp place ment and idk if this would work but i noticed on the first build the one b4 the last but i seen u had them mounted to the seat maybe you could do that and then like u had the t4000s under the box put the other 4 under it . hope it works man if i dont its just an idea. thanks, Ronald

[@freakypick]

yeah it is, lets hope he plays it when he finishes the system!

[@MylesMoncalieri]

steve ive been watchin ur tahoe rebuild all day lol

[@jggazzola]

I use whatever those people gave you mainly becasue it was free/cheap. Can't wait till this thing get bangn

[@Axilrod]

Looks like it's coming along nicely, quality soldering too, I do the same thing, just not usually as thorough. How much longer you think you got until your finished? I'm guessing less than a month if you aren't changing the box or anything, but I figure getting it all put back together and the amp rack built will take a lil while.

[@PT3005]

thats some chill ass music in the background steve

[@MaxxsonicsUSAInc]

I feel ya Meade! That is some hard work. Sometimes it can feel like you are just spinning your wheels. LOL 5*'s

[@meade916]

hellz ya, thanks!!

[@oldskoolchevelle]

holy shit dude. thats so much free stuff from RF.

[@Flameing_Stick]

God I got tired just looking at how much work that is got damn😪😪😪

[@negligentinmate]

hell and i thought reinstallin my 2 12's was a pain. damn nice work bro

[@greatwhun]

i like how you made it seem like you had no ring terminals left and had to walk inside yet to find a gang of misc. items!! haha. "a few" to you is 4 times as much as i used in any of my cars!! comedy mann

[@HenkAnnieNaald]

Steve, why do you have those bussbars and that much cables on your 5-batt battery rack? Was 1 cable not enough?

[@Jakeanator12]

looks very clean so far

[@jggazzola]

You probally know this but for new people read bellow. The weakest point in electrical and audio equpiment is your connector. If you can afford it, to get best results use gold plated connectors, silver or gold soder. Compared to copper or aluminum they have a higher conductivity and will create less resistance in your wire. Also when sodering aviod making a cold joint and clumps of soder they also will create resistance in your connection.

[@LILitaly773]

holy fuck that box full of all that treasure u was digging though was crazy amounts of product!!!!! great progress and a shit ton of time spent, gonna be great cant wait!!!!

[@SLAYER1805]

haha 2:17, Steve Meade: Rockford Fosgates favorite customer

[@DjEndurancE]

Steve, how do you keep the rear held up from all the weight of batteries + amps + speakers? Do you use overload springs or air bags?

[@berniebp87]

Got rca`s? :D getting close now Steve! Can`t wait to see how you`re going to put all those amps in, it`s gonna be off the hook! :D

[@matthenry1987]

I'm a big fan! Love Car Audio!! When you solder your wire to the ring terminals, do you just solder them?? Do you crimp them after???

[@PTight]

man that just sick...got damn!!! and a lil question steve...is soldering the cable shoes to the cable necessary and does it help a lot?

[@jylp4u]

You're better than most stuff on TV lol, get to learn USEFUL stuff watching you. What are you going to do with the honda?

[@meade916]

when im all done come see me for sure bro!!!!!

[@heyitsmekyle15]

he used only solder. Solder is way better than crimping a connection and looks a lot cleaner.

[@SubMasterT]

Hey man....... it may be a tone of work but its defintely going to be worth it but just wondering what are you changing? I know your replacing everything but are you adding anything? Cuz otherwise ill sound pretty similar though.

[@djapepedja]

maaaaaaan! O.O i think that all of that stuff that you have in your truck can supply a small home with electricity :D great work, cant wait for the next video

[@coondogtheman]

Awesome job Steve, lookin good.

[@JustcallmePOOH]

damn! you see all those trophies in his garage

[@H3llwalker]

You almost have a moving power plant. But I´m lookin´ forward how it is goin´ to look complete :)

[@bargey13]

if you put a solar panel on the roof would that act the same as a battery providing power for the sound system. or would it work like a alternator and recharge the battery? i don't really know what i am talking about so if i am wrong tell me.

[@steelers1990able]

Looking good great job steve

[@TSZ88KING]

Looks so clean very nice.

[@teamfapa]

hey steve love your work just wondering where do you ground the 4 ground wires that are runing with the 4 alt wires up front just curious

[@ELZAVALITO30]

hey nice work steve kep it up, i wanna see the final of this proyect :D, actually i have a question..? why do u put some welt on the top of the wires..¿?

[@araz1994]

You put your batteries in parallel? I thought you are going to put them is series for more voltage...

[@mattoy123]

looking clean man,nice work.watched every video.....keep it up.

[@meade916]

thats a old wives tale......

[@RAF92Warhawk]

looks great steve, keep the vids. coming!

[@southsidetv773]

Hey Steve are copper ring terminals better than the ones your using? Debating on what kind of terminals I want to go with. Thx!!!

[@InfamyBaller2011]

damn your getting there steve, that shit is gonna beat!!!

[@iLLpwny0u]

ive been working with electronics for yrs, gonna put a full battary on some concrete tommorow, see what happens

[@terrellblake933]

yea, being a mechanic my whole life that was driving me nuts.

[@PDPIE1029]

6 years to late, but that’s a total load. It was true when the cases were made of wood and other porous materials but xs power doesn’t make wooden batteries so it’s all good here.

[@Cypriotkiller]

damn is gonna be cleaaann!! but i wanna ask you something, you gonna have the same woofer setup as before? or you want something a lil different