creyc

Actually soldering is for pussies who can't properly crimp a lil' 1/0 terminal. Try crimping a connector for a 750 kcmil cable, some compression connectors use up to 10 TONS of pressure! Granted we use this nifty $3000 tool Kidding aside, a solid copper-on-copper crimp connection with no solder IS a better electrical connection than using solder. If you're having trouble getting a good crimp connection and you do a lot of these a crimping tool will be a lifesaver! Leave the solder for pipes and small low-current connections guys!

Also didn't know they sold subs. After seeing their head units I wouldn't want anything to do with the rest of their products, heh. I'm sure it's just their name stamped on someone's sub. Try their email: [email protected]

Yes it is AC, but all the same rules (ohms law) still apply, AC or DC. (you also get the skin effect with AC, but not at our frequencies!)

Fusing the big 3 isn't necessary unless it makes you feel safer. I'm guessing your batteries are probably fairly well drained too. If you run your subwoofers every time you drive somewhere you don't get much of a chance for your batteries to charge up. When I had a stock alternator I would throw a 40A battery charger on my truck every week or so to top the batteries up. Your stock lead acid battery doesn't like sitting uncharged for very long either. More than likely it's in a pretty sad state and everything's running off that 1400 in the back.

deleted for stupidity reasons

Steel is a very poor conductor compared to copper, keep it out of the current path completely IMO. You can find copper bolts however it's still not as good as bringing the wire out through a hole and straight to the amp. Voltage drop on the speaker side of the amp isn't as crucial as the 12v side because you're dealing with higher voltages and much less current but every little bit helps!

Find the point at which you DON'T pop the fuse and don't play higher than that. You can use the 40A if you know where to set your volume.

I'm not giving up. More info to be posted soon.

There's no WAY they can be talking about number of fuses on the amp chassis itself, can they? 4 x 15A fuses would be no where near 2 x 60A fuses for example. I'm pretty sure they're talking about your power wire.

Actually that's not true for DC current flow, and most scenarios of AC current as well. For a given material, how well electrons flow through is dependent on its cross-sectional area, not the outer surface. Otherwise we would somehow all be using hollow coper tubes or some funny business! Secondly, yes, fuses and connectors and crimps and solder joints ALL add resistance. But some of these things are unavoidable, so we improve in the areas we can, like using large wire to try to limit the amount of power loss. Keep your number of connections to a minimum, avoid soldering where possible, (very bad conductor, compared to say a crimped ring terminal) and the use of bus bars will definitely help when you need to move massive amounts of current from many batteries/to several amps, etc.. Finally, strand count will make a cable more flexible, but not neccesarily carry more power. I work in the commercial electrical world where we deal with cables and currents MUCH larger than anything in the car audio world and some of the very large conductors we pull only have 49 "strands" in them. Now a 4000+ strand count 1/0 Knufleks or Kicker or whatever wire isn't going to carry 80 times more power because its got many more strands, it's just not happening.

RIP Jeremy

I ordered the alt from the GM inventory reduction sale It has a red heatsink on the back, so I'm assuming it's the CS 144 adjustable unit? I talked to (maybe you?) on the phone today, and was told it will run fine without the harness connected. Here she is: It seems to be UN-plug-n-play. I'm at 14.4v steady without the GM harness. Unfortunately with the annoying dash light however. Trying to find a way around this..

Interesting on the MLA module, although I don't need the voltage adjustability feature, as it is built in to my MechMan alt from the factory. I wonder if the boys at missinglink are playing with duty cycle signals to get the voltages where they want. I suppose it would just be a PWM controlling a value from 0-100% or some value in between... Or I could be way off

I plan to, down the line. But I've got a long list of things to buy right now so I'm trying to perform as many smart, cost effective solutions as possible before I go all out on nice-to-haves. (p.s. steel is a pretty crappy conductor of electricity after looking it up!!)

Now I remember why I love/hate new cars. It's all digital after it gets to the PCM, which is pretty much immediately. Even if I close the lamp driver circuit, the PCM is smart enough to notice its not getting a field duty cycle signal on the 'F' connection, and trips the battery light. I suppose it's either find a way to simulate the duty cycle signal on the 'F' wire or pull the bulb. I tried only connecting the 'L' wire, and while the car didn't take control of the alt's output voltage, the light didn't go out as expected since the PCM checks both parts of the circuit. I really need an o-scope...

That's one point I mentioned in the post. So why does this guide recommend using the frame: http://www.gmtruckhq.com/sound-security/bi...pgrade-842.html And Derrick824, good point. That's how I ran my big 3, to the chassis. I was wondering if I can improve upon this.

I've seen articles describing the big-3 procedure say conflicting things regarding whether or not to use the frame as your source of ground. (assuming your vehicle has a frame) On one hand its a large, solid conductor with tons of cross sectional area, that runs the length of the car. On the other hand, neither I, nor most people I know drill holes in the floor and route the amp ground wire to the frame in the back. Instead, most people use a large chassis bolt. (seat, seatbelt, cargo hook, etc..) Here lies my concern. The chassis and frame are connected together with rubber bumpers, and a few bolts. Not exactly the best electrical connection in stock form. To me that seems best to just skip the frame altogether and use the chassis for the grounds in the big-3. I'm even considering strapping the chassis and frame together underneath the car with some 1/0 near the amplifiers, to utilize both chassis AND frame. (and likewise up front) What are your opinions?

I believe it's an actual separate circuit, required for supplying the stock alternator with a field current to turn the alternator on. As such, clearing a code will not resolve this problem, since it isn't actually solved as ChevyBoy said. Would grounding the 'L' pin simulate a connected load (alternator) and turn the light off, or could I risk shorting something? I don't really feel like tearing my dash apart to snatch the bulb.

I have a 2001 Blazer and just installed a MechMan HO alt. I'm running the alt in 1-wire operation to take advantage of its onboard adjustable voltage regulator to dial in exactly how many volts I want my system to charge at. Because of this, the stock alternator wire harness is left disconnected tripping the dash "check alternator" light to come on. What can I do to fool my truck into thinking the stock alternator is still plugged in? It's uses the S.F.L.P. connector, but only the F and L wires. Anyone ever tried to do this?

There is a need for ground runs in certain situations. For example, cars with an epoxy glued unibody don't properly carry the ground from front to the rear of the car through the glue joints.

Why do they let these companies get away with calling these cables "1/0" when it's obvious they don't even fit in some crimp connectors. If a 1/0 cable doesn't carry enough current for your needs you should be using 2/0, or larger.

Very very nice work on the alts. Who's are they, I don't recognize the black cases?

Possible, but when I first installed the alt with my old belt, and then after swapping for the brand new belt I still get the same voltage readings. And remember this is without much of a load on the alternator, so it should spin fairly easily without slipping the belt. I will consider replacing the tensioner however, although I don't think thats the issue here. I think it has something to do with the wire harness, and the circuits they're connected to. There are two wires on this harness. The 'L' wire appears to be for the battery light on the dash, which is lit while operating on battery power and SHOULD go out when the engine is running and alt is powered. This circuit is also commonly used to excite the field inside the alternator in order to turn it 'on', but I can't verify this on my truck yet. I'm still not sure if the 'I/F' wire on my Blazer operates in I or F mode. If it's 'F' mode then this wire goes to the positive field inside the alternator to turn it on. This makes sense because I measured 12.5v on this pin when the key was on "run". I'm still not sure how 'I' mode would work so I will continue my research. It seems like my truck is operating in one mode, and the alternator is expecting the other one. I think there is a variable voltage sent to the rotor field to control alternator output, which with the wrong voltage could theoretically reduce or disable the output of the alternator. A schematic of the MechMan alt would help of course but I doubt they would have those available for our viewing pleasure. Nothing is ever truly plug and play, is it? lol

No, they don't recommend it either, although it did just barely fit with the tensioner maxed out. I picked up a new 96" premium belt at Discount auto, which is stock size +1". They also offer 1-1/8", but 1" seems perfect.

On my Blazer this connector only has 2 pins, they mate up with the green and yellow on the adaptor harness that came with the alt. From the Mechman site regarding this adaptor harness wiring: Blue “S” ( external voltage sense) Green “F/I” (signal going to computer) or if using the terminal as “I” then connect it directly to a switched 12 volts Yellow “L” ( to dash light for alternator turn on) I unplugged the connector completely and fired up the truck. Perfect 14.6v regulation at idle. Plug in the harness, drops down to mid 13s. I tried just connecting each individual color, the yellow wire does nothing to affect my voltage, but the green wire is what triggers the voltage drop. Why is this? I measure 12.5v on this green wire from the CAR, odd because I don't measure 12.5 anywhere with the engine running. Any suggestions?