Big 3

[lotus]

I went to an audioshop and they told me i didnt need to do the big 3 and to just buy a 2nd battery and wire the 2 together. i have a cobalt coupe 2010 and he said it would be to hard to even bother doing it and that i will be around 14V without it. i have 1500rms on 2 subs. i was thinking of letting him wire the batterys together but will the stock 8awg wire from alt burn or will anything happan? 2nd batt is a deka 9a31

[JPagan]

No wire will burn up, it will just add resistance because 8ga wire can't supply the amperage you will draw with that kind of power. So I would get the big 3 done first, then add the second battery.

[lotus]

thanks i just wanted to make sure i wouldnt damage anything by having 2 batterys on stock wiring. i will upgrade but idk the safest way to run the 0awg down to the batt. since its in my trunk

[Guest]

lol the alt will have a harder time charging both batteries and your system and the rest of the car when the stock charging cable on the alt is like 8-10 gauge. he's a fucking dumbass and you shouldnt listen to him. big 3 wont harm anything, it will only help, unless you fuck it up somehow which is kind of difficult. do it in 0 gauge and you'll be fine.

and on the cobalts, isnt the battery in the trunk? so that 8 gauge has to run ALLLLLLL the way from the engine to the back. imagine how much resistance is in that wire and how much voltage is being lost through that run.

edit: saw your post on safety. you should just be able to put the wire through the running boards along the side of the car, under the plastic molding. but make sure to fuse by the alt, and fuse again near the battery

[Watch the bass]

Big 3 is to less money for them, they will sell you a batt. Do the Big 3 first not for nothing its called Big 3.

If you want to buy a good cheap (used) AGM batt, have a look in the want to sale section for thread´s from

Ram, he have a couple of diffrent sized batt´s for a real nice price.

[lotus]

yeah thats wat i told him but i didnt wanna piss him off since hes installing my halo headlights with 8000k hids next week. but i'll just go to another audio shop to wire the 0awg since i cannot do it myself. i tried and cannot reach the bolt on the alt.. the bumper has to come off for it

[Amart88]

yeah thats wat i told him but i didnt wanna piss him off since hes installing my halo headlights with 8000k hids next week. but i'll just go to another audio shop to wire the 0awg since i cannot do it myself. i tried and cannot reach the bolt on the alt.. the bumper has to come off for it

In most cobalts if its not an SS, In order to get at the alt, you need to remove the whole air intake assembly, and disconnect the coolant hose to get down to the alt. It's still tight quaters but you should be able gain enough room, thats what i did to replace mine. you should'nt need to take the whole bumber off. just watch when you disconnect the radiator hose from the engine as it like to spew coolant all over the place, i ziptied a bag over the end. With the 0 gauge i just ran it from the alt, up behind the light housing, down around the wheel well and beside the engine mount and drilled a hole to fit it through the firewall into the passenger side. Then I ran it carefully under the kick, down under the trim piece along the door to the back, up under the backseats and into the trunk. make sure you silicone around the wire in the firewall. You should add an extra short piece of 0 gauge for the batterys ground as well, makes a difference. Also, as Kranny said, dont forget to fuse the power wire close to the batt. Hope this helped

[Waldo129]

Replacing stock gauge wire with bigger wire is always a plus in any situation. It makes the current flow so much better (looks cool too). After doing it to my car my dad liked it so much I did it to his truck too! It also kinda saves the hassle of doing it later on if your into systems big time. if I were you i would do it no doubt.