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How much power do I need?


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Need info. Car alt size? Amp specs?

2009 Tahoe

2000bc Cresendo POWA Need 3500

2 Sundown Zv3 18 high rolled sexiness

dual alt bracket with Singer alt(coming soon)

Mtx Q(not sure if I'm going to use)

Knu wire and RCA's

Bass Head Bands

Oh and a few pairs of Jordan's

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Depends on how many batteries you are going to run. What kind of vehicle is it going in? Sometimes you are limited on alternator amperage depending on how much room there is in the engine compartment, or what type of belt is used to drive the alternator. If it only has a 4 groove or v belt driving the alternator, you are going to be limited to 150-200 amps, and will just have to run more batteries.

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i have a 97 tahoe and i was thinking of buying a 270 amp alt but now im thinking i want to run a 300 amp alt so i dont have to have as many batterys. I am going to be running anywhere from 5k to 7k worth of watts. What would you recomend as far as alt and batteries? I was thinking when i wanted the 270 to get a 270, 2 or 3 group 31 batterys and a d6500 under the hood. That sound about right for at least 5k watts?

whats wrong with fat chicks? they are like mopeds, as long as your friends dont see you riding it, they are a blast! hahah

I am dumb as a stump. I live in the south and we are all dumb here.

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Easy thumb of rule is.

Take the wattage of all the amps and divide by 12, that get's you the amperage you need.

example: 2400w divided by 12 equals 200A. So you need a 200amp alternator and a g31 battery extra per 1000-1200 watts. So 2 big batts.

That's if you want a good electrical. A little less should work if you don't play music for longer periods or not at full power.

Thinking is the root of all problems...

You ALWAYS get what you pay for.

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Well that's what I'm wondering, if there's a way to look at the amp specs or the watts and figure out how much you will need. The amp in question is a DC 5.0k

You bought a very very nice amp and dont even know the specs of it?? http://www.dcsoundlab.com/5k.html scroll down. the website lists them . . .

they even give you a recomendation of what you should run!!! common man

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I'm wondering, how do you know how much battery/alt power (amps or ah) you need to sufficiently supply a certain amplifier?

I'm actually uploading a video on youtube that will explain this.

XS Power gives a good wattage rating on their batts. You can use that as a guide and figure the alternator size required by the batteries you need to charge. Though you may be limited on alt size.

General idea is that the MAX amps of a batt can translate to it's wattage capabilities. At least in a short time frame. It will be important to have a proper alt to keep that battery charged as the amplifiers are draining them.

Example, a XS Power D3100 has a max amperage rating of 5000A. This is a short burst rating.

XS Power rates it at 5000w capability. Notice this is NOT amperage times voltage.

This is based off of a longer period of load time.

If you take into account amplifier efficiency and other losses in the system. You can get a realistic 4200w with that battery while playing music for a long period of time with amplifiers that are 85% efficient.

Now, you will need an alternator of at least 120a to feed that battery to a charge ratio of 1:1. This is approx how many minutes of charge it will take to top off the battery after that many minutes of full power play. So play at full tilt for 1 minute and it will need 1 minute to top off. Of course with 4200w you can play for several minutes.

These numbers in the example are just figures based on my own calculations and would be a bit lower if you are also using that battery to run the engine.

Ed Lester

ShowtimeSPL Host

Showtime Electronics Video Marketing

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http://www.stevemead...08/#entry511451

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