Alternator

[Cboeger]

Should a stock 110 Amp Alternator be able to handle 600 rms/1000 watt peaks?

2003 ford focus SE sedan if it matters

[SnowDrifter]

Should be

What's "peaks"?

[CJSmith]

Should a stock 110 Amp Alternator be able to handle 600 rms/1000 watt peaks?

2003 ford focus SE sedan if it matters

Yes, just have a good battery to go with it.

[Casket]

Affirmative.

[Wicks]

Let's try some numbers:

Assuming a worst case voltage of 13.8V @ 110A = ~1500W

An amp output of 600W will require a worst case input of ~600W/60% = 1000W.

So you should have ~500W to spare for the car's general functions (lights / cpu / etc).

You're good

I agree with the above statements, its always smart to upgrade to a good battery.

[Cboeger]

Let's try some numbers:

Assuming a worst case voltage of 13.8V @ 110A = ~1500W

An amp output of 600W will require a worst case input of ~600W/60% = 1000W.

So you should have ~500W to spare for the car's general functions (lights / cpu / etc).

You're good

I agree with the above statements, its always smart to upgrade to a good battery.

is that really how you calculate wattage? I never knew that lol. Thanks for the tip so IE a 200A would be able to handle close to 2800 watts assuming you have no car general functions

[Wicks]

Let's try some numbers:

Assuming a worst case voltage of 13.8V @ 110A = ~1500W

An amp output of 600W will require a worst case input of ~600W/60% = 1000W.

So you should have ~500W to spare for the car's general functions (lights / cpu / etc).

You're good

I agree with the above statements, its always smart to upgrade to a good battery.

is that really how you calculate wattage? I never knew that lol. Thanks for the tip so IE a 200A would be able to handle close to 2800 watts assuming you have no car general functions

Yep. The alternator outputs DC voltage/current so its simply just Ohm's Law.

Given, the current that the amplifier will draw will be pulsed depending on the signal its amplifying.

In this case we can just use peak numbers during those pulses.

Its best to use worst case estimates to make sure you have some headroom. Ex: 13.8V as a minimum voltage. Low 60% efficiency for the amp...

A 200A alt could easily support 2800W. Consider that with the car running, the alt will realistically output 14.4V or higher depending on if its adjustable and what you set it to.

In that case you could get 14.4V * 200A = 2880W.