more alternator or more battery? which is better.

[Guest]

yeah 6k peak and 6krms is a HUGE friggin difference.

[alaskanzx5]

rms is all that matters like kranny said. 6k peak is nothing most likely closer to 2000-3000 rms

[87chevyboi]

that's what I was just about to ask now that I reread it, at first I thought it was 6krms...smh

[alaskanzx5]

im going to through out a guess here.

with the sub amp you will have around 200-300amp of draw, then if you have a 4 channel another 50-100amps. comes to around 300-400 amps.

a single ho alt upgrade stock batt and an added batt to the trunk should be good, 2 runs of 1/0 guage front to back and ground everything to the frame/chasis using 1/0gauge. could even try 2 runs of 1/0 for grounds but that doesnt always help.

2 120 stock alts is 240 amps. the biggest alt you can get for a neon is going to be around 250amp. the issue with 2 alts is that it will take fab work to mount it a bigger belt and more wiring. a single alt built for the car mounts up like stock plug and play basically an less wiring with stock sized belt. sure dual stock alts might sound like a good idea but after fab work bigger belt and working out the wiring of the 2nd alt you might be over 400 into the dual alt setup. i would go with an ho alt for around 450 or less.

check out mechman and singer, both have good alts and usually cheaper then dc.

[TRTC360]

with low reserve, more charging power will just bring you back up to max charging voltage quicker, without reserve there's really no point in the extra alternator IMO. Reserve is more important in the long run IMO.

[alaskanzx5]

ho alt > batts imo. if the alt can keep up then you dont need a huge reserve. if you have a 250 amp alt and only draw 200 amps max then one decent batt is enough. on the other hand if you have a 250 amp alt and have 300 amps draw then 2 batts is a must.

my t400.4 is rated at 100amps and i have a stock 110-120 amp alt with no big 3 and a 10 farad cap. with just the t400.4 hooked up i dont drop at all. of course its not pulling 100amps thats just its max rated draw. if you have a max draw of less then the alt can provide then a single upgraded battery is more then enough. but if you alt cant keep up with the demand you will need more reserve. but if you upgrade the alt and it can handle the draw with less then 1v drop (no lower then 13.4volts) then your in good shape. a yellow top or something around that price would be enough for under the hood. rouhgly $600 between alt and batt, if all you do is upgrade you batt your putting more stress on the stock alt and your doing to put 600-800 into batts. the added stress on the alt only beaks it down faster and then there is another 200 for a stock alt. puts you into the 800-1k range of electrical. upgraded alt for rouhgly 400 and 200-300 in batt(s) and your set with a warranty on the batts and alt.

for this application i would suggest the biggest alt you can get and 2 batts. puts you around 800-1k but its worth it.

just my thoughts on it.

[justin0943]

get the alt first then get extra battery or two later, if you have 3 battery and only 100amp alt with the bass hitting the battery not even charging because of the amp sucking it all up.

[alaskanzx5]

get the alt first then get extra battery or two later, if you have 3 battery and only 100amp alt with the bass hitting the battery not even charging because of the amp sucking it all up.

my thoughts on that exactly. you can have the biggest reserve in the world but your still not charging the batts if the amp i drawing all the power. they draw from the highest voltage source with the least resistance. this being the alt then batts. first pulls from the alt once the alt can handle it it pulls additional power from the batts but the alt still isnt charging the batts until the power draw is less then the alt can put out.

[justin0943]

yelp thats my next iteam to get is a mechman 170amp alt and I should be good on my setup I should read 14.7v because now it reads 14.2v with 90amp alt an drops to 11v after 20sec of playing an stays their.

[Colin - STAPUFT]

My answer to your question is: BOTH.

In my chase down this rabbit hole I found that the Big 3 helped until power draw got past a certain point, then it meant seemingly nothing. Then I got a single HO alternator which did great until again- power draw got past a certain point, then it meant seemingly nothing. And then again- I added a 2nd HO alt- same deal... did great up to a point. Then lastly I added secondary batteries and I haven't really hit bottom on the electrical this time around.

I guess what I am saying is that it is an Electrical System. It is only as strong as the weakest part in the chain. I know that isn't what you want to hear, but you need to do all of it. So- if you are asking what order I would recommend doing your electrical upgrades in, then it would have to be: Big 3 first, big under hood battery 2nd, HO alternator 3rd, additional batteries last (imo).