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Can I pull this off with stock electrical?


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Hello, I have been out of the car stereo game for years and just decided to get back into it. I have a 2019 Challenger Scat Pack which has the battery in the trunk, so I decided to grab my old highschool amp that has been in my closet for the last 20 years and I tossed it into the car. It's a Fosgate 800a2 and I bought a cheap skar SVR 12 to go with it. Initially I figured something cheap to add a little bass was all I needed, but now I'm already wishing I had more.

 

My car is my baby and I am not willing to do anything that requires tearing it apart or risking damage, the stereo system comes second. With that said I only want a single 12", because I don't want to weigh it down or lose trunk space. I found someone selling some used DC level 4s for a good price and I think 1 of those would be perfect, but I need to be able to power it. I know the Brazilian amps are not liked by a lot of people, but to save space I'd like to go with the Taramps HD3000. I would grab the 2 ohm version and wire it to 4 ohm (the sub is a 2 ohm DVC). That would give me about 2000w in a small package, and at 4 ohms the amp should be pretty efficient.

 

The problem is, I don't want multiple batteries, and I really can't do a big 3 because I am not running cable from my engine to trunk in this car. The good news is my stock alternator is 220 amps. So I have a couple questions. First, is there any benefit to upgrading the grounds for the big 3, but leaving the alt to battery out of it? I am good with upgrading my battery, I just don't want to put a second in, so is there a particular battery that would be recommended? Finally, if I get a larger battery, considering I have a 220 amp alternator do you think I could run the 2000w in my car without issues? Also if there's any other suggestions I'd like to hear them too. Thanks!

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Is your stock battery under the hood? I was lucky mine is in the trunk with 0 awg already stock. My point is not all stock are created equal. If your alternator is 220 amps you might already have some heavy stock cable. I know you said you didn’t want an extra battery, but have you looked at those smsagm batteries from Northstar? They are thin and don’t require venting. They have a small one that would probably make a huge difference for you. Not saying you shouldn’t consider doing the big 3, but even without it the smsagm80 might really help. 
 

https://gpcaraudio.com/northstar-smsagm80/

 

Tyler at GP is a good guy.

and I have said it before if you sign up with your email and put the item in your cart but don’t checkout, you will get a 5% off coupon code by email good for 48 hours. 

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16 hours ago, Scotnemily said:

Is your stock battery under the hood? I was lucky mine is in the trunk with 0 awg already stock. My point is not all stock are created equal. If your alternator is 220 amps you might already have some heavy stock cable. I know you said you didn’t want an extra battery, but have you looked at those smsagm batteries from Northstar? They are thin and don’t require venting. They have a small one that would probably make a huge difference for you. Not saying you shouldn’t consider doing the big 3, but even without it the smsagm80 might really help. 
 

https://gpcaraudio.com/northstar-smsagm80/

 

Tyler at GP is a good guy.

and I have said it before if you sign up with your email and put the item in your cart but don’t checkout, you will get a 5% off coupon code by email good for 48 hours. 

My battery is in the trunk, that was the big reason I chose to install a sub for the 1st time in years. It was a really easy install, but it immediately got me back into bass and wanting more. I am impressed my fosgate amp still works though, I hear leaving caps sit for extended periods of time is terrible for them, and this amp sat for 20 years. The wire coming into the battery is very thick, so yeah that's why I was hoping 2000w might be possible with the 220 alt and beefy electrical that comes on the 6.4L challengers

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The thing is about a stock 220 amp alternator, Is that it's not always going to charge at that rate that's at at least 2,500 RPM and being a PCM controlled alternator it's not always going to charge only when it the car calls for it so it's not going to keep your battery constantly topped up like an aftermarket 220 amp alternator would do that has a bypass

 

If you really want to do this right in your car is your baby do the big three at least. After all if you put in a 3000 watt Brazilian amp in there those things pull a lot of current and why risk possibly ruining something in your car if it's your baby

 

 

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I run an md8000.1 in my truck with almost stock electrical. I just have one extra battery and the big 3. But stock alt and only one AGM. The other battery is a regular old lead acid.

 

I honestly think you'll be ok. I would hook up a voltage meter to the amp for the first couple weeks just so you can learn the limits you can push it to.

 

Get a high quality battery in the trunk at the minimum.

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4 hours ago, AaronT said:

The thing is about a stock 220 amp alternator, Is that it's not always going to charge at that rate that's at at least 2,500 RPM and being a PCM controlled alternator it's not always going to charge only when it the car calls for it so it's not going to keep your battery constantly topped up like an aftermarket 220 amp alternator would do that has a bypass

 

If you really want to do this right in your car is your baby do the big three at least. After all if you put in a 3000 watt Brazilian amp in there those things pull a lot of current and why risk possibly ruining something in your car if it's your baby

 

 


you might be right about the stock alternator. Not going to argue when I don’t know. :) I can say I tested my stock alternator and any rpm over 1k it puts out it’s full power. Between 500 rpm (idle) and 600 it is not enough to put any charge to the batteries. They will in fact discharge slightly. Between 600-1000 it builds up to its full charging capacity. Mine is a totally different car though. I also would like to upgrade my alternator even though I don’t really think I need to. It is expensive on my car and with the car being 20 years old I am reluctant to spend money on that type of thing that can’t be moved to another car.

 

i also agree about doing the big 3, unless his already has 0 gauge. I had to upgrade my ground and I was good. Ground was 2 awg and power was 0 awg...

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Well, Sky High Car Audio has the DCs on sale for a great price, plus I found a coupon online. I could get everything I need, the amp, sub, cables, terminals, fuses, etc for $712. Plus I could sell my little Skar SVR and my Fosgate amp and recoup a decent portion of that, my amp is in mint condition and apparently these things sell well on eBay (I can't find the endcaps right now though so it'd be nice to track them down).

 

It's just so damn tempting, but like I said I want my trunk so I don't want additional batteries and it's not sounding too promising with the responses on here that my car can pull off the 2000w I planned to run the amp at. To top it off my wife listened to my car and thinks it's unbelievably loud already, so I got the "You're 37 years old and don't need be obnoxiously loud" speech, so maybe I should just be happy with what I got now that cost me next to nothing.

 

It's still all in my cart though, just begging me to hit "complete order"...

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