Alt upgrade .. Make a difference .yes or no?

[BMG18]

Would i benefit from upgrading my alt.? The goal of course is to be louder and hit harder... Besides straining the system, electrical, alt.etc..  would it be a noticable difference in the a actual sound-bass db's... I Kno I'm not  pushing the roughly 300ish amps to power my SKAR sk3500 and 2 DC lvl4 12's ..  my setup is 120 ALT.. yellow top  ... 0 gauge.. big 3. ...Would i benefit significantly in performance by buying 220 amp alt or a better battery like a XS d3400 or even both? Or would i just be buying upgrades to keep from frying everything in the future by straining what i already have?? Thanks in advanced

[Ipoksmote]

From what I understand it's all about voltage drop?

 

Guess you would be able to play it at higher volumes without voltage drop?

 

So that's my guess. We shall find out together, hopefully.

[bcbrassard]

Strain on a factory all will kill it faster as well as the battery. A high output alternator and better battery will help your system run more efficient and if you have a mids and highs amp you have to account for that too. I suppose it's not a must but your electrical system wasn't designed for that extra draw of that large amplifier so just keep that in mind if you have the money do it. 

[BMG18]

Yea the volts drop some on the long low bass drops .. Noticed a slight dimming couple times..  I'm just wondering if I'm trying to power 3500watts and only able to give it 15 or 2000 .. Surely that extra 1500 would make a big difference in bass i would think... No other amps for mids or tweets purely subs... If I'm wrong about needing more power=louder harder hitting bass then I'm regretting not going bigger 15 or 18s 

[AaronT]

You're going to hurt your amps without proper voltage and you need to be monitoring voltage real time from your dash with a voltmeter

 

the optima batteries are honestly trash 15-20 years ago they were nice but technology and AGM batteries has advanced and optima refused to advance with it

 

An alternator always helps and yes it will sound louder because you're amps will actually making more power

[BMG18]

6 hours ago, AaronT said:

You're going to hurt your amps without proper voltage and you need to be monitoring voltage real time from your dash with a voltmeter

 

the optima batteries are honestly trash 15-20 years ago they were nice but technology and AGM batteries has advanced and optima refused to advance with it

 

An alternator always helps and yes it will sound louder because you're amps will actually making more power

The yellow top came with truck but ive learned they turned to sh*t when they left USA.. don't know how old it is but I've had for 3 years.. i use a meter off of my obd2 program . Which given it prolly has couple millisecond lag but i haven't personally seen it drop below 12.8 maybe and that's long bass note. 

 

I'm trying keep it in the $400ish range.. Found 220 alt for $250 and i Kno the battery runs under 400 i just wouldn't sure if it was needed or if i would benefit sound wise... Thanks for advice

9 hours ago, bcbrassard said:

Strain on a factory all will kill it faster as well as the battery. A high output alternator and better battery will help your system run more efficient and if you have a mids and highs amp you have to account for that too. I suppose it's not a must but your electrical system wasn't designed for that extra draw of that large amplifier so just keep that in mind if you have the money do it. 

 

[Dragonsyph]

Toss in the biggest alt you can fit.

[max13b2]

Yes, if you are running a 3.5k on a 120a alt, you are going to need something bigger (270a or greater).

 

If you can afford it, I would replace the alt and the battery at once, otherwise I would have the batt properly load tested (parts stores do this for free).

 

-If the batt tests good, I would do the alt first, then start saving for a decent AGM to replace it.

-If the batt tests bad, then replace it immediately and get a new alt in there as soon as you can, keeping your hands away from the volume knob in the meantime.

[BMG18]

On 4/4/2020 at 5:40 AM, Dragonsyph said:

Toss in the biggest alt you can fit.

 

On 4/4/2020 at 7:07 AM, max13b2 said:

Yes, if you are running a 3.5k on a 120a alt, you are going to need something bigger (270a or greater).

 

If you can afford it, I would replace the alt and the battery at once, otherwise I would have the batt properly load tested (parts stores do this for free).

 

-If the batt tests good, I would do the alt first, then start saving for a decent AGM to replace it.

-If the batt tests bad, then replace it immediately and get a new alt in there as soon as you can, keeping your hands away from the volume knob in the meantime.

I would like to put the 270 or 300 alt in unfortunately I'm very limited on what i can work with.. it's a 98 4 runner that came with stock 70amp and noone makes them unless it's special order which for some reason almost double the cost of other H.O. alts .so i did the cs144 swap out of a 95 cadillac .. Its the same mounting style as Toyota  Its suppose be 140 amp but I've never seen those numbers.. and as for the same year & STYLE CS144  I've only seen up to 220 or maybe 250 and for only around $300 or less ... I appreciate the info tho . Makes sense when it's broke down

[1point21gigawatts]

Upgrade the alternator and get a secondary battery. Alternator you need to get a 240, a good 240. Most of the time when I see 220s or 250s they are cheap alternators that aren’t any good and you mine as well stay with your stock alternator and get a couple or few batteries. Don’t get a crappy alternator. Your alternator is the heart that pumps the amperage blood into your system and all the electronics in your vehicle. On top of that 240a alternator get a 80-120ah secondary battery. It’s hard to find an alternator for that year model and you have to email the alternator places to ask them if they can make you one and if so what amperage. I would get the biggest alternator you can afford and stay away from 320s, they aren’t that good on idle.