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Aftermarket alternator with stock style battery ?


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3 minutes ago, 1point21gigawatts said:

One more thing, what kind of amp and what kind of agm?

For that previous setup it was an American bass VFL 150.1 which was rated for 2900RMS but I had it at 2ohms instead of 1. The AGM battery was XS D3400

 

Stock alt for that vehicle was only 70 amps which was a huge bottleneck. My current car isn't much bigger of a stock alt 

13 minutes ago, Backwoods said:

There is a huge difference between running a cheap over rated 1500rms amp for 10-15 minutes a day playing country music VS running an under rated 1500rms amp for a few hours a day playing bass boosted music and doing demos with sine waves every chance you get. 

For that last setup I was definitely the later of the 2 (lol).  Now a days i'll probably be somewhere in the middle 

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27 minutes ago, Backwoods said:

Yeah its not necessarily a necessity at 1500rms for sure.... but thats just my opinion of what id do... There are several videos and threads out there from lots of big name audio people that say something pretty similar stating anything over 1500 rms should have upgraded electrical... Some say anything over 1000rms.. Some say 2K.... Most say to start with big 3, then more tend to say to upgrade the alternator before batteries, but opinions vary. I watched quite a few of these videos when determining whether or not i wanted to get an amp bigger than 1K... 

 

But there are plenty of people running 3K amps on 4 gauge wire with stock batteries and stock alternators too. How long there battery and alternator will last is anyones guess. And the possibility that they are getting anywhere near the 14.4 volts that their amp does rated power at is slim to none while music is playing. Voltage drop without upgraded electrical is a bigger concern, and you already lose a lot of power to the subs due to rise, which you cant do anything about... But you can do something to prevent the loss of power due to decreased voltage.  

 

Some google searches, "car audio when to upgrade alternator" "Alternator or battery" "when to upgrade electrical for car audio" Will lead to TONS of good reference materials by plenty of people who have been competing and installing car audio for many years. I never go by just one source for anything so i suggest people do plenty of research and come to their own conclusion for their personal situation. There is a huge difference between running a cheap over rated 1500rms amp for 10-15 minutes a day playing country music VS running an under rated 1500rms amp for a few hours a day playing bass boosted music and doing demos with sine waves every chance you get. 

Some say. No need to read. I’ve experienced. You have experience. On 1500-2000 rms, a big 3 upgrade and an extra 120ah or bigger agm is needed. If done correctly with good short clean hard grounds then the voltage should be good. On 2000-2500 rms is when a high output alternator is needed. 

:stupid:“How can we help you?”
:guido:
“And don’t forget to tell them that 
the customer isn’t always right.”

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7 minutes ago, 560ti said:

For that previous setup it was an American bass VFL 150.1 which was rated for 2900RMS but I had it at 2ohms instead of 1. The AGM battery was XS D3400

 

Stock alt for that vehicle was only 70 amps which was a huge bottleneck. My current car isn't much bigger of a stock alt 

For that last setup I was definitely the later of the 2 (lol).  Now a days i'll probably be somewhere in the middle 

That’s why your voltage was dropping and you were in need of a high output alternator. That amp is nasty. Even at 2 ohms. And an xs d3400 is rated at 65ah. That’s a small agm. If you would of used 120ah or more you would of been straight. Check amp hour “ah” reading before you buy a battery. Just because it says “xs” and a lot of people use a d3400 doesn’t mean it’s really good. If everybody was deciding to cut one ear off because so many people were trending it and so many people began to believe that with only one ear, the bass would be louder, would you do it too? Dude, why did you get rid of that amp? 

:stupid:“How can we help you?”
:guido:
“And don’t forget to tell them that 
the customer isn’t always right.”

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12 minutes ago, 1point21gigawatts said:

Some say. But I’ve experienced. You have experience. On 1500 rms, a big 3 upgrade and an extra 120ah or bigger agm is needed. If done correctly with good short clean hard grounds then the voltage should be good. On 2000-2500 rms is when a high output alternator is needed. 

Yeah man, hell right now im running that sundown 2K on just the stock 65ah battery and stock 120 amp alternator with big 3 and dont have any head light dimming or anything so far... But my voltage drops to 12.8 on 40hz sine waves. 

 

Without music playing my voltage sits at 13.1-13.2 warm.... Highest i have ever seen cold was 13.8... And thats why i ordered a HO alt and that voltage booster... I want that 14.4!!! 

Singer 250amp Alt, Singer PCM bypass harness

Titan8 Lithium Underhood safe BCI PWR-S5

Big 3 W/ dual runs of power/ground. All 1/0awg OFC

SounDigital EVO 5K amp, Two 15" Fi SSD subs

Next Level Fabrication @ 7 cubes net, tuned to 32HZ 

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9 hours ago, Backwoods said:

Yeah man, hell right now im running that sundown 2K on just the stock 65ah battery and stock 120 amp alternator with big 3 and dont have any head light dimming or anything so far... But my voltage drops to 12.8 on 40hz sine waves. 

 

Without music playing my voltage sits at 13.1-13.2 warm.... Highest i have ever seen cold was 13.8... And thats why i ordered a HO alt and that voltage booster... I want that 14.4!!! 

That high output alternator would put you at 14.8 cold and around 14.5-14.6 hot, depending on the alternator. Plus you are getting that booster, so you would probably be around 15.3 cold and around 14.8+ hot.

:stupid:“How can we help you?”
:guido:
“And don’t forget to tell them that 
the customer isn’t always right.”

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1 hour ago, 1point21gigawatts said:

That high output alternator would put you at 14.8 cold and around 14.5-14.6 hot, depending on the alternator. Plus you are getting that booster, so you would probably be around 15.3 cold and around 14.8+ hot.

In these Toyota and Lexus vehicles even with a ho alternator I'd never see 14 volts without the voltage booster... It bypassed the PCM, and allows the alternator to charge over 14... Toyota has it set to not go over 14 stock.

 

In the video by Meade he says even with his mechman alt and all he could never get over 14 even cold. 

 

Shoot I'll be super happy with 14.8. 

Singer 250amp Alt, Singer PCM bypass harness

Titan8 Lithium Underhood safe BCI PWR-S5

Big 3 W/ dual runs of power/ground. All 1/0awg OFC

SounDigital EVO 5K amp, Two 15" Fi SSD subs

Next Level Fabrication @ 7 cubes net, tuned to 32HZ 

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1 minute ago, Backwoods said:

In these Toyota and Lexus vehicles even with a ho alternator I'd never see 14 volts without the voltage booster... It bypassed the PCM, and allows the alternator to charge over 14... Toyota has it set to not go over 14 stock.

 

In the video by Meade he says even with his mechman alt and all he could never get over 14 even cold. 

 

Shoot I'll be super happy with 14.8. 

That’s crazy. 

:stupid:“How can we help you?”
:guido:
“And don’t forget to tell them that 
the customer isn’t always right.”

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1 hour ago, Backwoods said:

In these Toyota and Lexus vehicles even with a ho alternator I'd never see 14 volts without the voltage booster... It bypassed the PCM, and allows the alternator to charge over 14... Toyota has it set to not go over 14 stock.

 

In the video by Meade he says even with his mechman alt and all he could never get over 14 even cold. 

 

Shoot I'll be super happy with 14.8. 

That's the main reason why I went with Singer for my last alternator. I had a Honda with the annoying ELD which cripples voltage to save gas mileage. 

 

Singer was literally the only company I inquired that offered a bypass for the ELD. All the other companies where basically like "we'll give you the amps you need but enjoy 12.8 volts" 

 

My current car is toyota so i've asked all 3 of the companies (DC, Mechman, and Singer) if the alt internally bypasses it or if they just let the PCM do it's course with no interference 

 

EDIT: Mechman got back to me and said they just do the factory regulator. That explains why Steve was having issues with his Lexus 

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