Jump to content

Alternator/Battery Wiring Question


Recommended Posts

Just curious if anybody had any thought, opinions or suggestions on which options for wiring my alternator to the existing battery under the hood and another battery placed close to my amplifiers. Or if neither option is good what way would you do it and why?


Many thanks!

2028650068_Option2.thumb.png.77d61b6c7d07455e3faa66bcb0381f55.png1704652760_Option4.thumb.png.8e98e7bccb10824c163bbda5c72fd6a7.png2062742379_Option3.thumb.png.66d8027fa0c40934c97a387205a9c23b.png1777866857_Option1.thumb.png.ce7f01987310b39e3a567ac4c28aa182.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alternator to battery 1 (under the hood). Battery 1 to fuse block 1 as close to battery 1 as possible. Fuse block 1 to fuse block 2 as close to battery 2 as you can get. Fuse block 2 to battery 2. Battery 2 to fuse block 3 as close to battery 2 as you can get. Fuse block 3 to amps. 

Me personally, I would try and ground the amplifiers independently of the battery and independently of each other, or at least use a solid distro block to bigger wire, then have a couple grounding points. But I've seen people ground back to the battery and get away with it. 

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Dafaseles. Yea I didn't put any fuse blocks in my drawings. I do plan on using them of course. In my drawings the red lines are parallel runs on 1/0 for the positives. All ground points will be directly to the frame of the truck. So you've kind of indicated going with the option 1 drawing. 

 

Thank you for your input.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because of my uni-body car i ran ground from front battery/alt to rear battery bank. If you have solid frame rails you can save some money in copper.

 

Option 1 is good:modify with just one run of 1/0 from alt to battery. Option 4 is good too:modify with single run of power 1/0 from alternator to batteries.

 

What size alternator and amplifiers? If more than 250 amp in alternator power i would double down on the 1/0 runs to the rear bank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your input liteblue.

 

It's a solid frame truck thank goodness! Yes that will save me quite a bit on the negative side of the circuit. Sorry for my crummy drawings, I was just trying to keep them as simple as possible. 

 

I think in my mind the reason I was asking this is would it matter which battery received the current from the alternator first?

Would splitting the alternator current equally matter?

Does the resistance in the wire, because of the different lengths, mean that one battery will get more or less current from the alternator than another, or does it even matter?

 

I feel like I'm probably way over thinking this. But just wanted to really get some other opinions from some other people,

 

Many thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, ceckard said:

Thanks for your input liteblue.

 

It's a solid frame truck thank goodness! Yes that will save me quite a bit on the negative side of the circuit. Sorry for my crummy drawings, I was just trying to keep them as simple as possible. 

 

I think in my mind the reason I was asking this is would it matter which battery received the current from the alternator first?

Would splitting the alternator current equally matter?

Does the resistance in the wire, because of the different lengths, mean that one battery will get more or less current from the alternator than another, or does it even matter?

 

I feel like I'm probably way over thinking this. But just wanted to really get some other opinions from some other people,

 

Many thanks!

Which battery gets the alternator power doesn't really matter, unless the back battery is over 20' away, which I don't think it is. You're linking them together so essentially making one bigger battery. Splitting the feed won't make much if a difference either way either. 

The reason why I personally would just run 2 runs to the under the hood battery is because it'll only be like 3'or so.  No hidden wires. You can pop the hood and monitor your wires yourself. That's why it's so important to fuse between the batteries because you won't be able to monitor those runs and make sure they're not failing

2011 Chevy Silverado under construction

My build log here. Check it out! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, ceckard said:

Thanks for your input liteblue.

 

It's a solid frame truck thank goodness! Yes that will save me quite a bit on the negative side of the circuit. Sorry for my crummy drawings, I was just trying to keep them as simple as possible. 

 

I think in my mind the reason I was asking this is would it matter which battery received the current from the alternator first?

Would splitting the alternator current equally matter?

Does the resistance in the wire, because of the different lengths, mean that one battery will get more or less current from the alternator than another, or does it even matter?

 

I feel like I'm probably way over thinking this. But just wanted to really get some other opinions from some other people,

 

Many thanks!

I had my alternator feeding directly to my rear lithium, and then separately to my front battery which I can’t say was a bad idea as I never had problems, but it left the Underhood battery out of the equation as far as useful voltage. I have then changed it to alternator feeding front battery, then that feeds my rear lithium, which feeds my amp. I like that wiring the best, as it allows both batteries to be directly parallel. 

‘16 ram. Net Audio. Taramps. JL. DS18.  Fox Acoustics. XS Power. 226.08” of DC Audio blue carbon fiber. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dual 1/0 runs back to rear lithium, which is dual grounded, as well as amp is dual grounded. Grounds are completely separate from each other as well

‘16 ram. Net Audio. Taramps. JL. DS18.  Fox Acoustics. XS Power. 226.08” of DC Audio blue carbon fiber. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...