Need help with my setup
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| I have a PPI PC21400, a PPI PC4800, ample 2 farad digital cap, 2 eclipse sw9122 subs, 2 330watts pioneer 6x9, 2 6" pioneer (for doors), 2 kicker tweeters flushed into the door, ultima red top battery. Car is a 1998 Honda Accord with stock altenator (80amps) He's the scoop, I was told I needed 0 gauge cables and a bigger cap. Also was told that I needed a bigger altenator and to get rid of the pioneers (all of them) and get beyma mids and beyma tweeters. What are your recommendations since I dont want to spend money I dont need to. |
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| Sorry I meant optima red top (but you guys knew that. |
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teflondog | how many rms watts is each amplifier rated at? an alternator upgrade is good, but in your case you don't need one. what i would suggest is having all the cables on the battery and alternator upgraded to 0 gauge (including the grounds). upgrading wires costs less than $50 and it's the best upgrade you can do for now. for the amplifiers run a 0 gauge wire from the battery and connect it to the capacitor using a ring terminal. from the capacitor run two 4 gauge wires and connect each one to each amp. i once had a honda civic which only had a stock 60 amp alternator and i was running around 1000 watts, so you should be alright (especially since you have that cool optima). however, never turn your amp gains to the max. |
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| The amps are rated as follows: PPI PC4800 = 800 watts rms @ 2ohms PPI PC21400 = 1400 watts rms @ 2ohms |
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teflondog | wow. i was wrong. if you're going to be running 2200 watts rms in your system, then an alternator upgrade is necessary. don't buy a bigger capacitor though. just use that money towards a higher output alt. but be sure to still upgrade the battery and alt wires to 0 gauge so that proper energy can flow freely throughout the electrical system. small cables = restricted power flow. |
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| You think I should upgrade the cables that go from the altenator to the battery to a 0 gauge also, including the grounds? I didnt know it was possible to do an upgrade on that with such big cables. |
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| I was looking for a bigger altenator and was told that they dont have those for my car (went to a altenator store). Anywhere else I should look for? Or can it be rewired? |
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teflondog | you can have an alternator rewound by a pro to give it higher output. and yes; change the cable from the alternator to the battery to 0 gauge, especially the ground. if you can't do it yourself, take it to a pro. it shouldn't cost much. |
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teflondog | you could search the internet for a high output alternator for a 98 accord. i once found a 200 amp alternator for only $150. they're easy to install. just take out your old one and pop in the new. (car audio is such a hassle, huh?)  |
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Diazman | It's me again heheh well I did what you guys told me, hooked up a 0 gauge cable straight from the alt to the battery and I did see some improvement but if I crank it up I would end up with the same problem in a matter of minutes. So the guy at the shop were I get my stuff done says to get a 50 farad alumapro cap and it will solve all my problems, he says he dont change alt no more since the 50 farad came out. What do you guys think? |
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motoman22 | Diazman, find a new installer. Caps don't make power, they store it. See a detailed explanation in the Accessories board. |
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Diazman | motoman thanks for your reply and I know that caps only store power and I did point that out to him, but he says that the 50 farad alumapro stores so much power that I dont have the need for a bigger alt. since I only have 2 amps. But in the other hand that dam alumapro is more expensive than a high power alt. |
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| The alumapro is expensive...and the shop makes a huge profit from it's sale. They don't make diddly when you go buy a bigger alternator and put it on, what do you expect them to say? The PPI amps you have are darn good amps. The 21400 is stupid powerful and has a thirst for power that few other amps do. I'm sure you can tell by the size and weight of the damn thing... The 4-channel amp you have is another thirsty sucker, waaay overkill for a couple of 6x9's and a component set but hopefully the small load keeps it's power demand down too. The 2-farad cap you have should be adequate but if not I would call anything more than another 2-farad cap (both on the 2-channel) a band-aid. If 4 farads of cap support don't fix the problem, the problem is bigger than it seems. What size power wire is running from the battery back to the amps? 2-ga should be fine but anything less is probably asking for trouble. A 80-amp alt, Optima red-top, 2-ga power cable back, and a 2-farad cap should be adequate for most systems but I am fairly certain that your big sub amp can pull upwards of 80-amps alone. The juice just isn't there for it...it can't recover. Bigger alternator Diazman, I really think you need one. Call some electric motor repair shops near by and ask is they can rewind your alternator to produce about 150amps. You should be fine. |
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Diazman | I went to a alternator place and they laughed when I asked it to be rewound to produce about 150amp (those idiots) so I asked him if they can adapt a odyssey alt which produces 140amp and they said no, but then he suggested a 110amp acura alt which he had in stock, then I knew all he said was BS and all he wanted me to do is buy HIS alt. He also suggested some kind of box that will make my alt produce more watts but not amps so I said no and walked away. When I was walking away he said that he could check into ordering a bigger alt for my car but it would cost me about $1000 and I said forget it, I'll go somewhere else. At the time I've tried ebay but all they have is for the 6cyl accord, nothing for the 4cyl. Guess I'm gonna have to keep looking. BTW I have 4-ga from the battery to the amps (I was advised to change it to 0-ga but I'm gonna wait till I put in the alt) and 0-ga from the atl straight to the battery (left the original one that goes from the alt to the fuse box then to battery and just added the 0-ga from the alt to battery) |
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motoman22 | The aftermarket is huge for the Accord, I'm sure that someone makes a high-output alternator for it in the $150 - $250 range. Keep digging and in the mean time, cut the gain settings on your amps down to about half what they are now. It's a bigtime strain on the device to make it work with insufficient power. |
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| motoman22 & teflondog, what do you guys think about this http://4alterstartcom.verizonsupersite.com/pages/store/skudetail.nhtml?profile=highoutputalternators&uid=12446&catuid=10013&returnURL=http%3A//4alterstartcom.verizonsupersite.com/highoutputalternators Do you think this is enough? It says it will power a 1500watt system and I have a 2200watt system. But since 150amp its almost double what my car produces I would like your opinion. BTW my car produces 80amp. Let me know what do you think about pricing also. I've tried to look for a webiste for stinger alts and Ohio alts but cant seem to find them and came accross this one. If you guys have a link to a better alternative send it this way. Thanx. |
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teflondog | that's a very good deal considering the fact that an alt for your car is hard to find. i've ordered two alternators from 4alterstart.com and they've lasted me 4 years so far with no trouble at all. just make sure to upgrade every single electrical wire to 0 gauge. this includes all the grounds. |
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| That's the one Diazman, go for it. I know that 'underdrive' pulleys are a popular performance upgrade for imports like yours, if you have underdrive pulleys on your car it will require more engine speed to produce the full power of the alternator...just an FYI. Don't forget the cable upgrades and make sure the connections are really tight and secure. A 0-ga cable with bad connections doesn't help much. Does your car have a battery gauge or just an idiot light? Since you do have such a strong set of amps you will want to watch the charging system and make sure it's handling the load OK. I know there are some cool digital setups that you can add on pretty easy, Teflondog might know the good brands...I haven't installed any in many years. |
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Diazman | Thanks a lot guys you have been a lot of help. |
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SpazzTic | Hey this thread was really helpful all...especially motoman. Good call on the Diazman issue. I was looking for some feedback on alterstart`s rewound alts (great prices), and its good to see that they seem to be good. I`m doing about 3000w, and the idea of running new cable to the engine block sounds good! Thanks again... |
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