i upgraded my alt from 90a to 165a. lights are still dimming, but maybe not as much. i have a rf power 851s hooked up to my 12's running at 850 x 1 @ 4ohms and a soundstream xta480.4 also my power wire is 4 gauge devided to 8 gauge to each amp. i'm gonna put 1/0 gauge to 4 gauge to each amp. if i'm not mistaking that will draw even more current (to properly run my amps), but if the 165a alt is still insufficient now will it be even worse after the power wire upgrade tommorrow???
ok, wait. Have you done the big 3? If you have 4 or 8 gauge wiring going from alt to bat and so forth then that upgraded alternator isnt doing its potential. In my civic i believe i have in a smaller wire for my wiring because they put it whats just enough from melting. This is what ill be doing to my car because im upgrading from 70 to 160 amp alt. going to put some 1/0 gauge to give me some head room .
yeah, i have 1/0 guage from batt to ground, alt to batt and engine to chassis. so should i not see dimming at all?? car was running but at an idle. from what i've read the alt is basically just a regular alt while at an idle. is it because i had no rpm's due to engine reving???
I was under the impression (correct me if im wrong) that if you have a tiny battery, it wouldnt be able to store the X2 power its getting from your alt because its simply not big enough. If this is the case you need a deep cycle battery. Optima yellow top, stinger and etc. make em.
if i'm not mistaken, deep cycle batteries hold a bigger charge, for longer, and can drop down even lower in voltage and still be okay to recharge unlike batteries that aren't deep cycle. they are also more hesitant to "give up" their charge
your battery can only hold so much "juice", so when it is fully charged, the extra power from your alt is wasted.(not used)
and i think your alt will only make enough amps to supply the demand for amps at that time. so if you have a 200A alt, and your system is at low volume, and your car is idleing, your alt may only be required to produce 75A of current.
p.s. this is my first install. i've been working on this damn thing for about 20 hours. i hope it get's easier the next time, lol. i appreciate the help guyz.
o.k. i grouded it much better and installed bigger power and ground wires to my amps. i still have a little dimming at peak volumes. is this o.k. i will also be getting a yellow top deep cycle when i get a few more dollars. man, this sh1t ain't cheap. just the wires alone cost half as much as the whole system, lol.
.