ive got 600 - 650 watts on a stock alternator in a f150 . I have a pioneer deh 7700 and its got a battery voltage meter and when i get to about 53 / 62 on a good bass songs the lights start blinking .. not crazy bad but they do lol ... but ive never saw it drop below 13.9 , 13.8 .. is this alright ? if i upgrade the big 3 you think i could handle 900 watts >
i'm no expert. but i think if you do the big 3 it will/should be able to support 650 watts . u might be able to play ur radio 62/62 (650 watts). However i doubt that 900 watts will be supported with big 3 on ur stock alternator.
you'll never be able to play a radio at max volume. it'll start clipping and sending that clipped signals on to be abplified if you do. thats why its always said to tune the gains with the HU volume only up 3/4 of the way. doesn't matter what kind of HU you have.
its best to use a DMM on the battery itself rather then reley on a HU built in Volt meter. if it botheres you or starts to blink worse you'll need to look into a HO Alt.
the big 3 will help, but won't do anything amazing if the power isn't there to begin with.
i used to run 2600 watts (200 for my HU and 2400 for my sub amp) in a honda civic with a stock electrical system so i can relate having my lights dim...but i added a 4 fared capacitot with a digital led display and when i turn it up the voltage drops to 10.34...and my lights still dim!!!
Casey 13.8-13.9 is strong voltage. But I think you should get a volt meter and check it more precisely. I like to check engine-off voltage first, then start it and at idle check the voltage at the battery with no accessories, then one by one turn stuff on and see how the voltage reacts. And do the same checks at the amplifier terminals to see how much loss there is.
650w isn't going to stress many stock electrical systems. Some minor dimming isn't a problem unless it just really bugs you. I personally wouldn't hesitate to run 1000w or more of your truck's alt. Is it the 130A??
I'm running 1100-1200w rms in my '88 T-bird with a 110A alt. Dimming's minimal. Battery's 6 yrs old - beginning to show its age, but still gets the job done.
James - there's no HU made that even comes CLOSE to 200w. Real power numbers on the typcial HU will be around 60w rms. That leads me to believe your "2400w" amp may not be near that much power as well. What amp is it?
And FWIW - at 10.34 your battery is supplying 100% of the voltage and current - and if that's happening a good portion of the time you're killing your battery, and eventually your alternator. You've got problems that need to be fixed
my HU is a kenwood excelon 25th anniversary addition so its 200 watts max and i believe is 52wrms and the 2400 watts for the amp is also a max rating but it does push out 1500wrms at 1ohm. the subs are cerwin vega strokers (2000wmax and 1000wrms) wired to a 1ohm load. the amp is a directed 1500d and as for the 10.34 volts on the capacitor, that is only when i turn everything way up...the volume, the amp gain, and SW level on the HU...and that way past my normal listening volume.
while running 2 cerwin vega stroker 12's i managed to hit 151.6 db with everything turned up and my HU shut down due to the under voltage protection. i do not listen to it anywhere near that loud but i do think that i over did things a bit with 2 strokers in a honda civic. i have since moved them into my house and converted them to the sub for my home theater so that amp is no longer in use for my mobile system.
i now have 1 mtx 9500 12 with the mtx 8502 amp running at a 1 ohm load and there is no light dimming at all while everything is turned up. the capacitor reads between 12.00 and 13.35 while at a normal listening volume and sub levels and even when i turn everything up the cap still reads 11.43 volts. FYI if everything is turned off completely and i am sitting at red light when the radiator fan turns on the cap drops from 14.25 volts to 12.73 and then jumps right back up...also if i have any interior lights on while the radio is off they dim when the fan kicks on as well.
also i just took my car in for its 30,000 mile check up at the dealer and my battery is still measuring its rated output of 440amps so i don't think that i am really killing it too bad.
