What is the stock alternator capable of? Options

[maurer11sdk]

Im currently in the process of building a speaker box that will hous 3 amps, 3 subs, 2 caps. Will i need a new alternator eventhough i will have 2 caps? Should i buy three caps instead of the two? What would a new battery do for me? would it help so i dont need a new alternator? Please help me out with this one guys i really need help on this issue/ toppic!!

-Maurer

[soven]

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This post has been edited by soven: Feb 3, 2007 - 12:09 AM

[maurer11sdk]

yea thats what i just got reemed about on a car audio forum.. i guess they hate caps!! lol idk i think they look awesome!! id personally want it for looks.. if it doesnt do anything its okay.. but yea im going with 2 optima batteries, one for the front and one for the back

[soven]

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This post has been edited by soven: Feb 3, 2007 - 12:09 AM

[maurer11sdk]

i think i might buy two non branded ones with the led just for looks...

[tim86]

thats a lot of power so an alt upgrade will be needed... but i will tell you what many have told me... do you really want to lose your hearing? my 2 12's at about 500rms each will kill your ears... just think it over, plus celicas are a pain in the ass electrical wise if something goes wrong

[Nibbe]

You just wouldnt need that kind of setup really. If its only for the looks then do it but in case you want it to sound nice then step back.

[6gcSTVT]

Caps make a difference, my friend runs his 12 without one and his lights dim pretty bad but mine is barely noticable with my 12 and a 1 farad cap.

[maurer11sdk]

see what i hear is that caps are good to use when your electrical system is good!! idk that doesnt make sense but thats what the guys on caraudio.com are telling me.. they absolutly think i shouldnt get 2 caps.. i think i need them because my alternator is way to small and it wont be able to hold all that power and if i have a cap it will store the power and save it for those big bass times in the music.. BTW i listen to a lot of rock not much of a fan of rap..

were can i get a new alternator than? if it will be too small? these guys have been telling me to do the "BIG 3" its when you redo your wires from your alternator to your battery make the gauge of the wire a lot bigger... and plus i will be adding a new battery (have 2 batteries, one upfront under the hood and one in the back for the amps!!)

[AudioFreak]

see what i hear is that caps are good to use when your electrical system is good!! idk that doesnt make sense but thats what the guys on caraudio.com are telling me.. they absolutly think i shouldnt get 2 caps.. i think i need them because my alternator is way to small and it wont be able to hold all that power and if i have a cap it will store the power and save it for those big bass times in the music.. BTW i listen to a lot of rock not much of a fan of rap..

Here's the problem.
If your charging system isn't powerfull enough the cap will hide the problem. But if you get into a piece of music where there is a long bass line it's easy to fully discharge the cap. When that happens you now have the amps pulling more than the car is capable of and the caps are now trying to recharge. So you basically have added another load to a undersized charging system.

To do things right you will need to replace the power cables under the hood. 4gauge should be plenty. Then get a good battery and finally look into a higher output alternator. A few people have had luck with an mr2 alternator. I don't think anyone actually makes a high output model for our cars.

Also realize that adding all the extra amps and subs dosen't get you a whole lot of extra bass. Adding a second sub and doubling the total power will only get you a 3db gain. As others have said scale back and get quality parts and you will be much happier.

[maurer11sdk]

yeaaa i have been hearing that more subs doesnt neccesarrily mean more bass.. but i want somthing that is going to look good.. sound good.. and having more amps will make the look good.. and its bound to sound good.. im re-doing my whole system basically.. its just filling a whole entire space which means a big box with fancy stuff.. I have my backseats out so i can see from my trunk to my front seats which is a lot of room.. i really appreciate the info on the caps and i will have to look into the mr2 alternator deal

[maurer11sdk]

yeaaa i have been hearing that more subs doesnt neccesarrily mean more bass.. but i want somthing that is going to look good.. sound good.. and having more amps will make the look good.. and its bound to sound good.. im re-doing my whole system basically.. its just filling a whole entire space which means a big box with fancy stuff.. I have my backseats out so i can see from my trunk to my front seats which is a lot of room.. i really appreciate the info on the caps and i will have to look into the mr2 alternator deal

[soven]

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This post has been edited by soven: Feb 3, 2007 - 12:09 AM

[AudioFreak]

Audio ricer

I can run 4 amps totalling up to 2300watts rms with stock alternator and no dims. Why cant you? I did upgrade grounds in the engine bay though and no caps. Look in your engine bay and the first thing you want to upgrade is that tiny black cable from the battery to the chassis. I used 0 gauge.

2300watts rms at lets say 14 volts is 165 amps of current if the amplifiers were 100% efficent which they aren't class a/b are 50 to 60%. Our stock alternator is 70 amps. Something dosen't add up.. I'm guessing the amps are a little overrated.

I'm running a soundstream amp that's 500watts rms and I get an occasional dim. And I've upgraded the grounds.

[maurer11sdk]

wait are you serious? Audio ricer? your running 4 amps and im an audio ricer? HAHAHAH man your the type that i def wont listen to when it comes to this forum.. I dont need to hear the well i got this and i got that.. I asked a simple question i dont need you asking me questions askin why i cant run them? like come on man

[soven]

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wait are you serious? Audio ricer? your running 4 amps and im an audio ricer? HAHAHAH man your the type that i def wont listen to when it comes to this forum.. I dont need to hear the well i got this and i got that.. I asked a simple question i dont need you asking me questions askin why i cant run them? like come on man

i added smileys. geez calm down. you did say you wanted to add more components to make it look nicer. dont listen? heh dont really mind. i stop posting

This post has been edited by soven: Feb 3, 2007 - 12:09 AM

[maurer11sdk]

i thought you were being a smart ass because someone went against your word? idk i appreciate the comments though it just seemed like at first you were being smart..

and i will be adding new door speakers, new 6x9's, tweeters, 3 subs, i think thats all the speakers im having, with 3 amps, 2 batteries, maybe caps? who knows with the caps though i have heard good and bad.. can we argue about the caps? idk if i should spend the money

[maurer11sdk]

well pro and con the caps i should say!!

[soven]

No, just saying that I have no problems at all with my system as an example. Not trying to be smart...

Good luck any how. basically caps are sort of like a very useless battery. so small that it will get drained the moment a bass note hits.

[maurer11sdk]

so if anything if i got them it would be for looks, would it hurt my system though? im like going nuts man all i see is people sayin yes there good and no there horrible