i got an 01 jeep cherokee and the stalk alt puts out 117amps and i run a hifonics 2005d at 2 ohms (1300rms) and im getting some major drainage the gain is only set to half should i be looking at a new alt cause right now i cant afford to go h/o right now
Buy a better battery first. That way your not just buying the exact same alternator which you'll replace just as soon as you get more money. If you buy a good battery its just saving you a step you'll eventually do later on. Also have you done the Big 3? Doing a 4 ga from alternator-battery, battery-ground, engine-ground will help a whole lot also.
put a new battery today and its still doing it and havent done the big 3 yet but i can try that tomorrow and if that dont really help go with the alt right
Amps X volts = watts. With that alt you're putting out a tad over 1400w. That leaves only 100w for the balance of the cars' requirements. Best battery in the world and big three won't correct this, unless you drive around most of the time without your system on. A battery is like a water tank and the alt is the pump that refills it. Your electrical usage is like the neighborhood's consumption of water. No matter the equation if you use more than you produce it WILL come back to haunt you.
And if you run down an even new battery a few times it will reduce its' life, unless it's a deep cycle. Big three is the cheapest start, then I'd hit the alt (sorry), followed by the battery, unless yours is close to toe tagged now anyway. Less chance of damaging the battery that way with too much draw.
and how do you suppose a already struggling alternator is going to charge 2 batts when it is already struggling to power 1? Listen to paul! by the way I'm with MS I liked that one
Something like a 20ah batt wouldn't tax the system to much and unless you are driving around at full vol all the time, at which point yes H/O alt is top priority and maybe you don't need all 1300 watts maybe you could drop it down to ~1000 until you have your electrical where it needs to be but for short play times (like showing off to your friends) a 20ah batt would help. you won't hurt the subs by giving them less power it's the same thing as turning your vol knob down, just turn the gain down a tad then your mids and high's will be nice and loud still. What do you think of that Paul?
what do you mean drop it down to 1000? buy a new amp? he said he is already struggling now you want him to buy a new amp? I got a alt for my jeep when I had it from a company called mean green look into them I believe it was $200 and it was 200 amps. Like Paul said dont band-aid it do it right and stitch it up!!!
You don't have to change amp to drop your power output noob, I have a saz-3000d @ 2ohms ~ 800 watts atm because I can not afford a new atl atm either. all he has to do is use a 12$ dmm and http://gcs8.serveftp.net/free%20for%20all/Copy%20of%20Audio-Calc.xls And he can get where he needs to be, i did and my lights don't dim and i only have a 80 amp alt and 1 batt, it's not the erumpent you have its how you use it.
thanks paul, james and everyone else for the info but my gain is set to half already dont really want to turn it down any more and im gonna look into the mean green alts a new stock alt is like 120
like I said Charles if he drives around without playing his system more than he does then it's a different story. Most do though and in this game you're always better off preparing for the worst case scenario. Sure, a second batt acting strictly as an added electrical "fuel tank" will help if he only uses his system for short bursts. (Make sure you isolate that 2nd batt though). And like James said any additional battery added to the system will only tax the alt further, regardless of radio usage.
And Thomas stated he was getting major battery drainage when his gain is only at half now. Adjusting it down enough further to prevent killing more batts is like governing a vette to max out at 40 MPH. And as Thomas also stated he wasn't keen on doing that anyway.
right paul and i do drive alot and my system is always playing mabey not loud but i do crank it when im on the road guess i could just take it easy on it for now and save the cash to do the h/o alt, big 3 and power wire to the back i work out of my jeep so i also have a power converter back there to run tools so im tough on my batteries as it is
really m.s. guess if u cant fork over enough for a system that will blow ur eardrums out u dont belong around car audio i mean wtf u dont say that to people who come on here and trying to put a system together with 600 bucks to f_ck off damn ms we trying to help out people and a friend told me about a place that will beef up my stock alt so i might do that
Thomas- he's mainly telling THIS to people that spend every last dime they have on 2000 watts and then wonder why their crap is failing. If your only using a 1000 watts then there's no need to buy an alternator but he is reiterating that it doesn't take ALOT of money to get the right stuff to protect your system. Thats what I took out of it anyway.
but my stuff isnt failing and didnt spend alot of money im only running 1 10" ive always been on a budget i didnt have this problem with my sonoma witch only put out 100 amps that y i was asking i have more amps and having more problems and this is the same system that was in my truck so thats y i started this whole thread
All I can tell you is to go easy on your system for awhile until you can buy an alternator if you need your current one to last for awhile. I know every car/truck is different for some strange reason and while what may be true for one person may not be true for another. I would say turn your subwoofer level down where you can here your bass but its not maxing out its potential. Thats just me personally and that way you can play your music basically like normal but your subs arent drawing that much power to them and your saving your alt/battery until you can purchase a bigger one.
one of the guys from advanced auto parts gave me a number to a place where he has had them upgrade his stalk alt. with a warranty for about 80bucks so im gonna check them out tomorrow and see what they say and go from there
Help you out is exactly what im trying to do by telling it like it is... so on that note..
DO NOT pay someplace that claims to "build up" your stock alt. Don't. Just don't do it. I really can't stress that enough. It is well known that those places are BS. bcae1 has a good article about just that I believe. Stop trying to cheap out on it and just think... you're going to get something as good as an HO alternator for 80 bucks? Please.
" Junk alt, doesnt put out rated. "
Now here the lesson is: don't listen to stupid people who make stupid claims about products they know little to nothing about, and maybe had one bad expierence with. Hes going to tell you to go with the almighty mechman or nothing... but ask troy jones how good mechman is before you do
opps didnt catch the typo lol he got his alt done there im just gonna check them out but guess im just gonna have to deal with it for a while and just save up
Use em in almost every vehicle I've put an HO alt in. Zero problems. Service is good also should you ever need to ask them about something, those guys run their business well.
Hey Charles you southern inbreed hick first of all cpu was short for computer! second The electrical system in an automobile is said to be a 12 volt system, but this is slightly misleading. The charging system in most cars will generally produce a voltage between 13.5 and 14.4 volts while the engine is running. It has to generate more voltage than the battery's rated voltage to overcome the internal resistance of the battery. This may seem strange, but the current needed to recharge the battery would not flow at all if the charging system's output voltage was the same as the battery voltage. A greater difference of potential (voltage) between the battery's voltage and the alternator's output voltage will provide a faster charging rate. As long as the engine is running, all of the power for the accessories is delivered by the alternator. The battery is actually a load on the charging system. The only time that the battery would supply power with the engine running is when the current capacity of the alternator is exceeded or when engine is at a very low idle. ,If you remember the formula P=(E*E)/R, you will see why more voltage produces more power. P=the power that would be delivered to the speaker. E=the voltage of the audio waveform. R=the speaker's rated impedance. Impedance is basically the same as resistance except that impedance is used to describe a device's opposition to "AC" voltage. If the resistance/impedance remains constant and the voltage increases, power increases. So if his electrical system is already being drained and the amp is already producing less than what it is capable of pushing you want him to turn it down more??? also lets talk about gain control. Most amplifiers will have some sort of level or "gain" control. This control is used to match the output of the head unit to an amplifier. The maximum audio output voltage from different head units will vary. If there were no gain controls, some head units would not be able to drive the amplifier to its maximum power level. Other head units may drive the amplifier to full power at a fraction of its volume control's range. now you might have the control to keep your volume down when turning your system's amp down, but 99 out of 100 people are going to try to get the same performance out of their amp while it is turned down by adding bass and raising their sub output level on their HU. This can lead to clipping which can fry vc's and cause your amps for your mids and highs to overload and clip aswell with the gained volume. The truth is like MS and Paul said dont put a band-aid on your system save untill you can do it right. Like I said 99% of the stereo loving population would not have the volume control you might have. I like the way paul said it best why drive a vette with a gov set to 40hp daily? but then again what do I know i'm just a noob like you said right???
Dear James, I love how you have such low self esteem that you feel the need to attack me, and with preconceptions you have of the south. Nor am I a "hick", the amount of ignorance you show only prompts me to believe you are very narrow minded. Now that was a great job of copy - paste / paraphrasing from www.bcae1.com, glad you can use a keyboard. now on with the post, you could have a perfectly tuned system with proper power ect and the seconded you put some one behind the controls that goes I want to change a setting you can start killing or clipping any equipment. There are also the people that take the gov off their car and destroy the car because they wanted more, better safe than sorry. As for the gain know it's very easy to drop a 100~300 watts out of a 1300 watt system and not notice it or at least not have it be a huge difference. I have run 4 12"s off of 87 watts a peace or 350 total and it has been louder and power full than 250~300 watts a peace. Box design does play a large part as well. Use your power smartly if you still have bump but its less bump for ~3 weeks so be it save your equipment until you can power it. So which would you rather do be nice to your equipment for a couple weeks or possibly kill more equipment and waste money?
on my eq the bass is set to -12 and for the sub output is at +6 and even if i turn it down there are alot of songs u cant hear jack on and some that pound really hard
