Im just wondering what i would need electrical systemwise to run 2500 rms. what size of alt? i know i need the big 3 and all the 0 gauge wires. what kind of battery do u recommend? what else would u guys recommend to run a good 2500rms? is this all i would need is a new good alt, big 3, 0 G wires and a good battery or is there more? also eventually when i want to run more say 5000rms would it just be a matter of adding more batteries and cables?
What kinda car/truck is this. This will help with alt. choice and the belt to run them. If you need two you might find one that can handle that. Not sure on that. And for the battery a good one maybe deep cycle?
it will be a ford ranger prolly 05 or 06, from wut ive read they come stock with something like a 115amp alt. and wut belt are u talking about like the serpentine belt or wutever the one that runs on the alt n everything else or?? do u think i can get away with just one good alt instead of running dual alts for 2500 rms?
get like a 250-300 amp alt couple high amp hour battery's and about 1 run of 0 ga per 250 amps. then if you go to 5k rms get a seconded alt and another run of wire.
im fairly new to this so what do u mean by running 1 run of 0 g wire? like if i have 2 batterys say the one under the hood and one in the cab or something would i run a 0 g wire from the + under the hood to the batt + in the cab then a 0 g ground grounded in the cab somewhere to the batt ground terminal in the cab or do i run the ground terminal under the hood straight to the ground terminal in the cab batt? then just run a 0 g wire off each terminal on the battery in the cab to the amp? or how does it work ? i will be doing the big 3 upgrade to. If someone could explain how to run the cables like that with 2 batteries, 1 under the hood and 1 in the cab, also with the big 3 upgrade but i somewhat know how to do that. also how many inline fuses would i need and wut amps? i only know one for the + cable on the big 3 upgrade so far thats it.
a run is a wire that goes from point to point more or less. arguably the best ground is said to be from battery terminal to battery terminal. i really don't feel like going to far in to explaining it but wire > welds on car body, more or less any way. you can ground to the chassy with it but it would need to be a really good ground like throw the floor of the cab to the frame or one of the rear struts i think they call them. thats gonna be your options the more you put in the more you get out. but yes feel free to use your seconded battery as a distro block. look at how troy jones did his its quite stunning.
There are so, so many factors to consider when you're talking about this topic. "2500 wats RMS" is misleading. If that's the amplifiers' combined power rating, then remember that rating is measured with a resistive load, using a 20Hz-20KHz test tone, on a stable bench power supply in a lab setting, at full output.
Here's the reality of it: You'll be using a dynamic source signal (music) which fluctuates within the typical output voltage range by quite a bit. Usually well below the referecne "peak" level of the source unit. Next, you're using speakers, on the amplifiers, which are a reactive or inductive load, meaning also combined with the type of enclosure used for the speakers which also affects the output, you'll be reducing the peak output of the system even more. Now if that weren't enough, ou also get to factor in things like the vehicle cabin's gain and efficiency since a lot of the sound you produce will be lost to resonating sheet metal if the car isn't properly sound treated. This brings us to the biggest thing people overlook. You don't listen to the stereo at full power, all of the time. In fact most people never run at 100% volume on a big system unless all they intend to do is compete in SPL events and never plan to use the car for playing music. The reason this is important is because every time you double the listening volume (as determined by human hearing) you use TEN times the power from the amplifier to achieve that. Now this sounds neat, but remember it works the other way too. By this I mean if you are at half the full output of the stereo, you're at a tenth of it's rated power.. and it drops fast from there.
The end result? Your 2500 watt system will, on average, be using maybe 100-200 watts of actual power, so maybe 20A of current, for typical listening volumes.
GlassWolf, you just destroyed my whole universe man.
but seriously it's good to see you posting again. we need a resident EXPERT back on here.
and won't the amp's efficiency come into play too? i mean if its only like 80% efficient, won't that rob you of some power causing more stress for your electrical system to make the same wattage as a more efficient amp? (i hope that makes sense)
that it will. amplifier efficiency is largely dependant on the class topography of teh amplifier in question. (Class A, AB, D or T, and so forth) and can range anywhere from about 80% efficient, to as low as 40-50% efficient. Like I said, lots of factors. Anyway, the short version is that it's really best to try the stereo on a stock charging system first. IF you have issues, then upgrade what needs to be upgraded. The proper power line gauge and ground wire gauge is a given. the alternator may or may not need to be upgraded, as goes for the battery, too. Capacitors won't help, and will at best only filter AC ripple, and at worst, mask bigger problems.
I'm still around. I have veen busy working on my home stereo stuff lately, and busy with a move out of MI to the South where it's warmer. It's nice to be back.
hmm ok i sorta see wut ur saying. well i plan on getting a kicker zx2500 most likely for a re mt 15. how loud do u guys think that would be in a little ranger ext cab? also i know nothing at all about building boxes and all that so i will be going to a guy here in town that works at an audio shop and has lots of wins in national comps n other stuff to build me a box for my vehicle. so with all that how loud do u think it would be with a proper box?
im sure with a proper box you can do 145+ dbs which is quite loud! but understand that with an amp like that you really need to focus on supplying that power, like they said, i would suggest an alt that is at least 200 amps and a deep cycle batt. i like optima but there are other choices as well. try to keep your length of your wire to a minimum. the shorter the wire the more amps that can run through it, the longer the wire the less amps. and with that amp im sure you will be about 80% efficient with a 2 ohm load which is pretty good.
ok cool, i think ill get a 250amp alt and a really good battery and big 3 and see how that does then if its not sufficient ill get a 2nd battery. good thing about in a ranger to is that i wont have to run too much cable since its a short distance from the hood to the cab