Official CarAudio.com Big 3 Thread

[zmcqdv 10+ year member]

Sorry, i was not very clear in asking my question, my fault.

My stock alternator cable which has 90A fuse at the battery. This I will not touch.

I'm gonna add in another cable which is a 0gauge wire. This 0gauge wire will have an inline fuse built-in with 100A fuse.

Both wires will be from positive alternator to positive Battery terminal.

Is this safe?

Thanks.

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

not 100a, 1/0 wire can carry up to 300 amps if it is true 1/0. go with a 300a fuse if your going to fuse it, but in my opinion its not needed

 

[zmcqdv 10+ year member]

Thanks for your help, bro. Much appreciate. Will remove tat fuse then. It's true 1/0 from knukonceptz ultraflex cable.

 

[DBDRAGGUY 10+ year member]

Thanks for your help, bro. Much appreciate. Will remove tat fuse then. It's true 1/0 from knukonceptz ultraflex cable.

If you want to fuse your charge line from your alt it is not a bad idea. The fuse is meant to protect the wire and Black Bonnie was just pointing out that 1/0 can carry 300 amps, and a 100 amp fuse would limit the current it was designed to handle. I fuse my charge line from my alt just in case of a short that could possibly cause a fire.

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

yeah and i agree with db, but at the same time if you have a 250 amp alt, what are the odds its going to put out over 300 and blow your fuse. its good to fuse it in case of an accident, but i have personally never fused any of mine. and i have done just fine. if you do it properly and route it carefully you shouldnt ever have any problems. but it is totally your choice. its not wrong either way. just more money in my eyes to fuse it

 

[NoobieAudio 10+ year member]

man this crap gets so confusing without pictures lol so the 0 guage from alt to bat seems to be the confusing one. you all say i should put a 0 from alt to batt while leaving the factory wire in place? how would that fit/look?

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

well you would have to get an aftermarket battery terminal for both positive and negative here click here this one has pics and might help you better

 

[bad03ranger 10+ year member]

Ok so ive read the tutorial and have a question for fuctionallity (and looks for me) i CAN replace factory wire with 1/0awg wire right? this is all i add or replace 1: BATT+ to ALT + 2: BATT - to BLOCK 3: BLOCK to CHASSIS-(i havent looked yet but this one should be there also this is not an addition is it?) or should i just replace all wires (if these three are not the only wires)for the charging system with 1/0awg wire? what are some other causes of lights dimming Im only running 200 rms x 2 to 2 SX rated at 300rms each on 8 awg pwr/ground

 

[CaptNKILL 10+ year member]

I just finished my big 3 upgrade. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be. This car is a dream to work on compared to my old Buick.

Here are some pics of the wires I added. The gigantic blue ones are obvious. Those are the new 1/0 gauge grounds. The red one is my 4 gauge amp wire running to my trunk.

And this one is the new battery + to alternator + cable. The original is still there, just in case my new cable is shoddy for some reason my car won't die on me. The new one is marked with red arrows.

I was surprised just how easy it was to make it look like it was supposed to be there. The original rubber boot from the alternator was a little snug but it fit and covers it perfectly. The wire loom was freakin huge compared to the stock loom, but it doesn't look too out of place.

I'm really happy with how it all turned out, especially the cables. A big pair of vice grips, a flat head screw driver, a hammer and a piece of concrete seemed to be the perfect tools for the job. Electrical tape (to protect the connector while hammering it down) and some heat shrink really made it look nice too.

I'm not really a "noob" when it comes to stuff like this (I've been doing similar things on a much smaller scale with computers for about 10 years), but this is my first time screwing with anything under the hood of a car, other than adding my amp wire.. and if I can do it without much hassle, anyone can do it.

Do your big3 everyone!

 

[Dpg2383]

I am a noob to this forum, but not to car audio. I am planning on upgrading my eletrical system with the big 3 upgrade soon. I've bought all the supplies and tools that I need but just have one question that I hope someone can clear up. I've searched the whole thread and seem to be confused about the positive alt wire connected to the postive battery terminal. Everyone in the thread has been saying to ADD to the stock wiring, not replace it. So am I suppose to connect my new 0 gauge wire to the EXACT same spot as the stock wiring on my alt, therefore having two power wires (my stock and 0 gauge wire) comming from my alt to battery positive? Bc every pic i've seen has only the new wire connected from there alt to battery positive. I'd appreciate any1s feedback, im just not trying to fry my battery. Thanks for your time and I hope I didnt confuse anyone,lol.

 

[WrenchGuy 10+ year member]

I am a noob to this forum, but not to car audio. I am planning on upgrading my eletrical system with the big 3 upgrade soon. I've bought all the supplies and tools that I need but just have one question that I hope someone can clear up. I've searched the whole thread and seem to be confused about the positive alt wire connected to the postive battery terminal. Everyone in the thread has been saying to ADD to the stock wiring, not replace it. So am I suppose to connect my new 0 gauge wire to the EXACT same spot as the stock wiring on my alt, therefore having two power wires (my stock and 0 gauge wire) comming from my alt to battery positive? Bc every pic i've seen has only the new wire connected from there alt to battery positive. I'd appreciate any1s feedback, im just not trying to fry my battery. Thanks for your time and I hope I didnt confuse anyone,lol.

Just use a 5/16" terminal and stack the stock terminal on top of it at the alt. Then connect it to the battery POS by whatever means necessary.

 

[Dpg2383]

Thanks a lot! I thought that if I had two ring terminals on one bolt that it would would be to much voltage or something. So does this mean that it is also safe to connect two ring terminals to the same bolt for my grounds? Also do I need heat shrink tubing or is that a bit over kill,lol?

 

[JeffM 10+ year member]

So the big 3 consists of (1) Battery + to Alt + (2) Battery - to BLOCK (3) BLOCK to CHASSIS-

I know where the Alt + and battery + is, but What is the Block? And Block to chassis- ?

 

[CaptNKILL 10+ year member]

Thanks a lot! I thought that if I had two ring terminals on one bolt that it would would be to much voltage or something. So does this mean that it is also safe to connect two ring terminals to the same bolt for my grounds? Also do I need heat shrink tubing or is that a bit over kill,lol?

I would use heat shrink. See my post above for the results.

It looks much better than tape and it will last much longer under the hood of a car.

 

[CaptNKILL 10+ year member]

So the big 3 consists of (1) Battery + to Alt + (2) Battery - to BLOCK (3) BLOCK to CHASSIS-
I know where the Alt + and battery + is, but What is the Block? And Block to chassis- ?

You don't really need Battery - to block. Any ground will work for the block.

I did:

Battery+ to Alt+

Battery ground to Chassis

Block to Chassis