Electrical Help

[Jstoltzy]

Hello there, I am currently running a Skar ZVXv2 12 on an RP-2000 in my 2010 Honda Accord Coupe. This is not my first system I’ve run but I’ve been running into an electrical issue, primarily voltage drops. I’m currently running a stock alternator (which I believe is 135 a for my car), 1/0 gauge wiring for amplifier as well as big three. I also have an XS Power XP750 deep cycle battery. My amplifier is pushing approximately 1700 watts.
On particularly bass heavy songs, I hit some voltage drops that dims my headlights pretty heavily. I’ve tested the battery while playing music with the car running, and my voltage usually rests at 14v, and doesn’t usually drop below 12.8v.
My question essentially is, will this much power hurt my alternator? And are there any easier solutions than switching to a High Output Alternator? I don’t have a lot of extra money to throw into this build currently so am trying to keep cost to a minimum without damaging my electrical system. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

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[Lasherž]

Hello there, I am currently running a Skar ZVXv2 12 on an RP-2000 in my 2010 Honda Accord Coupe. This is not my first system I’ve run but I’ve been running into an electrical issue, primarily voltage drops. I’m currently running a stock alternator (which I believe is 135 a for my car), 1/0 gauge wiring for amplifier as well as big three. I also have an XS Power XP750 deep cycle battery. My amplifier is pushing approximately 1700 watts.
On particularly bass heavy songs, I hit some voltage drops that dims my headlights pretty heavily. I’ve tested the battery while playing music with the car running, and my voltage usually rests at 14v, and doesn’t usually drop below 12.8v.
My question essentially is, will this much power hurt my alternator? And are there any easier solutions than switching to a High Output Alternator? I don’t have a lot of extra money to throw into this build currently so am trying to keep cost to a minimum without damaging my electrical system. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

You're kinda pushing it, I think you're fine with leaving things how they are but you've gotta understand that those headlights are sensitive to literally mV of drop, especially halogens bulbs. The reason why you're experiencing drops at this point is your alternator isn't big enough. I don't think headlights are a good indication of voltage drop but I will say 12.8v is pretty substantial if you were at 14v before. 12.8v is about the minimum I would allow my system to dip to. When you're playing a loud deep bass song does it slowly get worse or does it always recover to 14V between notes? That's really the indicator of whether more battery power would solve it. If it slowly gets worse that's when you explore a new alternator.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Tree

If it slowly gets worse that's when you explore a new alternator.

Could it be that battery sensor? Another member had similar issues, turned out all he had to do was a bypass on that sensor. I think it was a Honda Civic, burned out his alternator.

 

[Lasherž]

Tree

Could it be that battery sensor? Another member had similar issues, turned out all he had to do was a bypass on that sensor. I think it was a Honda Civic, burned out his alternator.

Not sure exactly what you mean, but if it's a choke point for the new 1/0 AWG cord maybe. If not I don't think it's going to be a limiter in this particular way. I'd expect a sensor error to either keep it low (as if the car was hot in the case of an eco charging car), or to keep it high (as if the car was cold). A delay would also not pass the test of watching to see if the voltage goes down over time in a deep bassy song since it would recover in full and hold it. I'm not as familiar with alternators as many other folks on here, but from basic knowledge from Bcae1.com it'd be time for an alternator swap when the voltages start dropping like that. Ideally you almost never use your battery power, so over 1500W is about where you start noticing the shortcomings of factory alts. That's not including the normal things a car does with the power also, so it's pretty starved with only 110A.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

but if it's a choke poin

 

[Lasherž]

Yeah, seems plausible given what that sensor does.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

a stock alternator (which I believe is 135 a for my car)

Stock Honda alternator wouldn't make 135A if it were hit by lightning. Real world I suspect you're lucky to see over 70A.

You'll probably solve this with a nice extra battery but due to space and weight a lot of people would opt to get into a custom high output alternator. Good alternator will cost about double what a good AGM battery will.

But generally 2000W amp is getting into the neighborhood of you really can't do it off stock electrical.

 

[OldFartAudio]

You could try adding a capacitor. I don’t know if it will help much based on your description but it might do the trick if it is big enough. Also it is cheaper than the other options and weighs less.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

You could try adding a capacitor. I don’t know if it will help much based on your description but it might do the trick if it is big enough. Also it is cheaper than the other options and weighs less.

No. If we're not talking about ultracapacitor banks this is a very bad idea and this has been known bad since the mid 90s. Proper ultra capacitor bank is meant for 3 second burps or guys who run big or multiple alternators.

 

[OldFartAudio]

No. If we're not talking about ultracapacitor banks this is a very bad idea and this has been known bad since the mid 90s. Proper ultra capacitor bank is meant for 3 second burps or guys who run big or multiple alternators.

In this video there is a clip of them demonstrating that a standard cap does help the dynamic power of an amp. The demo is done by Tony D’Amore using an AD1. They were able to get 9% more peak power (almost 300 watts) with a standard 4 farad cap. And I did say that I don’t know if it will help his situation. His situation sounds like it may be a bit extreme.

 

[mastershake575]

Could it be that battery sensor? Another member had similar issues, turned out all he had to do was a bypass on that sensor. I think it was a Honda Civic, burned out his alternator.

I had the same issue back when I had a Honda. Honda has the ELD (electronic load detector) which basically tells the alternator to charge at a lower voltage depending on the use in order to save on gas mileage.

Alot of newer cars are using a voltage limiter similiar to the ELD but Honda was the mainstream pioneers of it (they've had it since the early 90s).

In TCs case it's not an issue because the moment you turn the headlights on the ELD kicks in and tells the alternator to charge at full power. ELD is only an issue if your driving with absolute nothing on (no headlights, no dash lights, no a/c).

I contacted every since aftermarket alternator company and Singer alternator was the only person who offered a Honda alternator with the bypass (had to option to buy a highoutput alternator with the bypass or simply buy the wiring adapter from him and keep my old alt). The bypass basically tricked the stock sense wire into always thinking the car needed a full load

Stock Honda alternator wouldn't make 135A if it were hit by lightning. Real world I suspect you're lucky to see over 70A.

You'll probably solve this with a nice extra battery but due to space and weight a lot of people would opt to get into a custom high output alternator. Good alternator will cost about double what a good AGM battery will.

But generally 2000W amp is getting into the neighborhood of you really can't do it off stock electrical.

Agreed. You can't be trying to pull over 150 amps of current when your car doesn't even have half of that available. You gotta create power if you want power (I remember the difference between my Honda sound system which was simliar power to TC's was night and day the moment I replaced the alternator). It sounded like I went from a single 12 to 3x12s

You can use the highest quality wires and have a nice battery but it won't matter, and the end of the day there's no way your sub is even seeing half power (possible not even 1/3rd power)

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

In this video there is a clip of them demonstrating that a standard cap does help the dynamic power of an amp. The demo is done by Tony D’Amore using an AD1. They were able to get 9% more peak power (almost 300 watts) with a standard 4 farad cap. And I did say that I don’t know if it will help his situation. His situation sounds like it may be a bit extreme.

Those things are crap and shouyldn't be used under any circumstances by anybody unless your goal is to get some slightly bigger numbers on your SMD dyno """peak power""" test.