16+ volt setups. How?

[germanyt 10+ year member]

If i wanted to run a 16 or 17 volt setup what would I need to do. I'm looking at an amp from Celestra and it says 7100 watts @ 1 ohm @ 17 volts. What is all involved in a 17 volt setup and are a lot of amps safe to run at 17 volts?

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[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

to run that high you need a unregulated power supply on the amp...or one that is regulated up to that high. Also i think you need an alternator with an external or adjustable voltage regulator. Keep it at like 14 volts when daily driving and crank it up to 17+ when you want that much power.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

if i had an alt like that could i set it to somethign like 15 or 15.5 so that i never drop below 14? would my cars electrical be ok with it always set at 15? system on or not?

 

[DTPnU 10+ year member]

Youre about to fry the living he!! outa your electrical. If its a daily driver, id advise against it. I have only seen it in competitive SPL vehicles.

 

[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

if i had an alt like that could i set it to somethign like 15 or 15.5 so that i never drop below 14? would my cars electrical be ok with it always set at 15? system on or not?

i don't really know...i know most new cars usually put out about 14.4 volts

 

[CaliforniabOY5 10+ year member]

i am interested in a complete answer too ~!

 

[Odd-io 10+ year member]

I believe the alts for 16 volt setups charge at 18-19 volts. You will also need a new voltage regulator. Kinetic makes a 12/16 volt batt that has a 12v terminal you can connect oto the cars electrical and a 16v terminal for the amplifiers.

Link to the battery:

http://www.kinetikaudio.com/hc16v.asp

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

wow what a great idea. does anyone make it in a less expensive model? 500 bucks for a battery is a little much. maybe i should change my original question. what is the best way for me to maintain a constant 14 volts. i already know about the big 3, h/o alt, batteries, etc. but is there any math or somthing i can do to determine exactly what my electrical will need to maintain 14 plus. i intend to run between 6 and 10 thousand watts daily and of course, dont' want to fry my electrical.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

also with the kinetic 16, do i just need the one up under the hood to distribute the 16 and 12 properly and then have say, yellow tops in the back, or would i still need dedicated 16 volt aux batteries?

 

[DTPnU 10+ year member]

If you run anything higher then your alternator rating, then it will just drain off your battery completely. But look at the electrical in a race car. I think they run on 16 volts...

 

[JG903 10+ year member]

One way you could do it is to get an alternator that is externally regulated. Then get some 16 volt batteries or other batteries that you can wire together in order to get a final voltage of 16 volts. Then in order to charge them use the regulater to make the alternator put out around 19 volts. In my daily driver I had a dual alt. setup. One to run everything on the truck and the other just for the 16 volt batteries.

 

[Lance 10+ year member]

there is a step down module available from Powermaster also.

Great piece of equipment.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

There are a few ways to get a 16v electrical system without blowing up your car

1) Kinetik 16v battery with a 12v post, and an externally regulated alternator. With this, you will need some 16v batteries in back as well. Though personally I don't like 12v battery posts for a daily driver car.

2) Complete 16v setup with 16v batteries and alternator, using step-down modules. That way the amps see 16v while the car is regulated to only 14v or so.

3) Two separate electrical systems with 2 alternators. The stock 12v alternator for the vehicle, and a 16v alt for the amps. Run the stock 12v battery up front for the car, and run 16v batteries in the rear. Completely separate from each other.

4) A separate 16v battery bank. Quite a few of my teammates did this for some time, and it worked out fine for them. They just got a big bank of 16v (or 8v batteries wired in series) and ran the amplifier off just purely the batteries. With consistent playing they did need to be charged every couple of days, but this is the cheapest and simplest option.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

i like option 3 the best. does anyone know of someone who has done a multiple alt setup in a 4.3L TrailBlazer? I don't know if i have a spot where an extra alt will fit. Dom makes a 300 amp that will fit in my stock location but that will end up being a 12 or 13 volt setup. not to mention, the higher the amp rating, the less at idle. Id worry about my batteries dying at stop lights with only 4 yellow tops in the back and something like 60 amps at idle.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

also, my current alt has a wiring harness that connects to it. guess it goes to the computer. will an extra alt have to be wired into it as well or will it work fine on it's own?