alternatives to upgrading alternator?

[geowick07 10+ year member]

Well, in the 95 Grad Prix, there's a 2" foam plug on the driver side inside the hood, not too hard to see/access. It looks like it was designed to run some wires through when cut into. I cut an X into it and ran my wires through, ends up under the dash, above the braking pedal about 18", moved over to the side and ran 2 runs of 4AWG to the back through the lining, as well as a Cat 5e cable being used for my audio from head unit and REM. Hope this helps.

How can this possibly help him with the question he asked? He is asking about power upgrades, not running wire to the rear/inside of the vehicle.

OP - Best bet would be to have someone help you with the Big 3 as mentioned, as this is the cheapest upgrade that can be done.

geo

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

oh well with 1200, id do the big three, and get a nice battery up front. them if dimming/voltage drop add a battery to the back. and like said above, a deka would work great.

x2 should be fine with only one batt, i didnt add a second batt til i had the aq 2200d.

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

Well, in the 95 Grad Prix, there's a 2" foam plug on the driver side inside the hood, not too hard to see/access. It looks like it was designed to run some wires through when cut into. I cut an X into it and ran my wires through, ends up under the dash, above the braking pedal about 18", moved over to the side and ran 2 runs of 4AWG to the back through the lining, as well as a Cat 5e cable being used for my audio from head unit and REM. Hope this helps.

umm, what? lol

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

capacitor //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

capacitor //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

A cap does it's best to keep the voltage at a certain level, but if the voltage changes so will the cap voltage. The cap just makes the change smoother. The diming light syndrome isn't a voltage issue but rather a current (amperage) drop. The voltage simply follows what the current does. A cap does not help this situation at all. A cap doesn't provide more power nor does it try to correct it.

a cap will have no use for me in this situation at all, and besides.. ive already got one, its a 2 farad cap.. i got it cause it flashed blue lights and looks cool.

 

[MakeshiftAudio 10+ year member]

thing is, ive got a pontiac, and GM cars are TERRIBLE when trying to do anything under the hood, i follow the wires down from the battery and they just disappear so i have no idea where the hell to even add the wire, the alternator is half hidden behind crap its complicated to do big three upgrade for my car lol

Forgot to quote, pardon me. It does not directly have any relevance, except that he should be running a wire parallel to the pre-existing one, instead of replacing.

Capacitors do nothing, you need a low ESL battery in the back for constant high power discharges. Look at UPS (C&D max rate series, etc) batteries and some other. Kinetic 2400, but that is a bit much. I personally put a large car battery in the back of the above mentioned Pontiac back when I didn't really know too much about high power DC systems. Anything that can provide a high current source will work, such as a simple car battery with post termination and 0AWG to the amp. The batt I have can supply 140A at 12.4V for a while, just a simple large car battery. (1100CCA I think it was...) If you have one around why not? It's not going to last near as long, but it works as a temporary fix.

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

u know u wont really need any of that with only 1200 watts. just the big three, maybe 1 battery in the back.

op this is what i have with a 1200 watt mono and another amp for my fronts. no diming at all and i have 115 amp alt

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

Quick question, how can you find out how many amps you alt is? I haven't been able to find out anything about the stock alt in my 92 saturn sl2.

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

Quick question, how can you find out how many amps you alt is? I haven't been able to find out anything about the stock alt in my 92 saturn sl2.

search it on the internet