battery charging problem, do i need bigger alt. or different setup?

[brown79elco]

i own a 1979 elcamino with a 305 v8. i decided to go with 2 15s. this is what i got.

160 amp alternator. 2 optima yellow tops. 1 for the car itself and 1 for the system. i have 0 gauge from one optima to a switch (fuse) to the isolator then to the 2nd optima. from the 2nd optima 4 gauge runs to a 5 farad power acoustik cap. from the cap it goes to a 2300hct 2 channel audiobahn amp. from the amp (bridged) i have 2 15'' power acoustik mofos.

the main problem i am having is at idle the batterys are not charging well. at idle my cap will read 9-10 volts while bassing hard. my cap will read 10-11 volts wile driving 20 to 40 mph while bassing hard. on the freeway my cap reads 11.5 while driving 60-90 mph while bassing hard.

i think it could just be my alternator. a audio place told me to run a stinger battery and a stinger 5 farad cap and that will solve the problem, and it is not the alternator. he also said the optima is not a good battery to run with a sound system.

should i just run a bigger alternator? what kind? does it charge at idle? please help answer my questions. this car is a daily driver and i do cruze alot.

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[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

Do the Big 3. And run all of your wires in 1/0awg. Get rid of that cap.

Make sure all of your grounds are solid and clean as well.

 

[brown79elco]

i did the big 3, my car still drops voltage. is it the alternator?

 

[bumpncarstereo 10+ year member]

my alt came with a smaller pully to help at idle with charging, the only draw back is that it wears it out faster.

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

CAMINO - got pics,I own a 80 Bu(track car)

your prob might be pully speed?

but wire upgrades make a big improvments(big3)