Battery help

[Bostonjlguy 10+ year member]

I am purchasing 3 AQ HDC3 12's and an AQ 3500.1 in January. I am wondering if I could get away with purchasing a few batteries instead of upgrading the alternator? Which batteries I should buy and how many? I have upgraded the big 3 using 1/0

Click to read more...

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

you can but you'll have to recharge the battery bank every week ,the alt cant keep them all charged up if its not large enough . prolly 3-4 group 31 agm batteries will do .

 

[Bostonjlguy 10+ year member]

you can but you'll have to recharge the battery bank every week ,the alt cant keep them all charged up if its not large enough . prolly 3-4 group 31 agm batteries will do .

I don't drive a whole lot, and I usually don't have my stereo up due to a 2 year old in the back seat. Do you still think I would need to charge the bank every week? Could you throw some models numbers too me that would work? Would there be a bigger battery I could use, so I wouldn't have to use 3 or 4? Should I just buy a high output alt?

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

the alt would be best for the batteries to stay charged

 

[Bostonjlguy 10+ year member]

you can but you'll have to recharge the battery bank every week ,the alt cant keep them all charged up if its not large enough . prolly 3-4 group 31 agm batteries will do .

I know your a dc rep! What would 3 level 3's and a 3.5k run?

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

pm coming

 

[Roland 10+ year member]

I am purchasing 3 AQ HDC3 12's and an AQ 3500.1 in January. I am wondering if I could get away with purchasing a few batteries instead of upgrading the alternator? Which batteries I should buy and how many? I have upgraded the big 3 using 1/0

Wouldn't it be cheaper and MUCH better to put a high amp alternator on there? Having just extra batteries puts you on a recharge time clock. If you miss your charge you might get stranded if/when your voltage gets to low. Also some modern car's CPU hate low voltage!

Personally I'd put a Clamp on amp meter on you amp Leads, and find out what volume you can safely play your music. The point where your alternator can keep up.

 

[UnderFire 10+ year member]

You'd probably kill your stock alt pretty quickly, it would be at full load a lot more than normal, happens all the time to off-road guys running multiple batteries for winches and lights on stock alts.

 

[Bostonjlguy 10+ year member]

You'd probably kill your stock alt pretty quickly, it would be at full load a lot more than normal, happens all the time to off-road guys running multiple batteries for winches and lights on stock alts.

I really don't drive alot and I only listen to my stereo about 50% of the time. I have a 2 year old, so I don't listen to it when he is in the car. Do you think it would still kill the alt if it had all that time to charge those batts when I was driving but not using the stereo? I don't want to buy an alt because I might be getting a new car soon.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

it will still take time to kill the alt .its mainly there for recharging the batteries anyway.the amp will draw quite a bit of power ,especially when played very loud .,just dont lay into the volume and be aware of what you can get from the system safely without messing anything up and you'll be ok.