battery or HO alt?

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

im on a tight budget and i have 2 choices:

a) buy a under the hood battery that will be ideal for my system needs (optima yellow top?...and i can get it right now)

or

b) save up more and get an HO alt (but i will have to stick with the factory battery for few months if i go this route)

keeping in mind their is nothing wrong with my battery or alternator at the moment. i would just like an optimal upgrade. i did grounding points and will be finishing the big-3 this week too.

my expectations from this is to reduce or eliminate the strain my vehicle is getting from my stereo, reduce dimming, reduce voltage drops, and be able to drive the car perfectly safe without worrying about my alt or battery dying.

not that im blaring my system everyday i drive, my cruising volume is 50%. but their are times where i park the car and show it off to buddies and bring it to my BBQ's for music

what you fellas think?

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[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

what equipment are you running? what szie alt do you have now? i assume you are having voltage issues now correct? start with the big 3 and go from there.

 

[qtipextra 5,000+ posts]

what equipment are you running? what szie alt do you have now? i assume you are having voltage issues now correct? start with the big 3 and go from there.

Look:

keeping in mind their is nothing wrong with my battery or alternator at the moment. i would just like an optimal upgrade. i did grounding points and will be finishing the big-3 this week too.

Anyways, go with the battery. The HO just provides power when your car is running, so if you dont want your battery going dead, upgrade it, rather then your altenator. I cant really see any sence into upgrading if you arent having problems with what you have tho.

I wish I had the money to to buy and upgrade. I have major problems with my alt and bat. When Im rinning my car, and not cranking, my lights dim, my HU lights dim, etc. Also, with my car running, and I crank it for like a minute or so, my alt cant provide enough amperage, so then it draws from my battery, which isnt much to begin with, so my battery dies, even with my car running.

Thats when you really should consider upgrading, when you have problems like I do. Of coarse, I am taking donatations, so if you want to donate money to my cause, PM me.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

he said nothing was wrong with them but he could be getting dimming lights or voltage drops. if you have no problems and it works fine why spend the money?

 

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

i get voltage drops as low as 11.2v on my factory 70amp alternator on loud bass notes. today, hopefully i have time to do the +batt > +alt of the big-3 and maybe that'll reduce the voltage drops?

im running 2 12" solobarics, hifonics bx1000d, and an alpine 4-ch amp (40wrms each). ill eventually sell these 2 amps and upgrade to the hifonics bx1205d and a 70wrms x 4 speaker amp. as you can see, im spending majority of my funds on stereo equipment whereas i dont have the source to handle it perfectly fine:emb:

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

if you are dropping to 11.2 then you'll probably need an alt. the big 3 won't do magic lol, but helps stabilize voltage.