big 3 doesnt do nothing?

[lil azn 06 10+ year member]

Hi,

Well, me and my dad got into an argument, since i was saying that speaker gauge wire does matter in a way. He said it doesnt and that i should stick to 16 awg wire for the doors, which most ppl would recommend, but i already got the 12 awg and i really dont feel like spending anymore. Anyways, i told him awg does matter, such as in the Big 3 and he said that the stock wiring is fine (imma assume its 8 awg) from the alternator to the battery and that it would be a waste of money and time to switch the cable to any higher gauge. Ive read many articles saying it did help ALOT, but i really need to prove him wrong, with facts or im about to get proven wrong. To start....

- does awg matter? Such as a 1/0 or hell even 4 awg for a big 3 with high power amps and car?

- does a big 3 even do anything?

- he said that awg only matters in long distances, true or false?

- Facts please.

My dad also said get a capicitator instead of a new battery or alternator......

He also said that all ya just want to make money (um ya r making money by helpin/sayin stuff on the forum?) and that none of you probably have a degree in electronics or some shit.

Really this thread is to either prove him right or wrong but since im already making a new thread.....

which one should i replace as a top priorty due to dimming, the alternator (60 amps) or the battery? How many amps alternator should i get for a 1000 watt class d system, plus a 600 watt class a/b system? I also plan on adding a supercharger or turbocharger, if it matters. Would it matter if i got a high amperage alternator, say 200 amps or is that too much and could cause problems?

Thanks

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[jrz126 10+ year member]

The big 3 does help:

the voltage drop in the wire is I*R. The larger the wire, the less resistance. with less resistance, there is less voltage drop. and less voltage drop = higher voltage.

 

[AVSTANG02]

My dad is a electrical engineer.. He agrees with your dad... Must be old age or something....

**** 12 gauge wire.. thats gonna be fun to run thru yer car.

 

[DZNUTTS 10+ year member]

The big 3 does help:the voltage drop in the wire is I*R. The larger the wire, the less resistance. with less resistance, there is less voltage drop. and less voltage drop = higher voltage.

It's easy to do anywayz.......

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

back in the day when a 10w stereo was the bizzomb it wouldn't have mattered a bit. Today, when you routinely have ppl running 1000w and drawing 100A+ on peaks I can see where it COULD make a noticable improvement, but it is by no means the answer to everyones problems.

In the end it's the alternator that carries the load, if you don't have the alternator capacity any amount of batteries or caps or ridiculously oversized ground wires isn't going to fix it.

 

[lil azn 06 10+ year member]

My dad is a electrical engineer.. He agrees with your dad... Must be old age or something....
**** 12 gauge wire.. thats gonna be fun to run thru yer car.

Hah i c.

12 awg wire through the doors is a *****, gonna have to drill new holes through the car to make it go through to the door, but it wouldnt of mattered, i couldnt fit 2 16 awg in the factory harness anyways.

The Big 3 would be a pain in the *** to do in my car, since the alternator is all the way down back behind the engine but it may be worth it.

 

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

16ga is perfectly safe to run to the door speakers imo. but for the big-3, power wire, and ground... i would think it matters a lot depending on the equipment.

i sure wouldnt run 8ga power wire to an 2000rms watt amplifer or even use 16ga speaker wire for the subs off that 2krms amp

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

le sigh

 

[ruckus]

your dad is right for door speakers 16awg is fine you wont see a difference using 12ga (you might with a high output sub or something) and big 3 wont help unless you also have a high oputput alt and again are running mega wattage. I run 2 amps (600 watts to sub, and 4 x 100 to components) and I dont have big 3 and see no power draws when the bass hits that require an upgrade. and they are both running off a 4ga wiring split into each amp.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Tell your dad to research what a cap does, it's not going to cure dimming. The big 3 does help, I have 2 of the wires run (haven't gotten to alt + to bat +) and my electrical system runs great. I have about 1000rms going and have no problems at all (95 amp stock alternator).

 

[toaster 10+ year member]

ummm. do the math....

how does an amp get voltage? from the power cable going to the battery. where does the battery get it's suppy? from the alt. so, if youre pulling 60 amps from the battery to your amp, then the alt is getting 60 amps pulled from it.

golden fact #1: the battery does NOTHING while the engine is running and the alt is spinning. NO-THING. when the engine is on, the alt is supplying all the voltage requirements for the vehicle.

now, add in youre running the ac or heater, plus vehicles ign system, plus lights and head lights, youre approaching 100 amps. now, lets say you turn your stereo up to impress someone or show off with a 40 hz sine wave, add in another 100 amps being pulled from your alt.

so, 100-200 amps being pulled thru the shizity little factory 6-8 ga charging lead from the alt to the bat. it will work for a little while, but heres what you run into:

the first thing that will drop is your voltage. when you arent getting enough voltage to supply your various equipment, current consumption increases DRAMATICALLY. this causes heat buildup. heat is the worst enemy of electronic devices, normally.

finally, to my first point: so you think you did good by running 1/0 cable from your bat to your amp. ok. while your engine is running, what you REALLY did was run that 1/0 to your bats factory 8 ga charging lead, then 8ga to the alt. so its just like running 8 ga of wire for 4-5 feet or so, then spliced it with 1/0 to your amp. anyone see a problem with that?

to save time and typing, apply that same principle to your ground cable.

you must do them both to see a benefit, as it doesnt matter if you upgrade the alt to bat charging lead; if you dont give that voltage a big enough ground, its still choked, and you will still heat up, pull too much current, and have dimming headlights.

hope that helps.

 

[tplaya07 10+ year member]

Just install all of you audio equipment, set gains prorperly, tune, etc., and then crank it up. tell your dad to watch for light dimmage. If the dimmage is substantial enough, then go ahead and do the big 3, and see if he notices a difference.

 

[Vestax 10+ year member]

Better yet, measure the differences.

 

[joeboxer5876 10+ year member]

thats the way to do it. install all of the equipment first and then keep in mind that you might need to do some electrical upgrades. i read this many times and most people will agree that the order to upgrade would be 1. big 3 2. alt. 3. batt.

 

[jrz126 10+ year member]

golden fact #1: the battery does NOTHING while the engine is running and the alt is spinning. NO-THING. when the engine is on, the alt is supplying all the voltage requirements for the vehicle.

Can you really say that the battery doesn't do anything when there is a large load present? Yes the alt is responsible for charging the battery and also supplys power when the car is running. Under a load, the voltage will drop, and if it drops below the battery voltage, then it will start discharging the battery.

Also, the current consumption will not increase when the voltage drops. I=V/R, the resistance of the load stays the same, as the voltage drops, the current will also decrease.

And lastly, power is what causes heat, P=V*I.