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<blockquote data-quote="johnecon2001" data-source="post: 1739475" data-attributes="member: 556589">You dad is a typical old schooler. Back in the day when systems weren&#039;t high powered and no one had done any tests on this stuff.. he would have been correct.Now though, test and other smart people PWN him.Let me start out by saying for wire in the doors, 16awg is fine. If you only bought 12awg, just use that.He would also be correct about the stock wiring in cars. But what he fails to realize is that in the applications we&#039;re talking about, your systems are drawing easily 80-200A over what the stock system was ment to handle therefore making his statement incorrect.Use the example of plumbing. The smaller the pipe the more pressure is increased and the less water flows. If you have a larger pipe the water will flow more easy.Long distances and short alike, if you have to move a lot of whatever, you need that larger awg to prevent restriction of flow.A capacitor is just something else for the alternator to charge. Which, if it&#039;s already failing to keep up with your system, how is it supposed to charge the cap too?You should definitely get a new alt. For the amount of wattage you are running do a little math. 1600w / 14.4v = 111.11a (assuming 100% efficiency). If your stock alt is already max&#039;d out. You need to look for something in the 160-180A range. Maybe even go to a 200a to give yourself head room.A larger alternator will NOT cause any problems. Read the sticky reguarding this in the electrical forum.All in all you&#039;re dad isn&#039;t wrong, he just doesn&#039;t have the right info to back up his assumptions.EDIT: dang it I should have //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/read.gif.ff512c499c00ed3faae9a20f4b088b29.gif</blockquote>

[QUOTE="johnecon2001, post: 1739475, member: 556589"] You dad is a typical old schooler. Back in the day when systems weren't high powered and no one had done any tests on this stuff.. he would have been correct. Now though, test and other smart people PWN him. Let me start out by saying for wire in the doors, 16awg is fine. If you only bought 12awg, just use that. He would also be correct about the stock wiring in cars. But what he fails to realize is that in the applications we're talking about, your systems are drawing easily 80-200A over what the stock system was ment to handle therefore making his statement incorrect. Use the example of plumbing. The smaller the pipe the more pressure is increased and the less water flows. If you have a larger pipe the water will flow more easy. Long distances and short alike, if you have to move a lot of whatever, you need that larger awg to prevent restriction of flow. A capacitor is just something else for the alternator to charge. Which, if it's already failing to keep up with your system, how is it supposed to charge the cap too? You should definitely get a new alt. For the amount of wattage you are running do a little math. 1600w / 14.4v = 111.11a (assuming 100% efficiency). If your stock alt is already max'd out. You need to look for something in the 160-180A range. Maybe even go to a 200a to give yourself head room. A larger alternator will NOT cause any problems. Read the sticky reguarding this in the electrical forum. All in all you're dad isn't wrong, he just doesn't have the right info to back up his assumptions. EDIT: dang it I should have [IMG]//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/read.gif.ff512c499c00ed3faae9a20f4b088b29.gif[/IMG] [/QUOTE]

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