big 3 power to alt wire why why bigger

[jdmferio13 10+ year member]

Im just wondering how big a difference bigger wire from alt to batt makes.I just spent like 2 weeks trying to figure out why my new ho alt doesnt work.well today somehow it works.when i start the car it sits at like 12.6-12.7 and then goes up to a max of 13.2.all grounds are upgraded except the alt to batt its like 10-8 guage.I have a 200 amp alt would it raise the voltage that much

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[Stalin-ohaulic]

Im just wondering how big a difference bigger wire from alt to batt makes.I just spent like 2 weeks trying to figure out why my new ho alt doesnt work.well today somehow it works.when i start the car it sits at like 12.6-12.7 and then goes up to a max of 13.2.all grounds are upgraded except the alt to batt its like 10-8 guage.I have a 200 amp alt would it raise the voltage that much

Probably not. In a parallel circuit, the voltage should be equal throughout the circuit. Unless you have a heavy draw and that wire is really resisting, upgrading it will not raise your idle voltage. (This is, if you mean the voltage is that low without heavy bass and high current draw.)

If you're meaning the voltage is low under heavy current draw, then larger wire can certainly help your voltage stay higher.

 

[SmokeyDog 10+ year member]

a bigger wire just makes it easier for the electrions acrross the surfuse of the wire more effisent

 

[lovindabass]

umm if you have 10 to 8 awg wire on you alt you are losing voltage. I myself upgraded the grounds to 0 awg on top of what is already there. And a 4 awg wire from alt charging stud to pos terminal and i gained .3 volts. Went from 14.2 to 14.5 on average.

 

[SmokeyDog 10+ year member]

i dident gain anything but i lost my voltage drop by a volt

 

[jdmferio13 10+ year member]

I will upgrade i think my batts were just drained and are slowly getting back up there.They were without an alt for a week.I started and had key turned over a bunch of times so maybe thats the problem.