Big 3 Qeustion ( Not your average big 3 Q )

[soydeedo 10+ year member]

more wire does equal less resistance but also anywhere you get a drop (weakest link between alt, battery and amps) will effect the total system. meaning even if you did the big 3 doubled you would still be choking it out some with one long run front to back as compared to the double big 3 up front.

it could help with your accessories and headlights though.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

it could help with your accessories and headlights though.

what did that have to do with my answer?point i was making is if you dont do the weakest link as you do the strongest overall the gain will be lower rather than just doing it right to begin with. if you are powering a large enough system to warrant a double big 3 the accessories in the car would be my LEAST worried about part. if you have a flicker with 1 big 3 doubling it up wont take it away it is either in the regulator or the sytem as a whole lags behind a bit no biggy

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Lol, I was using the amp example on how it can increase your voltage by having more runs of 1/0.....And I was meaning can the "Big 6" help out more with your voltage since there was more paths for voltage to travel......

Adding wire does not raise your voltage, nor does voltage drop unless you are drawing more CURRENT than the ALTERNATOR can supply....

http://www.bcae1.com/

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Adding wire does not raise your voltage, nor does voltage drop unless you are drawing more CURRENT than the ALTERNATOR can supply....

http://www.bcae1.com/

same time though a 200 amp alt wont produce 200 amps at 14.4 v and an alt isnt constantly putting out top power. it puts out only what it needs and max output is rpm dependant......

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

nor does voltage drop unless you are drawing more CURRENT than the ALTERNATOR can supply....

It's easy to get a voltage drop with less current than the alt can provide. It's called resistance. V=IR. If resistance or current (or both) are high so will voltage. In the case of wire, that voltage is a loss and the voltage lost multipled by the current present will give you the loss in terms of power that the wire must shed as heat. Larger wire reduces the resistance makeing the voltage loss less.

Bigger wire and quantity of it does not mean more strain on charging source to have to 'saturate' it. If that was the case, the car chassis would take forever to saturate.

I think you missed the whole point of the post where the term "satruate" was used. He said that 1/0 was moe than enough because it would take a large alt to saturate it, meaning that it would take a large amount of current to get the losses from the wire to be less than negligible.