Big 3 Upgrade in a YF (2013) Sonata?

Ruggie74

CarAudio.com Newbie
Hello friends,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I am by no means a "car guy", and I have a very basic understanding of electrical/electronics. However, with the instruction of YouTube and the folks over at the Hyundai Forums, I was able to install an aftermarket system into my car a few years back.

Here's my problem: my interior lights and headlights are dimming every time the kick drum goes off in my music - so, all the time, essentially.

Does anyone have any experience in doing "the big 3" upgrade on a Hyundai Sonata in these forums? If so, I'd really like to ask a few specific questions.

Also, do you guys think this "big 3 upgrade" is even required? Like, is it going to solve my problem? Folks over at the Hyundai Forums were really split on the issue: some said the cars already had fully capable electrical systems for high watt systems, and other people said that I should do it.

My system is roughly 1100w RMS:
JL Audio HD 600/4 + 1200/1 bi amp system
JL Audio ZR650-csi components
JL Audio C5-650 coaxials
JL Audio 10w7ae-3 subwoofer

Thank you in advance for ANY insight into this topic!
 
I would recommend getting the Big 3 done for sure.Most the cars these days are generally Taxed/maxed out on the electrical system with all the electronics that the cars uses stock, leaving little room for any add ons.
 
I have a 2011 kia optima(very similiar to your sonata) the only issue I'm running into with the big 3 upgrade is the ground cable coming off the negative battery terminal. My optima and probably your sonata have a battery sensor on the negative battery post and kia sent me a bulletin saying not to upgrade the negative battery wire because it can cause charging issues. I have not found a solution for this problem yet.
 
I have a 2011 kia optima(very similiar to your sonata) the only issue I'm running into with the big 3 upgrade is the ground cable coming off the negative battery terminal. My optima and probably your sonata have a battery sensor on the negative battery post and kia sent me a bulletin saying not to upgrade the negative battery wire because it can cause charging issues. I have not found a solution for this problem yet.


I read your statement from KIA as a "do not REPLACE the original ground wire". So in other words, the big 3 upgrade should be totally fine because you're just adding wire instead of replacing it? If you don't mind, could you double check your message from KIA and let me know exactly what it says? Maybe I better contact Hyundai just to be certain myself. Thanks for your input!
 

This is what I was talking about.
 

This is what I was talking about.

Thank you for this. This is incredibly useful information to have. I may open a new thread specifically regarding adding an additional ground wire to the battery when the factory wire has and ECM installed to see what the potential risks/solutions might be. I wonder if this is more of just a "will void your warranty" situation, or if there is a legitimate danger and risk involved with doing the big 3 on a system like this. Not the news I wanted to hear, but I greatly appreciate you bringing this to my attention. Thank you so much!
 
No problem, please post if you find a solution. I'm running a 1200 rms mono kicker amp and a 360 rms 4 channel kicker amp I need to find a solution also. I'm also getting dimming/flashing of headlights and I don't wanna run these amps on bad power.
 
No problem, please post if you find a solution. I'm running a 1200 rms mono kicker amp and a 360 rms 4 channel kicker amp I need to find a solution also. I'm also getting dimming/flashing of headlights and I don't wanna run these amps on bad power.

Will do man. I talked to a local shop today and they said their guy will email me tomorrow. I'm gonna call more local shops after I hear what he has to say. You should do the same! As far as I can tell (and don't take my word as truth because I really don't know) I think the negative battery wire just has to stay put and we can't add another. It seems like we can only do the negative engine wire to chassis ground and positive alternator wire to battery positive. Did you do either of those 2 yet?
 
So after some more research today, I was able to find this guy who upgraded some of the wiring in a 2012 Sonata:

Watching part 5 and 6 of that video, and also asking him in the comments for clarification (since I admittedly don't have a CLUE what I am doing), as far as I can tell, he ended up replacing only the alternator negative wire to chassis ground. It looks like he grounded the wire to the same place as the battery negative wire is grounded to (and cleaned both mounting points up a bit with sanding/paint covering). He did not do an alternator positive wire to battery positive terminal and he did not do a battery negative wire to chassis ground. He mentioned the battery negative wire's ECM in the comments for his reasoning to not touch anything there -- so thank you for that information Diego.

Now I'm wondering if this would be enough to solve the dimming problem in this vehicle (and Diego's KIA). I guess there is only one way to find out; so, I'm going to do a bit more research and probably end up trying to tackle this sometime soon and will report back. Any input or suggestions would be unbelievably appreciated, since I am, after all, a complete noob!
 
I have not done any of the big 3 because I'm under the impression your ground wire should be the same gauge as your power wire. And since I haven't found a way to upgrade the wire size for the negative battery terminal I cant upgrade the wire size coming from the alternator to the battery.
 
I have not done any of the big 3 because I'm under the impression your ground wire should be the same gauge as your power wire. And since I haven't found a way to upgrade the wire size for the negative battery terminal I cant upgrade the wire size coming from the alternator to the battery.

Definitely check out the video I linked as well as the part after it. The part before could be helpful too. Let me know what you think!
 
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Ruggie74

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