Bigger Alt or not?

[anibal 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I have several things going into my car.

The original alternator was 70 amps and I replaced it with an AC Delco 160 amp from a dodge Monaco (it is the housing used for that car).

Right now I have the Big 3 with 4 gauge wiring.

I have a red top optima.

Cadence iA4 for the components.

Cadence iA7 for the Subwoofer.

The subwoofer will be run at 1ohm load. that should be around 1000wrms.

The components will be running off the amp, Cadence states 75wrms at 12.5V, most likely around 90wrms at 13.8V.

I will be changing the big 3 to 1/0 wiring and will be running 1/0 to the back with a dist. block then a short run of 4 gauge to amps.

Think I should stick with the 160amp alt or upgrade it to 200 or so?

This is a numbers game right now as I have yet to install the equipment.

thanks!

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[ascitiesburn69 10+ year member]

kinda depends on when the alt puts out 160amps but I'm pretty sure that 160amp alternator is enough for 1300-1400rms.

 

[anibal 10+ year member]

kinda depends on when the alt puts out 160amps but I'm pretty sure that 160amp alternator is enough for 1300-1400rms.

Idle is 108amps.

1196 rpms is at 174 amps.

 

[anibal 10+ year member]

Ok, I have done some searching and guys have larger amps then me and use 130-160 amp alts with the big 3.

 

[S.B.C. 10+ year member]

Never hurts to have an extra battery in the back

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

I only have 1000W RMS max right now with two Kinetik HC 2000's and I am still running on my stock 145 Amp alty with no issues. Someone indicated I could probably get away with up to 3000W RMS max before I'd have to start looking at an HO alty.