Can I add second battery like this..PIC**

[tpmeredith 10+ year member]

lol I've been on this site since 06, learned quite a bit back in the day. The forum has gone downhill though. There are still plenty of knowledgable people here willing to help.
The chart wasn't from this site though. Charts can be found here batteries/fuses/wires/alternators - Car Audio Forum - Car Audio's Forum! and yes I included my door speakers, Only running 50w X 2.

I agree I need a bigger alternator, but I also need more battery current. I can afford an extra battery for $60 and some wiring for the big3 compared to a $324, 200amp alt and then paying more to have it installed since my alt. is under the wheel well.

I checked my voltage drops at the ciggerette lighter outlet, don't know if that's the right place to check?

check it at the amp and/or the battery

Personally if you're gonna buy a battery I wouldn't buy one for 60 bux, I'd get a nicer one for at least 120-150

Getting a 2nd battery is gonna cost you battery + ~15-22ft of 1/0 wire and fuses, if you have it in the trunk that is

I agree there's a good bit of info to be had on this site, its an internet forum, not wikipedia, people just need to learn to sift threw ******** to find facts, its not hard

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

Dp

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

A new alt is for sure the best way to go but its also the most $$$. Like you said $250+ for as HO alt plus $250 plus to have it installed. I have a stock 130amp alt and with stock battery (55ah) my voltage would drop well below 10v (dropped low enough to send my amp into protect). After I added the 2 dekas I can romp on it pretty hard and my voltage will not drop below 12.8 (and thats full tilt sitting at idle). So batts might just be a bandaid for a problem when a Alt is the solution but nonetheless it cured my issue.

P.S like stated above always check your voltage at your amps.

 

[candeshop407]

I don't think that you have included your main speakers/stereo in that figure. Also your car needs power too! and your battery needs to re-charge also.. there's another 40+ amps, on top of what your amp draws..

If your lights dim or have voltage sag. you need a alt. not a battery.

Mind posting a the link to this chart..

I've been on this forum for 2 days now and im just dumbfounded by all of the mis information on here. If your serious about car audio, this is not the site to be on.

well noob maybe you should try telling your misinformation to iamamp3pimp. His neon with 2 21" wardens ran on stock alternator just fine. i believe 8 batteries with 4 IA 20.1s strapped at .7 ohms (.35 each).

 

[bigguy2010 10+ year member]

ooppps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

Adding more batteries only allows for you to play your system longer with the car off... incorrect nooblet do some research before ya open yo cawk sucka..adding more batteries only compounds your problems by adding more load on the alternator any good quality AGM battery only needs 1 to 10 amps of current to charge and stay fully charged, they are no where near the same as a regular flooded battery that you are confusing them with.... You need a HO alternator.
I don't get why people would spend $200+ on a battery, before they would spend it on a alternator. Thats totally opposite of the way you should upgrade your electrical system. wrong again....

the dimming is because he doesn't have enough reserve power for the musical transients batteries are exactly what he needs for what he has...

just had this issue with a customer that went thru 3 250 amp mechman alts 1 after the other and he only has 3kw RMS and multiple runs of 0/1 wire...

we dumped the HO alt and went with the stock alt and 3 120AH AGM batts and he never drops below 12 volts ever and no light dimming whatsoever even at full tilt with a stock 135 amp alt... in 6 months he burned up 3 $400 alts to the tune of $1200..... he spent $600 on the 3 batts and is still banging low 150's daily on that setup 12+ months later...

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

If you listen to your system loud often you should have 70 amps of alternator power for every 1000 watts of power. You should also have enough battery located by the amplifiers to help cover the dips (not under the hood but by the amps). Having enough alternator to keep the batteries charged is important because if you leave a lead acid battery undercharged too long the undercharged portion becomes an insolator not allowing the battery to recharge. Stock alt with a large system usually means a lot of time plugged into the wall. Standard cell needs to be kept up at 12.5 volts and an AGM 12.7 volts.

 

[candeshop407]

If you listen to your system loud often you should have 70 amps of alternator power for every 1000 watts of power. You should also have enough battery located by the amplifiers to help cover the dips (not under the hood but by the amps). Having enough alternator to keep the batteries charged is important because if you leave a lead acid battery undercharged too long the undercharged portion becomes an insolator not allowing the battery to recharge. Stock alt with a large system usually means a lot of time plugged into the wall. Standard cell needs to be kept up at 12.5 volts and an AGM 12.7 volts.

funny seeing as resting voltage for agm is 2.1v per cell

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

funny seeing as resting voltage for agm is 2.1v per cell

A fully charged agm battery will rest higher than 12.6 volts (2.1 volts per cell ) most will rest between 13 to 12.8. Every major manufacturer will tell you when it is at 12.6 they need to be recharged. A battery is parishable and has self discharge. The more you let it drop in that range and leave it sit under full charge without bringing the cell up to full charge is a good chunk of the battery you can lose. Is 2.1v per cell a real number or is it estimated? Is 2.12 volts per cell bad? What about 2.14?

 

[solidcrowd 10+ year member]

Nice little discussion we have going on here lol. I will check my voltage drops at the amp, The 9volt dip was from the ciggerette lighter on full tilt with constant bassline.

I don't drive around on full tilt all the good, I don't even think half the time. My cd player goes up to 50, full tilt for me is 36. I like to keep it around 27 for daily. Over 29 i start getting light dimming.

 

[SmartAsss 10+ year member]

According to the chart, I would need to upgrade/add a battery just to run my tweeter amp! (80w RMS x2) LOL! what a joke.

well noob maybe you should try telling your misinformation to iamamp3pimp. His neon with 2 21" wardens ran on stock alternator just fine. i believe 8 batteries with 4 IA 20.1s strapped at .7 ohms (.35 each).

Don't let my post count or join date fool you. Can you tell me how long his alternator lasted with the voltage regulator heating up from the stress of being forced to output higher current instead of normal voltage? alt can and do take it for a while, but you can bet your a** it will/did fail. sure you can run strictly off of the batteries but the alt will be tortured the entire time and will fail.

the dimming is because he doesn't have enough reserve power for the musical transients batteries are exactly what he needs for what he has...

just had this issue with a customer that went thru 3 250 amp mechman alts 1 after the other and he only has 3kw RMS and multiple runs of 0/1 wire...

we dumped the HO alt and went with the stock alt and 3 120AH AGM batts and he never drops below 12 volts ever and no light dimming whatsoever even at full tilt with a stock 135 amp alt... in 6 months he burned up 3 $400 alts to the tune of $1200..... he spent $600 on the 3 batts and is still banging low 150's daily on that setup 12+ months later...

Think about this... a 3000w amp would pull around 222 amps, alone at 13.5v (3000 divided by 13.5v) a 250amp alt would need to provide 222 amps to the amplifier plus an additional 40 amps for the cars ignition system etc... right there you just exceeded the 250 amps that the alt puts out (mind you the alt would have to be spinning at 4000+ RPM to get the full 250 amps, it outputs far less at idle) so the alt was bouncing between higher voltage and higher current demand, hence the destruction of its voltage regulator. Its the same concept of an amp clipping. surely you know what that is.

some people just should not be in the 12v industry. This makes me cringe to know that you are doing work like this on other peoples cars.

I will check my voltage drops at the amp, The 9volt dip was from the ciggerette lighter on full tilt with constant bassline.

9v!! holy sh1t thats extremely bad, to the point where you probably actually have a electrical issue like a failing voltage regulator.

 

[solidcrowd 10+ year member]

UPDATE****** Checked voltage at battery and it only drops to 12.8v @ Volume 35/50 (Lights on, car running). Big 3 and small Kinetic in back? Or replace front with a Deka. The existing battery is 620amps, not 525 like I previously thought it was.

 

[cirv908 10+ year member]

if i were you i would just throw a deka in and call it a day that will be all that you need...just to give you a idea i have a ap 3000d amp running off stock alt and batt right now i can turn my headunit to 25 outta 35 and the bass knob about a quarter turn if that when my voltage drops to about 12.5 to 13 all im gona do is throw two dekas from badhealth in and it should cure my problem and ill tell you what i dont know if i even wanna turn it up past that haha

i guess my real point of this being is everyone is fighting about alt or batts maybe you should break it down to this. what is this system for daily driving correct...no comps or anything

well if thats all its for your not gona be driving around full tilt all day so as far as im concerned you put a extra batt in your lights wont dim you can turn it up more and if you showing it off you can

thats what im doing with my system and its gona be fine

my point being it may be worth it to put a new alt in some cars where others just need a extra batt it all depends on what your doing with your system

 

[grandam888 10+ year member]

Proper battery sizetotal rms watts of system.... . Minimum battery current

1200-1300......................... . 1300

Proper alternator size

total rms watts of system... . Charging system upgrade

1000-1500........................ . 110

I have a 525amp battery, I need 775amps of more current.

I have a 115amp alternator, chart says I only need 110.

Pretty sure in my case I need a bigger/more battery

your reading the chart wrong. on the "alternator upgrade" section. the word upgrade actually means "upgrade". meaning you need to add x amounts to your alternator. if you read the one where it says "100 watts rms" it also says 10 amp next to it. if i follow the whay your reading the chart i only need a 10 amp alternator with a 100 watt amp.

basically you want the same amount of power with a system than without it(per the chart). for instance i have a 1500 watt rms amp, so according to chart i need to add 120amps to my charging system via alternator upgrade. so if i have a 120 amp alternator i need to buy a new alternator that's 240-250 amps. or you can follow some of the loons on here an just a a bank 1 farad of capacitors to your trunk and bam! instant power issue fix.

 

[DUAL10S 10+ year member]

didnt want to assume, but you do have fuses between the batteries?

I did the same set-up but did not fuse @ the sesond battery with nasty results.

Ended up with a short (new i should have put that last groment in) - the fuse @ the first battery popped but with no fuse on the second battery.... well I had 15ft of red hot 0g wire melting everything. Very expensive lesson to learn. (melted 3 gell cells, carpet and melted every ground on my truck - not to mention it would not run (just idle) until I got all the grounds replaced.

BTW - It did stop my lights from dimming while it was working.