Can my Tahoe's stock electircal handle this?

[rammie 10+ year member]

2001 Chevy Tahoe z71, stock electrical. Would like to add 2 US Amps Merlin MD22. I dont know the amperage draw or whatever but I need to know if I should upgrade anythign? I plan on doing the big 3. I may add 2nd battery becuase I run system with car off a lot. But first can the stock alt/electical handle this alone? And would a 2nd battery help or be necessary? thx

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[photocrazy8 10+ year member]

specs on the amps

 

[BASSMEKANIK 10+ year member]

not as it is, no. slap a second battery in there and it will be fine

 

[rammie 10+ year member]

Specs on the amps as they will be run, 2 x 200 @4ohm and the other will be bridged to do 600 x 1 @4ohm. They have (3) 25A fuses each. My tahoe has at least a 130 amp alternator, may be 145 I havent checked.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

2001 Chevy Tahoe z71, stock electrical. Would like to add 2 US Amps Merlin MD22. I dont know the amperage draw or whatever but I need to know if I should upgrade anythign? I plan on doing the big 3. I may add 2nd battery becuase I run system with car off a lot. But first can the stock alt/electical handle this alone? And would a 2nd battery help or be necessary? thx

Stock options on the tahoe are either a 105a alt or a 135a alt. The Z-71 usually comes with the 135alt.

The MD22 is rated at 200x2@4ohms so you roughly have 800 watts.

You will be perfectly fine off 800 watts with your 135a stock alt. If you add a second battery I would look into using an isolator or something similar to keep your system from draining your starter battery. Although, with that amount of power you shouldnt run into problems. You probly wont even need a second battery. My truck had the 105a alt and no extra battery. I was running ~1000watts in my system and only had a very slight dimming at idle. You have a larger alternator and less power consumption.

 

[rammie 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info, Im assuming you counted both MD22 amps to get the 800w? Yeah Im looking at the SurePower isolator to use when I add 2nd battery. Id like to try everything stock first, as I probably wont add 2nd battery until after the cold season to play outdoors again.

 

[rammie 10+ year member]

When figuring whether or not stock charging/electrical is up to the task, what do you take into account? Is it total wattage? Fuse ratings? How do you find amp draw? Thanks for the extra assistance, Im still learning.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the info, Im assuming you counted both MD22 amps to get the 800w? Yeah Im looking at the SurePower isolator to use when I add 2nd battery. Id like to try everything stock first, as I probably wont add 2nd battery until after the cold season to play outdoors again.

Both amps are ~800 watts. Definatly try it sock first, you can always add the second battery later on. You may never need it and save some cash.

When figuring whether or not stock charging/electrical is up to the task, what do you take into account? Is it total wattage? Fuse ratings? How do you find amp draw? Thanks for the extra assistance, Im still learning.

Most alternators have in the range of 40% reserve capacity.

135*.40=53a reserve

Class A/B amps are ~60% efficent

(output/efficency)/test voltage=max current draw

(800/60%)/14.4=92.5a max current consumption. This is with tones not with music. You will rarely ever see this. More like 40-60a draw regularly.

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

I say you should be fine. I am running 2 1000/1s and a 300/4, with just my big 3 and a red top and my voltage is around 13.8 running and 12.8 idle with system up loud all on my stock alt (140amp)

 

[rammie 10+ year member]

Awesome, thanks guys. Cleared that all up for me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif