Do I need alternator or battery upgrade?

[Hjbennett 10+ year member]

2011 Hyundai Sonata Turbo. Stock alternator 110 amp. Stock battery. Will be running a VFL 4480 to an XFL 1222 1600rms. Do I need to upgrade alternator, battery, or do the big 3 for this system?

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

big 3 and a better battery should be fine henry, but you really wont know until the amp is installed

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Like mentioned, do the big 3 for sure. I'd go to Sam's club/oreilly's and get an AGM battery for your car and that should be good enough. Install a voltage meter (or even use a cigarette lighter meter) and if there's a lot of voltage drop down to 12v you could optionally upgrade your alt too.

If you wanted to get creative you could use ultracapacitors like I'm planning on doing soon. They'd have plenty of reserves on that amp and you could probably keep your stock battery and alt and avoid all voltage drop.

 

[Hjbennett 10+ year member]

Gotta love the quick professional responses on here. Im planning to do the big 3 this weekend if i can find wiring locally. Thanks folks. I appreciate the advice

 

[jar1zx 10+ year member]

Don't use a power cap as a band aid

Only use cap when you have your electric system right. Think of a cap as a real fast batt it will discharge in fraction of a sec but it also charges the same way so if your having a problem to start with you will have it still after a cap.

So if your electrical is good. Some people say that when the music demands instant power on a peak the power cap is going to help out with that. Some people say they are a complete waste of money. I myself believe that caps will help you on a 8 sec SPL burp

I have ran caps before ,the times my electric system was enuff to power my setup I really think the caps helped. The one time I used one when my electric system was nowhere close to powering my audio system the 2 caps and a batt cap did not help any

1st do big 3, 2nd upgrade batt, 3rd upgrade alt

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Don't use a power cap as a band aidOnly use cap when you have your electric system right. Think of a cap as a real fast batt it will discharge in fraction of a sec but it also charges the same way so if your having a problem to start with you will have it still after a cap.

So if your electrical is good. Some people say that when the music demands instant power on a peak the power cap is going to help out with that. Some people say they are a complete waste of money. I myself believe that caps will help you on a 8 sec SPL burp

I have ran caps before ,the times my electric system was enuff to power my setup I really think the caps helped. The one time I used one when my electric system was nowhere close to powering my audio system the 2 caps and a batt cap did not help any

1st do big 3, 2nd upgrade batt, 3rd upgrade alt

I said ultracapacitors, not capacitors. There's a huge difference and ultracapacitors are actually useful, they just aren't "out there" as something popular to use in car audio yet. Whereas a capacitor may have 1 to 10 farads, a bank of ultracapacitors will have around 400-500 farads.

 

[jar1zx 10+ year member]

**** that might be cool. I would just have to use one as I have never even seen one

I remember when I bought my batt cap for way to much money was in 04-06 I don't remember but the selling point on them was the ability to charge like a battery and discharge like a cap. It ended up not helping

I will stand by what I said about caps but I will not add the ultra cap in that category since I have never used one

But what's the cost on one? If its anywhere near the price of a high output alt I would say go with the alt upgrade you can never go wrong in doing that

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

Gotta love the quick professional responses on here. Im planning to do the big 3 this weekend if i can find wiring locally. Thanks folks. I appreciate the advice

i can 3 day ship you one henry

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

**** that might be cool. I would just have to use one as I have never even seen oneI remember when I bought my batt cap for way to much money was in 04-06 I don't remember but the selling point on them was the ability to charge like a battery and discharge like a cap. It ended up not helping

I will stand by what I said about caps but I will not add the ultra cap in that category since I have never used one

But what's the cost on one? If its anywhere near the price of a high output alt I would say go with the alt upgrade you can never go wrong in doing that

You need at least 6 of them to support a 14.8v system for a car and they're $60 each new (so $360 new for a single bank) - they're rated for 2.7v each. But you can buy them used (1 year on electric busses) on eBay for $220 for 12 of them which is enough for two banks, and they'll still last you a few years. So they're about the price of a good AGM battery for something that will prevent voltage drop much better

Look up "ultra capacitors" or "super capacitors" on youtube and there's a few videos of people starting their cars with them and other things like that.

 

[jar1zx 10+ year member]

I'll check it out T 2 even tho I have ordered a high output alt that should be a over kill for what I need

I always like to learn new about new things. Thx

 

[Hjbennett 10+ year member]

i can 3 day ship you one henry

I have to wait on my amp, sub, and enclosure so i can put big 3 off til next weekend. Pm me a price Jim for regular shipping.