Do you need a big alt?

[plugitin 5,000+ posts]

I am getting into this because the junk car I bought had no system in it at all... Who ever owned it before me took out all the stock system and replaced it with new stuff. Well he must have wanted it in his new car so left me with no audio at all... It's an 30 min drive to work every day. I need me some tunes.
So I bought a small system wich is working fine just not the subs.

I sold that little car to my sister left all the other audio in it but took the subs. Now I bought a truck and want to set up a sistem again. I cought the CA fever I guess.

I am starting a better work position in a few months and will be getting into some bigger stuff. So All the facts right...

I was told over yahoo to come here.

So my truck is a 2004 Dodge ram quad cab. I am looking and don't know what the stock alt is.

136 amp stock i believe. I think youll be fine with less then 1000 watts...im sure she has a decent battery up front stock.

 

[AVRevolution 10+ year member]

You should be fine with the fact alt on that truck for the amp you currently have. Make sure you have a good battery under the hood. If you are looking for good sound inside the truck you will be fine. If you are trying to get to the point where your neighbors hear you coming then at that point start upgrading your electrical system. I agree caps are band-aids.

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

I think my truck alt is 68amps I think that is what it said. It is hard to tell. Would that make sense? My battery is pretty high performance. It gets very cold here sometimes so the previous owner put a powerful battery in it apparently. I will look for numbers and report back with them... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Might be 168 not sure.

 

[plugitin 5,000+ posts]

what engine...5.7?

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

I doubt is 68 amps. I'm sure it's at least 120 or more

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

I meant 168... Also, my truck has something called a 5.7 HEMI in it.

 

[domllama 10+ year member]

I doubt is 68 amps. I'm sure it's at least 120 or more

x2 you should be fine if its 120+, adding a battery and of course the big 3 should be fine for this system. You can go anyway with it and upgrade if you still see dimming. There are definately good tutorials around that can help you with this - if you were going any bigger you would want to look into bigger alt. Also welcome to CA dude and good luck getting some sound in your ride.

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

Yeah, the big 3 comes up a lot. I have a guy named 1mtx1 who said he would help me.. I just need to call him up. He will explain big 3 to me.

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

HEMI! Lol. Like ge said above, with 168 alternator and a good front battery running 750 rms will be easy. My advice invest in a DMM now..itll save you later. Lol

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

What is wrong with Hemi? I am no good with vehicles... Also, what is DMM?

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

Nothing wrong with them all. You ever seen the commerical when the kid says hemi? Lol. But a dmm is a digital multi meter. It measures voltage, ohm load, resistance, and many other things. It's used to check your voltage, ohm load on your subs and so on. Thier also good for problem solving if something goes wrong. Go to lowes, or a home depot and pick up a cheap one. Got mine at Lowes for around 25, saved my butt of hour of trouble shooting plenty of times.

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

Oh, I have a digital multimeter.. I have a few things like that...

Fluke Digital Multy Meter

Fluke Mega Ohms meter

Greenly AMP reader

I need those things for my job.

 

[RJesus 10+ year member]

Call your friend an idiot,

Caps are used for small bursts. They're for when your amp pushes its 'peak' wattage and requires a sudden burst of electric. Without a cap in this situation, if you have a small battery, your voltage will dip down.

If you get a cap, you would need an alternator big enough to not only support your system's RMS and charge your battery, but to support the cap as well.

In short, a cap is not a replacement for a new alt. Your alt has to be able to handle your system's RMS. If your alt can't handle your RMS, then your going to over work your alternator and drain your battery(s).

There is no 'rule of thumb' for needing an alternator. All cars are different. A shitty toyota might have a 50 amp alt while an explorer might have a 140 alt amp. Thats a big difference. what does your stock electrical system consume, and what size alt do you currently have? That will tell you how much power you have to work with.

 

[ArcFault 10+ year member]

We have determined that my alt is 168amps. Still can't find the battery though. The paper is worn out.

Also, my friend was probably just saying what he was told. We started at the same time. I just inform myself and he acts on trial and error.

 

[t1990le 10+ year member]

Good call, when I joined this site over 5 years ago I was running a pair of Infinity 100.1SE 10"s (the blueish/green ones) in a sealed box and a Crossfire 200W (actualy put out liek 600+) amp. I read for a LONG time on here and ended up being about two years after joining that I bought my first "real" setup which was an AudioQue HD3 and a Planet Audio VX2200D. My bank account misses the "good 'ole days" but the rest of me loves it here in SPL land!

^^THIS LOL^^^