Does the Big 3 Actually Do Anything?

[kicker06 10+ year member]

When you think about it, does a system pull that much juice out of the battery that the alternator doesn't have enough time to charge it to get ready for the continous current pull? I don't see how voltage drops and a low voltage could be caused by an alt not being strong enough. So does upgrading from like the stock 10awg wire to the 1/0awg wire actually help that much?

Doesn't the battery have enough capacity to give power to the amp? Because when the battery is being drained from the amp's current pull the alternator imediatly charges the battery back up to full strength, right?

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to this stuff and am wondering why a Big 3 and a larger battery would matter in the electrical system.

I KNOW it helps but why.

heres a pic of my engine bay to help...

Click to read more...

 

[orphe 10+ year member]

long story short, when the deep bass hits the amp will pull from the alt instead of the batt.

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

long story short, when the deep bass hits the amp will pull from the alt instead of the batt.

you got it backwards

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

plus you won't get that huge of a voltage drop

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

When you think about it, does a system pull that much juice out of the battery that the alternator doesn't have enough time to charge it to get ready for the continous current pull? I don't see how voltage drops and a low voltage could be caused by an alt not being strong enough. So does upgrading from like the stock 10awg wire to the 1/0awg wire actually help that much?
Doesn't the battery have enough capacity to give power to the amp? Because when the battery is being drained from the amp's current pull the alternator imediatly charges the battery back up to full strength, right?

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to this stuff and am wondering why a Big 3 and a larger battery would matter in the electrical system.

I KNOW it helps but why.

It helps in a few ways. The stock wire is getting old. Old wire corrodes, rusts, and breaks strands as it ages in the life of an automobile engine compartment. This causes more resistance and less amperage to actually get to the battery.

Second, the most important of the big 3, IMO, is the battery to chassis ground. If you put in a run of 4, 2, or 1/0 to the amp, and a corresponding ground from the amp to the chassis, then you're still going to have to go through the chassis to battery ground wire to complete the circuit. That is why anybody installing a system should upgrade that one first to one size bigger than their power wire. It's not just the amplifiers running through that wire, you also have the rest of the stock electrical components grounded to the chassis.

 

[crazy4ozs]

plus it just looks cool, lol

 

[orphe 10+ year member]

you got it backwards

oops

oh well

 

[kicker06 10+ year member]

The reason I am asking is well, I will have to take off the whole front end of my car, then pay to use a lift to even see the alternator and then I have to route through the many wires all split-loomed together to find the correct wires. And I am wonder if it's even worth it. What I am going to do is get a Yellow top and finally hook the amp power wire straight to the battery instead of it being hooked up to the starter + box.

Then we will see if I need to upgrade the stock wires.

 

[dirtye30 10+ year member]

you need to do some serious reading on basic electronics if this is a question for you.

 

[kicker06 10+ year member]

I know what it does, but it doesn't make sense.

There is no way current pull from a system like mine can drain a battery in an instant. It isn't possible.

Explain it to me, if you are good at 'basic electronics'.

 

[Thnking 10+ year member]

When you think about it, does a system pull that much juice out of the battery that the alternator doesn't have enough time to charge it to get ready for the continous current pull? I don't see how voltage drops and a low voltage could be caused by an alt not being strong enough. So does upgrading from like the stock 10awg wire to the 1/0awg wire actually help that much?
Doesn't the battery have enough capacity to give power to the amp? Because when the battery is being drained from the amp's current pull the alternator imediatly charges the battery back up to full strength, right?

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to this stuff and am wondering why a Big 3 and a larger battery would matter in the electrical system.

I KNOW it helps but why.

Larger batteries won’t help with voltage drops until they are able to discharge significantly into the electrical system, I wouldn’t include them in a “Big 3”. Your alternator outputs current at a potential of around 14.2V. The battery isn’t discharging into the circuit significantly until the voltage drops low enough for the potential to cause a proportional chemical reaction. So really the battery isn’t helping the system until the voltage drops low enough, and it’s parasitic to the system at all other times when it’s not discharging.

Let’s get that out of the way.

Increasing wire size decreases resistance, which means less opposition to current – less voltage drop. Also your alternator and battery discharge rate is governed by the resistance of the wiring, ground points, etc (ie circuit resistance). So increasing the wire sizes, increases discharge rates of the sources.

 

[bballrrt06 10+ year member]

http://www.bcae1.com

 

[kicker06 10+ year member]

So I had my battery checked @ Autozone and it was charging at idle @ a voltage of about 11.5v and dropped down to 10.5v when it pulled 100amps.

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

So I had my battery checked @ Autozone and it was charging at idle @ a voltage of about 11.5v and dropped down to 10.5v when it pulled 100amps.

ok... so let's make it easy. your amps make more power at 14v, your battery provides 12v. The purpose of the Big 3 is to upgrade all paths to the alternator and to upgrade the ground path from the battery to the chassis. Upgrading your battery does you nothing w/o the big three because you are just providing "more" power at 12v which you don't really want. You want more power available at 14v with a backup of 12v. If the amps draw too much power for your alt to provide the voltage drops to 12v where the battery picks things up.

Now w/o the big three, your wires are getting old and are not designed for that much draw. So you quickly drop to 12v, and the more time you spend drawing off the battery the quicker it discharges and then you are in real trouble, because now the battery is trying to charge up too... then you voltages drop even lower and it's not good for the amp not to mention the rest of the car's electronics. Also you get that nasty headlight dimming...

So doing the big 3 allows you to take full advantage of your alternators power. If you are still discharging your battery at this point you need a new HO alt... more batteries will just add more draw and worsen your power situation...

Last note is you don't have to find shit, leave your stock wiring in place, just ADD the big three on top of the current system, the power will take the path of least resistance, which will be the new wiring. So the hardest part will be hooking the Alternator positive to the battery positive. The rest happens on top of the engine with battery->chassis and chassis->engine block...

now does that make sense? I can ramble and not make sense sometimes but I'm not proofreading my **** post...

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

if you are running more than 600-800w RMS then DO THE D*A*M*N BIG 3.... unless of course you are getting no dimming, which you are if you batt is hitting 10.5v, imagine it running with the headlights on. Those draw alot of power as well