Does this sound right?

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

i would just use 12gauge speaker wire 10 is over kill for an amp that big maybe for a 3500d but not on a 2000d unless that just what you want also bolts and ring terminals make wiring down a whole lot easier because you can stack the +/- up on on side of the bored and run the bolt thru the box and just run your one wire on the other side of the bolt

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

yeah i have knu 0 ran right know for my first bat ground, rockford rcas, no name speaker wire, and knu flex the rest of the way. I am going to get 30 feet total of 0 ga knu flex and just take a saturday and re run 0, the big three with a new alternator, and everything else. I also am going to get 10ga speaker wire, but i find it hard to use bigger ga wiring when wiring the four subs down to 1 ohm because i only end up with 2 wires.
EDIT: I also am curious as to how hard it is to replace the existing wires involved with doing the big three. More so I am asking as to how hidden/in tight places are the existing ground to engine block wires ect.

dont replace just add to it and i didnt ground to the same factory location(to far to much 0) i just ran my engine ground to my batt - and grounded the batt on the frame and that was it. the alt pos to batt pos was easy i just ran it along the fire wall zip tied out of the way

 

[bunkrd you 10+ year member]

to both replies, I mean when wiring 4 2 ohm subs to 1 ohm i mean you have to have two wires going in on one voice coil for both the - and +(I'm sure you know) but what i mean is fitting two sets of 12ga into that is difficult. But, I'm not sure I understand what you are saying on your second reply because it sounds like you didn't have your alternator grounded? But from what I have researched the alternator is all positive its just the casing that is used because there is a wire from the casing to the engine block then the casing to the battery? I am just making sure I understand it as a whole. But from what you are saying you didnt ground it to the engine block, but rather to another location on the frame? sorry for a long post I just want to understand better.

EDIT- I think i understand what you are saying.You drill a hole, and place a bolt in the hole, and on the inside and run all my + and - to one location, and then from the outside run my 12 ga back to my amp and seal it off with a nut?

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

you got the bolt trick i was saying in a nut shell

ok the big 3 broke down is simply this

alt+ to batt +

batt - to chassis

engine to chassis (or in my case i went straight to the batt - cause it was closer)

the alt is grounded through the engine block some people ground the engine block right of the alt casing but its the same thing really

the alt is going to have a wire already running to the battery positive just add your wire to it

 

[bunkrd you 10+ year member]

I gotcha, the only thing i don't understand is how hidden the ground to the engine is. I'm comfortable with all the other parts. But thanks in a big way for the bolt trick. That has been stumping me because i feel like i can only run like 16ga the way it is now.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

just take a bolt of a part of the engine that you know doesn't get too terribly hot scrape the gunk/paint from under it then run your ring terminal end from their to anywhere on the frame or to the batt -. it doesn't really matter as much as the batt - to chassis does.

the factory engine ground is hiddin because they attach it before they finish adding fenders and hood so they don't really care where they put it

 

[bunkrd you 10+ year member]

so basically utilize an existing bolt. That is what I was confused about. thanks bro. I'm just going to run it to the battery. So there is three wires that go to the alternator. One to the - battery post one to the + and one to the engine block? If i just skip the engine to alt, I would only need two wires correct( The + from alt to bat and the - from engine to bat)?

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

so basically utilize an existing bolt. That is what I was confused about. thanks bro. I'm just going to run it to the battery. So there is three wires that go to the alternator. One to the - battery post one to the + and one to the engine block? If i just skip the engine to alt, I would only need two wires correct( The + from alt to bat and the - from engine to bat)?

one wire on the altenator from the positve out to the positve battery terminal

then take a bolt from just about any part of the engine(that doesnt get hot and not the alt +) and run it to the frame or batt negative

lastly take a wire from the battery negative and run it to the frame of the car(i believe you said youve done this though)

yes your very last question was correct and you should use and existing bolt on the engine

 

[bunkrd you 10+ year member]

Last question, I promise lol so hang in there. Is there any way to differentiate between the positive and negatives on the alternator?

And this is finalized.

sundown 2000d

deka 9a31

knu 0 ran throughout

alternator seen here-http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-5593-ford-ranger-40l-200-amp-high-output-alternator-96-97-98-99-00-01-7768.aspx

install should be complete before christmas, because man these things get expensive.

 

[sexy 10+ year member]

Last question, I promise lol so hang in there. Is there any way to differentiate between the positive and negatives on the alternator?
And this is finalized.

sundown 2000d

deka 9a31

knu 0 ran throughout

alternator seen here-http://www.dbelectrical.com/p-5593-ford-ranger-40l-200-amp-high-output-alternator-96-97-98-99-00-01-7768.aspx

install should be complete before christmas, because man these things get expensive.

the realy big nut on the back is the positive to the battery. any other wires you have going to an alt are going to the exciter wire on a one wire alt and alts with multable wires its exciter, field, computer monitor, outboard regulator, and ground. you will need to know whats what in order to hook up an alt the right way i am pretty good with most alts so if you want pm me and i can tell you the truth about batteries vs alts when competing. batteries are for burps and no you do not run them till they are empty thats such a stupid statment that someone made wow. you dont want to drop below 10 volts ever burp or bass race. a big part of competing is having true rms meters so you can see what your lowest voltage drop was during a run. an amp clamp to see what you are pulling from the batt and from the alt. when you go to comps you will see that every single person there who is putting up big numbers has these tools and will explain to you how to use them. spl is not a guessing game you need to know what you are doing. pm me