Extra Battery Necessary?

[deminn 10+ year member]

My question here is this, would it be necessary for me to get another Battery for my car? I just bought a new battery before winter. Would I need to update my alternator? I drive a Mazda6 2005 Hatchback. And what exactly is this "Big 3" that people keep talking about? This is what I have so far.

- Kenwood Excelon - KDC-X991 Head Unit

- 2 MTX 1501D Mono Amps

- 2 MTX T9512's

- Audiobahn Digital Hybrid Amp Style 12 Farad Capacitor Bank W/Distribution Blocks

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[gotparts90 10+ year member]

use the search button to pull up many old threads. Then I will not have to and copy paste all the info into this one.

 

[pawn man 10+ year member]

if you want to get full rated power out of the amps i would run an ex. batt.

 

[jvk5o1 10+ year member]

alt upgrade is always a good thing+extra batts. 1 for the car and 2 for the system. keep in mind that you need to isolate the extra batts from the main one.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

You dont necessarily have to isolate the rear batt(s) from the front ones, but its usually a good idea.

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

alt upgrade is always a good thing+extra batts. 1 for the car and 2 for the system. keep in mind that you need to isolate the extra batts from the main one.

You can power a decent system with a single good battery, HO Alt, and the Big 3 done with 0/1 Ga wire, you don't need 3 batteries and you don't need to waste money on an isolater, unless you plan on adding more than one battery and plan on bumping with the car off.

An upgraded alt, along with a decent AGM battery under the hood is a good start. You didn't say what battery you bought, was it a real battery for car audio or something like an Interstate or Diehard?

I'm not to lazy to write it, the Big 3 is consists of upgrading your three major power/ground wires. Using 0/1 Ga, upgrade the following:

Battery (-) to the Chassis

Battery (+) to the Alt (+) terminal

Engine block to chassis for final ground upgrade

 

[GlasSman#1 10+ year member]

Getting more juice to your amps is the Alternators job.

If you do alot of engine off listening it's good to have a second battery.

Big 3 plus a good solid alternator is what you're shooting for in a solid electrical system.

I have a 120 AMP alt and it's never given me a problem even when running 1600 watts.

What are the specs on your stock alt?

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

If you do alot of engine off listening it's good to have a second battery.

Big 3 plus a good solid alternator is what you're shooting for in a solid electrical system.

A second battery also helps with a bigger more powerful system. If you listen to your system with the car off then a battery isolator is something to look into.

the Big 3 and a solid battery are what to shoot for, a solid Alt is something to look into after you've done the Big 3 and battery upgrade.

 

[deminn 10+ year member]

Getting more juice to your amps is the Alternators job.
If you do alot of engine off listening it's good to have a second battery.

Big 3 plus a good solid alternator is what you're shooting for in a solid electrical system.

I have a 120 AMP alt and it's never given me a problem even when running 1600 watts.

What are the specs on your stock alt?

I'm don't know the specs on my stock alternator. How do I look that up? How much would a second battery cost me? There are so many of them. Is there one that would be recommended to work well at how much power that I'm running? How much would a alternator upgrade cost me if I have to?

Yes, I do listen to my stereo when the engine is off.

Well a lot of different people are telling me many different things. I just want to know if the things that they are saying required or optional, necessary or unnecessary? I was told from another forum to get 2 extra batteries and an upgrade on my alternator. Now that seems pretty expensive. I already spent quite some money on what I have now. The estimated total for my installation where I'm going to already told me it was going to be around $650-$700 dollars for the overall installation. Now I have to get batteries and get a new alternator? I'm just trying to minimize it as much as possible just so the system can run smooth and not burn out. I don't need it to be at it's full potential maxed power. I think I'll stick with 1 extra battery and an isolator. I'm kind of hesitant on the alternator upgrade thing, but I will if I have to. So what do you think?

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

get a good battery, do big3, then see what its like after that, you dont have to buy all of it at oncw