Help Better Understanding Electrical Systems

[B1GR3DDD]

So I'm in the thought process of swapping out my current amp for something a little beefier. However, I really need to take into consideration my electrical system. With my current setup, under a heavy load song, my volts don't drop below 12.7, and under a 10 second 40 hz sine wave, no lower than 12.45. Not necessarily perfect but not bad, just happy to be over 12v.

If I planned on getting something like a 5k amp, would a HO alt be almost a necessity at that point?

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[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

A 5k amp is going to draw 525-600 amps of current. A HO alt is a start but extra batts and a good but of 1/0 wire will be needed.

Why do you feel like you need 5k watts? Most people can easily reach a 150db with 2500-3k watts on tap. That's pretty **** loud for a daily. Competition well that's a different story.

A proper box design won't need as much power to reach mechanical limits. But if you are competing a smaller box will help increase those mechanical limits so you can increase the power until thermal limits

A slightly bigger box with proper port tuning mar be the cheapest solution to your problem

 

[B1GR3DDD]

A 5k amp is going to draw 525-600 amps of current. A HO alt is a start but extra batts and a good but of 1/0 wire will be needed.
Why do you feel like you need 5k watts? Most people can easily reach a 150db with 2500-3k watts on tap. That's pretty **** loud for a daily. Competition well that's a different story.

A proper box design won't need as much power to reach mechanical limits. But if you are competing a smaller box will help increase those mechanical limits so you can increase the power until thermal limits

A slightly bigger box with proper port tuning mar be the cheapest solution to your problem

My problem is that I'm a little tight on space. Also my subs are rated for 1200 RMS and with the 2200w amp I'm currently using, I feel like I'm barely moving them.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

HO alt and 2 batts should work. Also big 3 with OFC 1/0 wiring.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

My problem is that I'm a little tight on space. Also my subs are rated for 1200 RMS and with the 2200w amp I'm currently using, I feel like I'm barely moving them.

Well more power will be useful. Idk why 5k is the goal. That's an awful lot of waste considering you won't use the full power for long. Headroom is great keeps you from clipping the subs to death but I definiteit wouldn't go past 4k rms on that pair.

For some reason the current trend on this forum is to push a lot of power, but it wasn't always like that. 5 years ago the only people that were truly pushing above 4k were diehard competitors. More emphasis was pushed on box design and positioning and the actual technical part of car audio. Proper air space, proper cone area used for the air space available.

Don't have room for 2 12s run 1 15 or 3 10s or 4 8s lots of options to optimize your space other than throwing more power and taxing you cars electrical

Now the answer is more power. Sad really driving power over efficiency.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

You can see your amp being dyno'd here.

Have you tried to clamp you output yet?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Most people can easily reach a 150db with 2500-3k watts on tap.

Assuming this is in a Camry, you'd be hard pressed to see 150 with 7K. Best bet to get actual loud short of a wall is probably to just shoehorn in a lot of cone area and throw too much power at it. The real sticky wicket there is the lack of space for a really good alternator or batteries. It'll be a hard slog getting that vehicle loud, or at least expensive.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Assuming this is in a Camry, you'd be hard pressed to see 150 with 7K. Best bet to get actual loud short of a wall is probably to just shoehorn in a lot of cone area and throw too much power at it. The real sticky wicket there is the lack of space for a really good alternator or batteries. It'll be a hard slog getting that vehicle loud, or at least expensive.

Run a 4th order through the back deck. Or vent the rear deck.