How big of an Amp can a Stock atl, 4.3L Chevy S-10 Handle

[smullen 10+ year member]

Just curious, How big of an Amp can a Stock alt, 4.3L Chevy S-10 Handle before needing to be upgraded????

A friend was asking me and I really did not have a good answer...

I mean I know it depends on a things, like how effieient the amp is...

But is there a typical, besides when the lights start blinking???

I told him, I did not know, but I'd guess, not much over 500-600 Watts...

Click to read more...

 

[kfx450r 10+ year member]

Just curious, How big of an Amp can a Stock alt, 4.3L Chevy S-10 Handle before needing to be upgraded????
A friend was asking me and I really did not have a good answer...

I mean I know it depends on a things, like how effieient the amp is...

But is there a typical, besides when the lights start blinking???

I told him, I did not know, but I'd guess, not much over 500-600 Watts...

Dont know wut a s-10 has for alt but my colorado has a 130 alt stock and it took 1k watts with all 0 gauge wiring and a 2 farad cap (big 3 not done) and only dimmed a tiny bit on full tilt. With big three and a good main batt i think u can do 1k ish pretty easy. Also my battery was stock.

I know everyone here hates caps but both times i have used them theyve noticably helped with dimming. Thats the only reason i use them if i cant afford a new batt or such.

Also my voltage rested around 14.4 and dropped to 12.1-5 at full tilt, never went into the 11s

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

i had 2k on stock alt, big 3 upgrade w/ 1/0 wire and stock batt upfront, yellow top in the back. voltage dropped to 12s

if you dont want to do any upgrades to the electrical, i had a jbl bp1200 on stock electrical and never had any problems. thats about 1300watts as i was running it