How far can i go with a 125amp alternator?

[Exist_ential 10+ year member]

Just curious right now (i dont even have a working sub and amp) so i know for the future how far i can go on a system before i have to get a bigger alternator.

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[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

your goals are what matter.. and with battery banks you can go a long way..

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

1000-1200 depending on your battery, but as already stated, depends on the battery bank

 

[Volvowith18psi 10+ year member]

Im not best car audio guy, but from what I read.. The car needs roughly 35-40% of that. So, 125(alt)x.40(40%) Roughly 75amps for system. 75amps x14v= 1000w. Rough estimates and formulas may be off.

 

[UnderFire 10+ year member]

The amp isn't always at peak draw, depending on your listening habits, you may be able to get around 1800W.

 

[MANTI5 10+ year member]

Also depends on efficiency of the amp.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

i got 2k of a 95 amp alternator in a ford escort zx2, big three done, and never dropped below 12.4

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

I had a 100A alt in my Lexus with a yellow top underhood and a generic 90Ah batt in the trunk. Anything over 2k would really start eating up the voltage at full tilt.

With a 125A and decent CA oriented batt underhood, I'd be comfortable with 1.5k, maaaaybe 2k if you hawk the voltmeter. An extra batt in the batt goes a long way though. Even a little one like the XS 925 or Kinetic hc600.

 

[KTMrida4life 10+ year member]

Im running my SAZ 3k @ .5 on an 80A alternator.. voltage drop is pretty bad. I guess it depends what you consider bad voltage drop.

Im about to replace it with a 125A alt, Im hoping it makes a difference.

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

forgot to add that i had an hc800 in the back as well. dont wanna give false info.

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

with a good battery bank you could go a lot higher than posted above.. now then your habits like posted above determine everything.. you can't sit there and jam 3kw at a stop light for minutes on end.. just get a voltage meter and watch voltage.. the best way to hook it up would be positive wire going to the front battery and negative going to the rear battery to get a whole system spectrum.. another way would be to get two.. one for your batt bank where you have the amp hooked up and then another for the rest of the system.. this will make sure your amp sees proper voltage as well as the rest of the vehicle.. turn down as needed..

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

Im running my SAZ 3k @ .5 on an 80A alternator.. voltage drop is pretty bad. I guess it depends what you consider bad voltage drop.
Im about to replace it with a 125A alt, Im hoping it makes a difference.

I would go with at least a 185 amp, and a really good batt bank... especially if you are at .5

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

i run a planet audio bb2400.1 wired to 1ohm on a stock 100a alt, with a couple batts. this amp is a power hog but i pretty much stay about 12v dependiing on the freq of the song. you should be ok up to 3k with some batt help. i wouldn go above 3k tho