how many amps???

[pj2003 10+ year member]

does anyone know what amp alternater a silverado '03 model LS have. it is LS so it has power windows,doors, ya know. i have an alpine mono power amp MRP-M350 and the alternater will not always send enuff juice to it......should this happen with just 350 watts.....trucks have fairly large alternaters....on low hits of bass my lights dim in the cab......would a optima battery help or solve this problem.....also how many volts is a truck battery....the specs on my amp says 350 watts rms @ 2 ohms but it also says 14.4 volts....am i getting 350 watts....sorry it is so long i just dont wnow what to do......also the ampp will cut off on low hits of bass too and i have to recrank vehicle......help reallly appreciated..

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[nosaj070 10+ year member]

What guage wire are you running for power and ground, and how do you know its not getting enough power? did you use a voltohmmeter?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

A car battery (even in a truck) is a nominal 12V battery and usually reads around 13v when not under a load. An Optima will not help dimming lights, as it is still only a 12V battery. I would check your battery and engine block ground and also your charging lead from the Alt to the battery and upgrade all of the above to 4ga. That should help a lot.

 

[DJ FURY 10+ year member]

Isnt there some type of formula to figure out how big of a alternator u need?I thought i read something like that on here.

 

[pj2003 10+ year member]

i did not wire it, Circuit City did and when i went back to find out what was causing the amp to shut off they said there was a drop in voltage (they used somethin to measure it) and that when a song had a low hit of bass the amp would ask for more power than the battery would allow causing it to shut off and the lights to dim.could this possibly be a wiring prob....can u tell what guage wire something is..is it written on the wire????

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

There is no way 350 watts is causing a strain on your electrical system. So the amp shuts off? and the lights dim when it does? The wire guage may be written on the wire.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

I couldn't find any info on the '03's, but the 02's had either 105 or 130. Assuming your stock charging system is healthy you should be able to run 3 or 4 of those amps w/o a problem. I would say you have a bad ground/crimp/connection somewhere that's causing an noticable voltage drop.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

And to add to what n2audio said, I would check for that bad connection around the battery. If it was just a problem with the wiring for the amp, it wouldn't be affecting the rest of the car's electricals. Check the pos and neg terminals of the battery for bad connections and corrosion. A loose connection will corroed really quick.

BTW those CC installers are morons. The battery will "allow" well in excess of 800 amps and you amp will draw around 40 amps max. There is a bad connection somewhere (other than between the installer's ears) and I would suspect the battery terminal.

 

[pj2003 10+ year member]

i looked to see what guage wire it is and i have no idea......i really dont know what to look for.......i'll see if i can post some pics and get yalls judgement...later...........

 

[Crapstain 10+ year member]

Hey if the amp shuts off you probly dont have a good grond to the amp or the speaker wire is gettin grounded on something. your stock alternater should be able to power 2000 watts probly more. the alternater doesent have to put out constent power all the time all the alternater is for is to recharge the battary and to run the car and if the car needs more power the battary will be used as a back up power sorce.

 

[killahbean 10+ year member]

Hey if the amp shuts off you probly dont have a good grond to the amp or the speaker wire is gettin grounded on something. your stock alternater should be able to power 2000 watts probly more. the alternater doesent have to put out constent power all the time all the alternater is for is to recharge the battary and to run the car and if the car needs more power the battary will be used as a back up power sorce.

You got resistance somewhere in your wiring....meaning yes, loose connection somewhere causing a short, wires touching each other or chassis, or your wire is too small....And Crapstain, the battery runs the car and when more power is needed, the alternator will charge up the battery and back and forth....

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Actually the battery is not even needed once the car is running. The primary source of current for a running car should be the alternator. If current demand exceeds the amount of current that the alt can provide, the battery will pick up the slack for short periods of time. If the battery is continuously being tapped, it is not going to last very long. The main reason that the battery is in the car is to start the engine. After that the process is self-sustaining as long as there is an alternator or magneto system on the engine.

 

[killahbean 10+ year member]

Actually the battery is not even needed once the car is running. The primary source of current for a running car should be the alternator. If current demand exceeds the amount of current that the alt can provide, the battery will pick up the slack for short periods of time. If the battery is continuously being tapped, it is not going to last very long. The main reason that the battery is in the car is to start the engine. After that the process is self-sustaining as long as there is an alternator or magneto system on the engine.

then why wont you try disconnecting the battery while it is running and drive it a little bit.....

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The battery completes the circuit, it doesn't run anything. If you had a way to start the car without the battery and wired everything as if the battery was never supposed to be there, then the car would run just fine. Look at an Indy car. It has an alternator that is only sufficent to run the telemetry equipment and the ignition system. The car has no battery and if it needs to be started, the pit crew starts it with a really big air wrench.

 

[Crapstain 10+ year member]

if that was the case, your sub would cut out because all the power from the alternator is being used by evereything electrical, it would drain the energy completely to where there was hardly any left for an amp or sub. the reason why your lights dim, is because your battery is out of juice, the reason why there not in stock cars or indy cars is because they are trying to run superlight loads. i bet you that if you unplug your battery and turn your system up it would cut out, go try it.