How much can a 60-70amp alternator handle?

[thugpassion 10+ year member]

well in my altima i only had a 85A alt and was running 1650wrms w a brand new large battery (950cca vs stock 475cca), big 3 in 0awg, used good quality wire and i was always 13.8-14.4v. How? idk because that was deffinitely pushing the alt!

That being said I would agree that you 70A alt is not going to cut it with 1600wrms.

 

[oga_yellow 10+ year member]

Take this into play:
Current = POWER (watts) ÷ Voltage

So, as a "guess"

2000 ÷ 14.4v = 139 amps of current draw

Or at a lower voltage

2000 ÷ 12.2v = 164 amps of current draw

Also you have to figure in what your car/truck draws to while running.

Hope this helps!

That's true for RMS. I'm struggling to find my book that has typical RMS values based on the type of music. I think hip-hop is one of the most taxing at about -7dB. Which means he will need on average less than 1/4 of the RMS power. Or by your figures about 35-40 amps.

Would I run that on my car, hell no. I have an 85A alternator, and I run less than 1000W RMS and it gets **** loud. This whole idea of "it's too quiet, I need more power" is farce. Try more efficient speakers, or better enclosures rather than bigger amps. If this were my car, I'd be looking for Class G, H, or T amps to get the most out of the headroom I have.