How strong is a stock electrical system?

[stockwes 10+ year member]

I have a 2008 civic. I am planning on running a 1200watt class d for the subs and a jl audio 450/4 for speakers. I was also planning on a 1/0 big 3. Will my stock electrical system be able to handle this? What should i look into upgrading? I wont be pounding really hard very often as this is my daily driver.

Thanks for the help

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[misfit138 5,000+ posts]

The specs for your alternator should be in the owner's manual. You can use the model # of your battery to find it's specs as well.

 

[StickyFingaz 10+ year member]

You should be alright for now. Pick up a digital voltmeter and keep an eye on your voltage at the sub stage amp. If your experincing voltage drops then consider getting another battery, then a HO alt if you are still having problems, although you should be fine even on that crapy Honda charging system.

 

[peterweiner]

I have a 2008 civic. I am planning on running a 1200watt class d for the subs and a jl audio 450/4 for speakers. I was also planning on a 1/0 big 3. Will my stock electrical system be able to handle this? What should i look into upgrading? I wont be pounding really hard very often as this is my daily driver.
Thanks for the help

just add a battery in the rear. with what you have, just an example would be adding a kinetik 1400 in the rear. i actually just mentioned this in another thread but......

since your stock battery is staying under the hood, you can use the theory of 100 amps from the battery is equivalent to 100 watts of power, so since you already have your stock under the hood taking care of all of the other electronics, you can base your rear battery on your system and your system only, that being the case, you running 1650 watts total, you would be required ot run a kinetik 1800 but that also depends on that class d amp of yours. i would say a kinetik 1400 would do just fine for you.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

just add a battery in the rear. with what you have, just an example would be adding a kinetik 1400 in the rear. i actually just mentioned this in another thread but......

is it that simple? Wont that put an additional strain on the stock Alt tho? Stock alt on a Honda is likely less than 100amp. Wont that ALT have difficulty pushing two batteries, or am I wrong?

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

is it that simple? Wont that put an additional strain on the stock Alt tho? Stock alt on a Honda is likely less than 100amp. Wont that ALT have difficulty pushing two batteries, or am I wrong?

The alt can only fill the void of used current so fast. Adding another Low ESR battery in the back will not strain it near as much as some people claim. 1 battery is not a bank of 10 batteries lol. Some Civis have as low as 60 amp alt. Which would not be good for this build. So find out what you have under the hood //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I'm running almost an identical setup on "stock electrical" with a 85amp and a battery in the back (Shuriken bt35) and am doing just fine. The lowest i can make myself drop is 13.6ish. And i maintain 14.3 at 95% of desirable volumes. The alt is able to keep up respectably. Though it is not as nice as having a H/O. The battery=bandaid metaphor is usually true. Though sometime, a bandaid is all you need.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

I have a 102 amp alt, could I get away with another battery without too much strain on ALT?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

a second battery is additional strain on the amplifier. instead of the alt needing to charge one battery AND power the car AND power the system, it now has to power TWO batteries, AND the car, AND the system. no doubt about it - it's an additional continuous load.

a second battery can help you maintain >12.5 volts, will help with overall energy storage, will help stabilize voltage when everything is charged, etc.

how new is your current battery? upgrading your main battery can make a huge difference.

the advice about adding a volt meter is great - that is the best feedback you can get from your car. however, meter the battery, not the sub amp. metering both will tell you what voltage drop you're getting.

 

[Drek75633 10+ year member]

Stock electrical systems can usually support up to 700 watts. Anything higher. You should start thinking about doing the big 3 with multiple batts.

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

The main thing to any of this is just being responsible with everything. If you see horrid voltage drops, you should probably turn it down, re-think your system. However, in many cases of stock alts, they can keep up decently with a little help from better wiring, maybe an extra batt. However, if you still are getting significant voltage drop not only at the rear batt, but at the stock batt, then your alternator is being strained.

Ex. My back batt can drop from 14.4 to 13.6 though my stock battery only drops from 14.7 to 14.5. The alt is obviously being strained more than if my car had no system. However it is minimal compared to other alternatives.

These days, if planning a high powered system, it is good to include electrical updates in your orignial budget. Instead of scrambling to fix it after the problem exists.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

There's generally some decent info in the thread but when I read this...

just add a battery in the rear. with what you have, just an example would be adding a kinetik 1400 in the rear. i actually just mentioned this in another thread but......
since your stock battery is staying under the hood, you can use the theory of 100 amps from the battery is equivalent to 100 watts of power, so since you already have your stock under the hood taking care of all of the other electronics, you can base your rear battery on your system and your system only, that being the case, you running 1650 watts total, you would be required ot run a kinetik 1800 but that also depends on that class d amp of yours. i would say a kinetik 1400 would do just fine for you.

All I could say was "fhat the wuck"?

 

[neverfinished 10+ year member]

why the **** would you put subwoofers in a honda civic thats maximum gay ./thread