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<blockquote data-quote="Ed Lester" data-source="post: 4479545" data-attributes="member: 587479">Upgrading the alternator is one of the best things you can do. Although the first thing you should do is to replace the stock battery with an upgrade.Adding a second battery to a weak electrical system will help as long as its a good battery with low ESR, but eventually the stock battery will have to be replaced anyway.What happens is any electrical component in the car will draw current from the dominant voltage source. When the car is running this is the alternator. When current demands are high enough to drop the voltage below a certain point, the battery then becomes the dominant voltage source. At this point, current is coming from the batteries while the alternator charges the battery. In the case of a system with a second battery with low ESR, the extra battery&#039;s load will be so minimal that the current it can deliver to the electronic components exceeds the extra demand it puts on the alternator for charging purposes.Any decent amp these days will draw enough current to drop voltage to a level where the battery will be taking over in the car, especially since alternators are getting smaller in new cars these days. So it helps to have extra current capabilities on the battery to keep a minimal voltage drop from the batteries. If the batteries voltage drops less, then the alternator has to do less work to charge them back to full.My stock electrical system had a steady voltage of 14.6v DC when car was running. With the extra Kinetiks it now rests at 14.9v DC. and the alternator is working less.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ed Lester, post: 4479545, member: 587479"] Upgrading the alternator is one of the best things you can do. Although the first thing you should do is to replace the stock battery with an upgrade. Adding a second battery to a weak electrical system will help as long as its a good battery with low ESR, but eventually the stock battery will have to be replaced anyway. What happens is any electrical component in the car will draw current from the dominant voltage source. When the car is running this is the alternator. When current demands are high enough to drop the voltage below a certain point, the battery then becomes the dominant voltage source. At this point, current is coming from the batteries while the alternator charges the battery. In the case of a system with a second battery with low ESR, the extra battery's load will be so minimal that the current it can deliver to the electronic components exceeds the extra demand it puts on the alternator for charging purposes. Any decent amp these days will draw enough current to drop voltage to a level where the battery will be taking over in the car, especially since alternators are getting smaller in new cars these days. So it helps to have extra current capabilities on the battery to keep a minimal voltage drop from the batteries. If the batteries voltage drops less, then the alternator has to do less work to charge them back to full. My stock electrical system had a steady voltage of 14.6v DC when car was running. With the extra Kinetiks it now rests at 14.9v DC. and the alternator is working less. [/QUOTE]

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