Minor voltage drop after big 3?

[JayWheezy 10+ year member]

So, I just did the big 3 on my 04 Nissan xterra, using 1/0 sky-high ofc. Before, with truck on and running, batt was generally charging at around 14.4v, afterwards it's generally around 14-14.2, I hammer crimper and soldered all connections, and sanded down all grounding points. I'm assuming because it didn't drop a whole lot, it's just because my amp isn't being bottlenecked anymore and can draw what it needs. Just want your opinions/suggestions, thanks. Next on the list is either replacing the stock alt with either a Nissan quest alt with higher amperage, or just going all out with a singer.

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[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Did you replace the stock wires with the zero gauge or just add it on top?

Is that just charging voltage drop, or is that the voltage drop while playing your music?

If that's voltage drop while playing music, that's fine. If it drops lower than that while playing music, what does it drop to?

 

[JayWheezy 10+ year member]

@adulbrich I just added to it, but had to use a different location for the block to chassis ground. That's charging voltage drop with music down low. With music turned up to a good volume, it drops down to mid 13's. I believe the stock alt is 70-80 amps, so it definitely needs replaced. Batt is an optima red top, less than a year old, however the ground post on the battery itself is loose already.. Not sure if autozone will do anything about it since I've got toolmaker terminals, I feel like they won't hold up to the warranty.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Honestly, mid 13's isn't terrible voltage drop. What amp are you running?

Don't buy another Optima the next time you have to buy a battery. They moved production to Mexico and quality isn't what it used to be.

Top post terminals? There are metal shims designed to fill the gap if the lead terminals are too small for battery connections

 

[JayWheezy 10+ year member]

They're top post, when it finally goes out, I'll more than likely pick up an xs battery. Amp is soundstream ref1.1000 powering an idmax10v.4 at 2 ohms. The connection between terminal and post isn't loose, the actual negative post on battery is loose and almost wiggles up out of the battery. It does appear to be fine, and pretty consistent, so alt and batt will probably wait until they die before they're replaced lol. Next on the list is retrofitted projector hids and a better security system now that the audio is done for now though, so I still may need an alt soon to keep up with everything

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Ok. Yeah, the top post of the battery is not supposed to wiggle, lol. Don't waste money on an XS battery. You can get a cheap AGM battery at Auto Zone for half the cost and it will perform fine for you. After getting a new battery, I really don't think you need a new alternator for that setup