My Electrical System

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

Im planning on upgrading my power in a while and i want to upgrade my electrical system to handle it. I currently have what's in my sig, and the sub amp is at 2ohms for 1300watts, my speaker amp is 50watts x 4, so 200, in my car, 00' bmw 528i, i have my battery in my trunk, stock it has 0 gauge or something like that running up to the front and to the alternator, i believe i have a 110amp, my stock battery is pretty large, the only spec i have of it is that it has 1000 crank power. On all this with 4 gauge power wire for my sub amp, I have dropped once to 11.3, usually if it drops below 12 it stays at 11.9 or 11.7. What I am looking to do over the next 6 months or so, is get all the materials required to go from the 1300+200watts to 3000+200 watts. Im most likely going to get two mb quart onyx 1500d's and wire them to 1 ohm for 3000 watts total. What i need to know is how to upgrade my electrical system to handle this well. Im on a budget so the cheapest i can go with still good quality stuff is what im gonna do. So how many batteries? what kind/size? Alternator? what size? And what gauge power wire for the mb quarts? Can i even fit what i need into the power terminals, would that be a problem? thank you very much, i would really appreciate detailed answers if possible, and if u know where i can buy the batteries and alternator that would be great. I will most likely buy my wire from a local guy cause he gives me a good deal. Also i would only need about 4 lengths of it about 4 ft each, cause my battery is in my trunk and thats where ill put the other one(s).

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[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

220a+ alternator would suffice and a few batts in the rear and you should be just fine

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

Wow seems like a massive voltage drop from what u have listed in ur sig. I know every car is different but something does not seem right.

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

well the problem might be that my alternator is the front and my battery is all the way in the back, there is a factory wire running all the way to the front and it has to be close to 0 gauge, what size or type of batteries do i need?

and also i dont know when my battery was put in, it is probably several years old, the alternator has probably never been replaced

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

Wow seems like a massive voltage drop from what u have listed in ur sig. I know every car is different but something does not seem right.

does seem bad, but from what i can see he is pulling more than what his stock alt and battery can handle

 

---------- Post added at 08:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------

 

well the problem might be that my alternator is the front and my battery is all the way in the back, there is a factory wire running all the way to the front and it has to be close to 0 gauge, what size or type of batteries do i need?

did you upgrade that wire from the alt to the battery?

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

no it came stock with that giant wire

 

[captnfangdango 10+ year member]

dont trust the stock wire.....the alt wire and the grounds need to be beef'd up.....i would almost bet the body ground is the culprit......

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

do mean the battery's ground? or the alternators?

 

[captnfangdango 10+ year member]

the ground from the battery to the body.......running new heavier grounds from the battery to the body & the motor will help alot......i didn't upgrade the ground in my toyota and set the ground going from the battery to the body on fire with a punch 150 hd.......sry wasn't too clear

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

so should i just use 0 gauge? im a little confused what is the difference between these 1/0, 0, and 00. i always see those and idk what they mean

 

[captnfangdango 10+ year member]

the great debate.....lol.........well the difference between wire sizes is amprage rateing.......i'd do 4 gage...its what i use for my big 3 upgrade.......cca wire is coper coated aluminum ......doessn't carry amprage as well as soild copper........i use the cca stuff myself....shoks brand //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

the great debate.....lol.........well the difference between wire sizes is amprage rateing.......i'd do 4 gage...its what i use for my big 3 upgrade.......cca wire is coper coated aluminum ......doessn't carry amprage as well as soild copper........i use the cca stuff myself....shoks brand //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

r u saying that 4 gauge would be fine for my situation right now, And 3k watts in the future? if im gonna do it, im gonna do it once and right, so if i need 0 gauge ill do it now

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

the great debate.....lol.........well the difference between wire sizes is amprage rateing.......i'd do 4 gage...its what i use for my big 3 upgrade.......cca wire is coper coated aluminum ......doessn't carry amprage as well as soild copper........i use the cca stuff myself....shoks brand //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

copper clad aluminum. also the amperage difference is about 50a. 1/0 is best for big 3 because it always leaves room for upgrade later.

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

ok, so say i got 1/0 for the big 3, 1/0 for power and ground wires for my amps, and a 220A alternator, what batteries would i need? can i keep my stock battery or at least the stock size for the regular battery, and just have one battery for my amps? what kind and size battery would i need for that? thank you guys uve been a great help with all this

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

don't bmw's have a decent size alt in them anyway? i think other issues