Need my hands held lol

[Oak244 10+ year member]

Ok I am really trying to figure out the electrical needs of my future system. I have recieved quotes from Exessive Amperage and Iraggi. Both guys have been very nice. Basically I can get a 180 Amp from EA for $295. Iraggi has a 180 Amp for $379 or a 200 Amp at $399. Now I am not sure if the extra 20 Amps is worth a whole $105! Basically here is my amps that will be pulling current. My Car does have AC but power nothing. Here are my amps...

Two http://www.arcaudio.com/arc-05/amplifiers/xxk_2500.htm (One will run my 7" Nextel's and one will run my SI 15" sub)

And one http://www.arcaudio.com/arc-05/amplifiers/xxk_2050.htm (which will power my BG Neo3 Tweeters)

Next I am a little confused about the Optima Batteries. I thought the Red Top battereis were used in the engine compartment, and the Yellow Top go in the interior of the car. But I swore I read something where they made it sound like they would not use Red Top anywhere and Use the Yelloe Top everywhere.

Basically I did not plan on spending $400 on an Alt. If its better I do the 200 Amp one, I will have to use my CDT speakers a while longer, or use a cheaper speaker then the Nextel 7". Basically I see I could do the EA 180 Amp one and a Optima Battery, or do the Iraggi 200 Amp and stick with my stock battery a while. Any thoughts?

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[draarong2004 10+ year member]

power windows and locks don't draw any electric when they aren't being used.....soo, how many amps are your head lights drawing, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals when they are on, the engine itself? an engine doesn't just run off of gas, it requires a spark, which is why you have to have an alternator in the vehicle, unless you wanna charge the battery every night. figure those out, then you'll know how large of an alternator you'll need.

 

[AJ²06 5,000+ posts]

this is a good question... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Oak244 10+ year member]

Well being the stock Alt only produces 70 Amps at 5000 RPM, I would say it does not take much to run my car. I have an automatic Trany so I doubt my car ever hits 5000 rpm lol

 

[draarong2004 10+ year member]

Well being the stock Alt only produces 70 Amps at 5000 RPM, I would say it does not take much to run my car. I have an automatic Trany so I doubt my car ever hits 5000 rpm lol

anythings possible in 1st gear, but where'd you get the info that your alt reaches max output at 5k rpm? most reach max around 3-4k and level out from there, which is why cars have regulators so the alt isn't truely puting out power all the time, which is why you can't disconnect the battery to see if your alt is going bad.

be suprised, alot of cars have a 70 amp alt stock....my truck not being one of them...LOL(stock 130amp) but alot of caddilacs that i know of, and a few not so luxurious cars, have relatively small alternators even with all the options, really don't start getting into larger alts until you see the bigger trucks....the corvette and a few others being an exception....

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

you will be fine with the 180 amp alt.. no need to spend $100 more for 20 amps...

the red tops are starting batteries and the yellow tops are deep cycle batteries...

basicly, a starting battery is designed to go under your hood and provide power for starting and a deep cycle is designed to provide power for longer periods... deep cycles can also be drained... u can read more about them here http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question219.htm

different batteries for different purposes

optima says thier yellow top is a "dual purpose", so you can use it for starting and bumpin ur system... so basically you'd want to go with a yellow top if upgrading your batt...