ok, a mechanics perspective on the BIG3

[playa1 10+ year member]

the key idea is, if you are going to upgrade the stereo, you should upgrade the electrical system. also "good enough" doesn't mean that there is no room room for improvement. i bet the stock wires to your factory speakers aren't the best. is the stock battery as good as a die hard gold? they are called upgrades not necessities. if dimming lights and dead batteries are something you like, don't worry about it. but if you want to upgrade your system, then go for the big 3.

I am looking for informative answers to help educate me and my father not just do it because you upgraded something else and get it over with. Thanks anyways.....

 

[playa1 10+ year member]

The 120a is to break a short, should one occur; A direct short on your car's battery isn't pretty, especially if you're driving.
And that wasn't meant to be a shot at your Dad's skills //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Thats cool i wasnt just directing it towards you, just getting rid of the doubts in everyones heads if they though that he was just a mechanic and didnt know what he is talking about.

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Is the sytem installed? Have him put an amp meter on the positive wire (electrician, mechanic, technician should have that tool ), you'll see exactly how many amps it pulls first hand.......It will vary just based on impedance of the load, volume and gain. Use normal music, then a test tone, you'll see a very large difference......

 

[playa1 10+ year member]

Ok another response from father. he says that cars coming from factory are grounded enough to prevent spikes in the electrical system and chances are that the alternator and battery are grounded more than a couple of times and they are even grounded from the exhaust to the frame just to insure that there are no drops. And he is not saying that the big 3 does not work, he is saying to prevent doing the big three just wire the ground from the amp to the battery.

And he said there is no 18 awg romex //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[VOA_NIGHTMARE 10+ year member]

And what is the problem with it to begin with all you are doing is upgrading the wire. It is not going to hurt anything. My amp in my car i didnt do the big 3 yet and had a small fuse a 50amp. On a kicker sx 1250.1 ran great most of the time but when i really went to turn it up i would blow a fuse so that just shows you how much draw was going on daily for me.

 

[VOA_NIGHTMARE 10+ year member]

Ok do this, get the meter test it out. Then install the big 3 and let him see first hand what changes it has to the electrical system. Yes you can run the ground to the bat and not ground the bat to the chass but why spend that much money on wire when u can get 2 small pieces and just use the car as the ground.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Ok another response from father. he says that cars coming from factory are grounded enough to prevent spikes in the electrical system and chances are that the alternator and battery are grounded more than a couple of times and they are even grounded from the exhaust to the frame just to insure that there are no drops. And he is not saying that the big 3 does not work, he is saying to prevent doing the big three just wire the ground from the amp to the battery.
And he said there is no 18 awg romex //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

That eliminates the problem of an inadequate chassis ground...the problem is, I'd rather use two feet of cable and use the chassis as the ground return vs. running two seperate runs of 2awg through the firewall //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif At least for audio...I have the radios wired with dual runs of 8awg back to the battery, but that's more for noise reduction than anything else...

 

[VOA_NIGHTMARE 10+ year member]

The cars system is not designed to add a 1k amp on it neither. Any time you add something like this you need to adjust for it. They are set up for spikes but not large constint draws that will be happening when you add a amp. Being a mechanic as I said just with my plow many people know to do this. That is just something common when you add a electric plow to a truck you ground the batt's to the car.

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

is it easier driving down a 2 lane highway with 100 cars per minute, or a 6 lane highway with 100 cars per minute?

Wire is cheap, do it all, why is he fighting you on this?

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i just did the big 3 today on my stock alternator and i was reading before 14.1 volts at the amp, now i'm getting 14.5. don't have technical jargon to explain why, just did it and got results. .4 isn't much but my electrical system was pretty good to begin with.

 

[playa1 10+ year member]

is it easier driving down a 2 lane highway with 100 cars per minute, or a 6 lane highway with 100 cars per minute?
Wire is cheap, do it all, why is he fighting you on this?

hes not fighting, he just wants to know why. It's not like he wasnt going to let me do it or like i didnt want to do it, he just wanted it to be explained. If its the right way we like to learn why it is the right way, not just do it and get the results. Isn't that the way most people are, and the reason why people ask questions?

I'm still going to do it regardless, and i will be buying a yellow top to go with the upgrade.

Mike

 

[VOA_NIGHTMARE 10+ year member]

Its nice to see that you actualy want to learn why things work the way they do.

 

[playa1 10+ year member]

Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[dakotus 10+ year member]

everyones dad is the greatest dad in the world. Thats why they didnt make that shirt that says it for only your dad. Sorry for the harsh reality

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Ok, back to design of the electrical system, your adding a 90A load ON TOP of the current loads present in the car. Yes the car is designed to handle what it came with from the factory. So if you plan on running the rear defroster, heater, headlights and wipers WITH your radio, your drawing alot more curent then the factory intended and more then your ALT can put out. The battery will take up the slack, but needs to ba able to put that power out to the required circuits, this means adding additional grounds to the chasis.

You always want the shortest ground, running a ground wire from front to rear is not worth the trouble.