Second battery for a 1200rms system????

[adrian1185 10+ year member]

Do i REALLY NEED a second battery for my system? i have Two 12" jl audio w3 wired down to 1ohm with a Hifonics bxi1206d amp. if i did need one i was looking at this.

http://www.dealercostcaraudio.com/stingerspv20.aspx

if i dont need it i wont buy it but i am a dumbass when it comes to this stuff. i tried reading the threads but most of them have ppl arguing about stupid sh** and i cant seem to find someone with my same scenario. i would appreciate some help.

ive seen threads about yellow tops giving out in 6 months or so. so im not sure if i want the Optima. i hate blinking head lights at night time and im hoping this eliminates the problem. Other threads say Caps are just band-aids to this issue.

and FYI, i wont be competing in any comps. i just want my ish to sound good. daily bumpin(sometimes loud but not to the point of abuse).

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[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Do i REALLY NEED a second battery for my system? i have Two 12" jl audio w3 wired down to 1ohm with a Hifonics bxi1206d amp. if i did need one i was looking at this.
http://www.dealercostcaraudio.com/stingerspv20.aspx

if i dont need it i wont buy it but i am a dumbass when it comes to this stuff. i tried reading the threads but most of them have ppl arguing about stupid sh** and i cant seem to find someone with my same scenario. i would appreciate some help.

ive seen threads about yellow tops giving out in 6 months or so. so im not sure if i want the Optima. i hate blinking head lights at night time and im hoping this eliminates the problem. Other threads say Caps are just band-aids to this issue.

and FYI, i wont be competing in any comps. i just want my ish to sound good. daily bumpin(sometimes loud but not to the point of abuse).

Can you give us some more info about your vehicle and your alt. That will give us more to work with. I will be happy to give my 2 cents after you reply back.

 

[93dakota 10+ year member]

If you are having problems with dimming then yes a second battery with help a big deal. as do you really need one depends on what you want and what car you have. of your alt produces at least 80 amps you could live with out it but you may get dimming from your lights. if you have a 110amp or higher alt then you really should not need it but it is always better to have a second bat.

 

[adrian1185 10+ year member]

If you are having problems with dimming then yes a second battery with help a big deal. as do you really need one depends on what you want and what car you have. of your alt produces at least 80 amps you could live with out it but you may get dimming from your lights. if you have a 110amp or higher alt then you really should not need it but it is always better to have a second bat.

i have a 2006 Pontiac G6 GT. its sexy as hell if that means anything. lol

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

1200 is borderline.. matters on your alt.. over 100amps you'll prolly be good with minor dimming at full tilt.. do the big 3.. go from there

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

I have a 90amp alty and gonna be running 1200watts, extra battery for sure to be safe. I got minimal dimming with 1000watts alone.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

My recommendation would be to try that system on the stock alt, but you for sure will need better battery power. The best bet would be two matching batteries. One under the hood and one in the trunk. For that setup, they could be relatively small units. The Kinetik HC1200 or the Deka 9A78DT would be my choice. You can probably find these units for $150 ~ $200 each.

If you want to go with just a single battery addition in the trunk and leave the stock starting battery, that would work fine too. But you are going to need to isolate that front battery, or it will die rather quickly when abused by the audio. You should look for the same batteries I mentioned above, except you would only need one in this case. The type of isolator you should look for is called a diode based isolator. Stinger sells a 200A unit that would work very well.

The last thing that I would recommend if you have the budget is the MLA adapter. It will increase your alt voltage. That will help keep your voltages up and that leads to longer life of your electronics.

 

[goodguy8705 10+ year member]

I'd just get a higher end front battery. I don't think you need two.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

if you won't be abusing the system, you won't be running 1200rms, and don't get another battery. upgrade the one in the front after running the system to see if you really need to.

big 3 helped me. I am running a little over 1200rms at full tilt with a larger than stock battery up front and a 60amp alt. the only dimming I get is the interior lights and only a little

 

[adrian1185 10+ year member]

1200 is borderline.. matters on your alt.. over 100amps you'll prolly be good with minor dimming at full tilt.. do the big 3.. go from there

i keep seeing big 3 but i have no clue what it is! i will do a search to find out but thanks for the info

 

[adrian1185 10+ year member]

My recommendation would be to try that system on the stock alt, but you for sure will need better battery power. The best bet would be two matching batteries. One under the hood and one in the trunk. For that setup, they could be relatively small units. The Kinetik HC1200 or the Deka 9A78DT would be my choice. You can probably find these units for $150 ~ $200 each.
If you want to go with just a single battery addition in the trunk and leave the stock starting battery, that would work fine too. But you are going to need to isolate that front battery, or it will die rather quickly when abused by the audio. You should look for the same batteries I mentioned above, except you would only need one in this case. The type of isolator you should look for is called a diode based isolator. Stinger sells a 200A unit that would work very well.

The last thing that I would recommend if you have the budget is the MLA adapter. It will increase your alt voltage. That will help keep your voltages up and that leads to longer life of your electronics.

i actually switched up my choice of subs. i ended up going with a single 12" DB Drive platinum series sub. RMS is 1000 and max is 2000 but i dont dim as much as i used to. im happy for that. its not really noticible to others but i see it only cuz im looking for it. in this case, can i just do a cap? and does the cap allow my music to sound a little better? im happy with how it sounds but since i have a tiny amount of dimming i think a cap would be more cost efficient. what do you think?

 

[adrian1185 10+ year member]

if you won't be abusing the system, you won't be running 1200rms, and don't get another battery. upgrade the one in the front after running the system to see if you really need to.
big 3 helped me. I am running a little over 1200rms at full tilt with a larger than stock battery up front and a 60amp alt. the only dimming I get is the interior lights and only a little

hey checkout my reply to LOOPKILLER. you have any info to offer on that question?

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

i actually switched up my choice of subs. i ended up going with a single 12" DB Drive platinum series sub. RMS is 1000 and max is 2000 but i dont dim as much as i used to. im happy for that. its not really noticible to others but i see it only cuz im looking for it. in this case, can i just do a cap? and does the cap allow my music to sound a little better? im happy with how it sounds but since i have a tiny amount of dimming i think a cap would be more cost efficient. what do you think?

In that case, since you are really only pushing 1000W RMS, you could probably get by with this:

1) Big 3

2) Biggest AGM battery you can fit under the hood

3) Good wire from front batt to amp distro in rear

4) OPTIONAL: Dedicated ground wire from amps to front battery

Steps 1 through 3 are MANDATORY IMO. Step 4 helped me gain almost a full volt at my amps. You can test this by running a temp wire outside the car and see how much difference it makes before you do the work of running it through the car.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i actually switched up my choice of subs. i ended up going with a single 12" DB Drive platinum series sub. RMS is 1000 and max is 2000 but i dont dim as much as i used to. im happy for that. its not really noticible to others but i see it only cuz im looking for it. in this case, can i just do a cap? and does the cap allow my music to sound a little better? im happy with how it sounds but since i have a tiny amount of dimming i think a cap would be more cost efficient. what do you think?

a cap will only remove the peaks from a voltage spike. So if the alt and battery can not keep up with the system, then a cap will be more strain as it will have to be charged as well.

I do not support caps:fyi:

and you will get no audible difference when using a cap

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

Your best bet is to do the Big 3 first, if you have voltage issues then look into upgrading your factory battery with the largest AGM battery you can fit under the hood.

The Big 3 consists of the following:

Battery (-) to chassis

Alt (+) to battery (+)

Engine block to Chassis for grounding