Switching choice from W7's to Brahmas- AMP CONFIG etc.

[crispy highs 10+ year member]

What's up......

First off, "DO NOT GET THE FOSGATE BATTERY", it is made by OPTIMA, it is in fact an optima battery. Run your car battery until it goes, then buy a deep cycle battery and optima is the best deep cycle battery, it can be bought for $160 including shipping through http://www.optimabattery.com or http://www.sounddomain.com or http://www.thezeb.com

Also, http://www.ampman.com has H.O. alternators made by ohio generators and stinger and can fit your car with most amp requirements......make sure to check them out. I didn't see the alternator in your budget and that's gonna be another $300-$600, this is the heart of your system, so start with the alternator first or at least high in the priority list.

In this order:

1 - alternator

2 - amplifier

3 - subs

4 - battery (after your current one dies or needed)

Unless a sale is time sensitive........"you know what you have to do"..........//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[drkodin 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif i had no choice on the RF. it doesn't really surprise me that is an Optima batt //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

jlaine. you obviously know more about batts and charging than i do so any of your input is greatly accepted. all i was trying to say is i have first hand experience with this car and the batt did help. now i have zero dimming (it was minimal before) except on huhge bass hits. never had a problem with charging it back up. for daily driving he isn't goin to be pushing it real hard because he lives in LA and i know the area. many many people in this huge stupid city and people kinda get pissed off, so he will probably listen to his system no louder than i ever do on a normal day. also, i have never had a problem starting this batt. i realize extreem cold makes a huge difference on the batt, but i seriously doubt he will go anywhere that is that cold. or even if he does it will be for a vacatin where his car wont sit long enough for the cold to freeze the batt.

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by drkodin //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif i had no choice on the RF. it doesn't really surprise me that is an Optima batt //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

jlaine. you obviously know more about batts and charging than i do so any of your input is greatly accepted. all i was trying to say is i have first hand experience with this car and the batt did help. now i have zero dimming (it was minimal before) except on huhge bass hits. never had a problem with charging it back up. for daily driving he isn't goin to be pushing it real hard because he lives in LA and i know the area. many many people in this huge stupid city and people kinda get pissed off, so he will probably listen to his system no louder than i ever do on a normal day. also, i have never had a problem starting this batt. i realize extreem cold makes a huge difference on the batt, but i seriously doubt he will go anywhere that is that cold. or even if he does it will be for a vacatin where his car wont sit long enough for the cold to freeze the batt.

drkodin, the likely situation that happened for you was that you replaced a failing battery with a vastly superior replacement. Don't worry about what name is on the side of it, be it RF or Pyramid, so long as it does the job it was supposed to do, that is all you need be worried about. A name is a name, just be confident that the product you have in there is working for what you wanted it to do.

The dimming situation you have happening is when your alternator gets overloaded, and you fall back on the battery power. You go from the 14.4 that the alternator is residing on, to the 12.6 that the battery rests at. If you have a severe system, with several hundred amps of current draw, you can even drop below the 12.6 pretty easy.

As for charging the battery back up, there is no sure fire way to know what the level of charge is on a battery unless you physically test it, so as far as one could tell, you could be running on a half-charged battery. Easiest check would be to drop a battery charger on it on the low setting, and see how long it takes to completely charge.

I live in Minnesota, hence my concern about deep cycle designs used as primary batteries. It's not that you'll physically freeze the battery, it's that starting a cold engine is difficult, and then you have a lot of high-current devices running to keep you using the vehicle. (rear defrost, heater, fan, etc.). I have a vehicle with a red top in it, even though I have a car audio system installed. So long as you watch your head, and don't drain the battery hard, it'll last you a LONG time. Mine is going on a ripe old 3 years... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[crispy highs 10+ year member]

What's up.....

jlaine, in this case it does matter what the battery says on the side, the fosgate batteries cost $50- $100 more just because of the name. When in fact it's only an optima 750u battery (yellow top), it does the same thing, but that's fosgates way of getting into the market for some quick //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

I know it's sad, but sometimes you really have to do your homework or you will get ripped off!! And this is coming from a fosgate fanatic, but I still think it's wrong.....

I'm just trying to stretch the kids.........$$

 

[drkodin 10+ year member]

Originally posted by crispy highs What's up.....

jlaine, in this case it does matter what the battery says on the side, the fosgate batteries cost $50- $100 more just because of the name. When in fact it's only an optima 750u battery (yellow top), it does the same thing, but that's fosgates way of getting into the market for some quick //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

I know it's sad, but sometimes you really have to do your homework or you will get ripped off!! And this is coming from a fosgate fanatic, but I still think it's wrong.....

I'm just trying to stretch the kids.........$$

no one was goin to buy thr RF. i did beacuse my batt was completely dead and i couldn't wait for a batt to ship.no worries though, i didn't pay much more than i would have for a yellow top.

 

[crispy highs 10+ year member]

Originally posted by drkodin no one was goin to buy thr RF. i did beacuse my batt was completely dead and i couldn't wait for a batt to ship.no worries though, i didn't pay much more than i would have for a yellow top.

That's cool, it's just good info......."that's all"......//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[///M3bumping 10+ year member]

Im trying to justify a new alternator into the system. 300 is doable, 600 on the other hand isn't. Other than Ampman, i can seem to find a alt that puts out more than 140 for the bmw m3. IF someone can help me with this i would be very greatful. Also , in regards to how hard the system will be going.... The city im in small, and bumping 24/7 when im driving will no tbe the case, yet , when needed to perform, it must. Simple as that. Again, any suggestions where to look for HO alts rather than through amp man. I just cant justify spending 600 dollars on a alter. Maybe 400 or 300 , 600 is like wow. HA

BRAD

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by ///M3bumping Im trying to justify a new alternator into the system. 300 is doable, 600 on the other hand isn't. Other than Ampman, i can seem to find a alt that puts out more than 140 for the bmw m3. IF someone can help me with this i would be very greatful. Also , in regards to how hard the system will be going.... The city im in small, and bumping 24/7 when im driving will no tbe the case, yet , when needed to perform, it must. Simple as that. Again, any suggestions where to look for HO alts rather than through amp man. I just cant justify spending 600 dollars on a alter. Maybe 400 or 300 , 600 is like wow. HA

 

BRAD

Forget ampman, their prices will be sadly high because of the companies being used.

Contact some independant dealers about having yours rewound, or a custom wound high output alternator for your vehicle specifically.

http://www.mralternator.com seems to have some of the best prices anywhere, you'll want to give them a call to see what they can do for you.

 

[crispy highs 10+ year member]

I could have sworn I mentioned mralternator..........lol

man, I'm dealing with them right now and it's not a very nice story so far.

They sent me one and it would only give me 10.5 volts at idle, so I sent it back. After asking them to replace it, they replied by saying,"I don't think we're gonna be able to make you happy, so we'll just give you a refund." I shipped it to them a week before the holiday weekend and now they're giving me the run around....(sort of) I find out for sure this coming week. It's like they think I did something to the alternator and then sent it back, but not the case, it simply won't hold the right voltage at idle. When I was driving it was fine, plenty of power to go around volts was at 14.4 and plenty of amps to drive the system. I hope they don't get flaky on me........I'll let you guys know if they do....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by crispy highs I could have sworn I mentioned mralternator..........lol

man, I'm dealing with them right now and it's not a very nice story so far.

They sent me one and it would only give me 10.5 volts at idle, so I sent it back. After asking them to replace it, they replied by saying,"I don't think we're gonna be able to make you happy, so we'll just give you a refund." I shipped it to them a week before the holiday weekend and now they're giving me the run around....(sort of) I find out for sure this coming week. It's like they think I did something to the alternator and then sent it back, but not the case, it simply won't hold the right voltage at idle. When I was driving it was fine, plenty of power to go around volts was at 14.4 and plenty of amps to drive the system. I hope they don't get flaky on me........I'll let you guys know if they do....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

With that in mind..

http://www.4alterstart.com

I have personally used a 180A unit that they made for me. Did 189 amps @ operational temp for me. Costed me 300 shipped, worth every penny, and the people were excellent to work with.

Just another option, may be more expensive than mralternator, not sure though.

 

[///M3bumping 10+ year member]

Originally posted by jlaine With that in mind..

 

http://www.4alterstart.com

 

I have personally used a 180A unit that they made for me. Did 189 amps @ operational temp for me. Costed me 300 shipped, worth every penny, and the people were excellent to work with.

 

Just another option, may be more expensive than mralternator, not sure though.

will 180 or 189 u say be enough for my system?

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by ///M3bumping will 180 or 189 u say be enough for my system?

With the alternator case your vehicle uses, 180 is about all you should expect to get out of one... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Unless you like going down the street listening to sine waves, 180A should fuel just about anything.

 

[///M3bumping 10+ year member]

Originally posted by jlaine With the alternator case your vehicle uses, 180 is about all you should expect to get out of one... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

Unless you like going down the street listening to sine waves, 180A should fuel just about anything.

Definitly not the case, but as you can see from how many posts regarding where, the hard thing is actually finding one to fit a bmw. The biggest i have found so far is 140. Which is better than stock but , if i need to shoot for 180, that just aint enough.