thought this would help more?

[swrve31 10+ year member]

hopefully someone here can direct me as to where im going wrong, and point me in the right direction. my equipment right now is a memphis 16-st1000d to a 15" rd alpha v2 in a 4.5 cubed box at 34hz. i just did the big 3 with knu 1/0. i went from alt to battery, then alt mount to frame, and then battery neg to frame. good clean surfaces on all. i noticed my gauge seemed to pick up like a volt afterwards. i put a 150 amp fuse between the alt and battery because i think my alt is either an 85 amp, or a 120. either way, i figured a 150 amp fuse should be sufficient? anyway, when the bass hits, i drop down to about 12 volts. it used to drop a lot lower before the big 3, but i thought this upgrade would help a little more? any ideas of where im going wrong? im hoping to downgrade to a smaller amp like a jl 500, and a good 10" soon, should that setup be fine? thanks for any input.

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[JuicyJeff 10+ year member]

Shouldn't be dipping that low...

 

[swrve31 10+ year member]

thats what i was thinking?

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

hopefully someone here can direct me as to where im going wrong, and point me in the right direction. my equipment right now is a memphis 16-st1000d to a 15" rd alpha v2 in a 4.5 cubed box at 34hz. i just did the big 3 with knu 1/0. i went from alt to battery, then alt mount to frame, and then battery neg to frame. good clean surfaces on all. i noticed my gauge seemed to pick up like a volt afterwards. i put a 150 amp fuse between the alt and battery because i think my alt is either an 85 amp, or a 120. either way, i figured a 150 amp fuse should be sufficient? anyway, when the bass hits, i drop down to about 12 volts. it used to drop a lot lower before the big 3, but i thought this upgrade would help a little more? any ideas of where im going wrong? im hoping to downgrade to a smaller amp like a jl 500, and a good 10" soon, should that setup be fine? thanks for any input.

thats wrong.

u go alt to pos batt.

and then ENGINE to frame

then bat - to frame.

 

[basscort2009 5,000+ posts]

thats wrong.u go alt to pos batt.

and then ENGINE to frame

then bat - to frame.

his way works too. thats how i did it. alt case is actually the best grounding point for caraudio and 90% of ppl dont knowthat. thus sayin "do it this way"

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

his way works too. thats how i did it. alt case is actually the best grounding point for caraudio and 90% of ppl dont knowthat. thus sayin "do it this way"

does it really? hmm.. interesting.. i'll try that out some time.

 

[swrve31 10+ year member]

his way works too. thats how i did it. alt case is actually the best grounding point for caraudio and 90% of ppl dont knowthat. thus sayin "do it this way"

yeah, i thought i seen on here somewhere that going to the alt case was okay, so i tried it. i also seen another guy do it this way, and it worked fine. any other ideas?

 

[swrve31 10+ year member]

anyone?

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

thats wrong.u go alt to pos batt.

and then ENGINE to frame

then bat - to frame.

Actually grounding the engine frame is just an easier way to ground the alt. Think about it...why the hell would you need to ground the engine to help with the electrical? It's just most people don't have a good grounding point on the alt case, or can't get to the alt. Since the alt is attached to the engine via a nice thick metal bracket, a bolt on the engine block will work just as well.

As for the OP's question. The big 3 is not a solution for voltage drop. In fact it can actually make voltage drops worse by lessening the resistance. To fix voltage drops you need a bigger battery, or an additional battery. Just remember that's going to put extra strain on the alt, so you may need to consider upgrading that as well.

Cheers

 

[swrve31 10+ year member]

my truck had a diesel option, but mine has the 350, either way it has an empty battery box opposite the current battery spot. so putting in another battery would be fairly easy. my question is, do i use an isolator to charge them both, or do i use the other battery like a big capacitor? and, do i really need it for only 1000 watts at 1 ohm? if i use it as a capacitor, do i just make a 1/0 run of pos and neg to it from the red top optima i have now as my main, then run off of it to my amp?