Upgrading alternator

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

Hi guys I live in south africa and have a brand new Seat Ibiza, not sure if you guys get that car over there but anyways i need to upgrade my alternator currently i think mine puts out between about 75-80 amps the guy i spoke to said he can upgrade the alternator, he doesnt garuantee that it will definatley put out any more power but if it is succesfull it will only be about another 20 amps or he said i can get another alternator that puts out about 120amps but then it may not fit and they would need to put new brackets and all that sort of thing in. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

but i need to know if another 20amps would do it for my system or do i need the alternator with 120 amps and will that even be enough?

below is what i currently have in the car i have no idea how many amps it is using or how much it needs exactly? all i know is that my lights dim at the moment on the heavy bass notes and i presume thats not a good thing for my current alternator.

2 x 12" Vibe Black Air II 12" subs 550wrms

5000w Class D monoblock amp

Pioneer 6 x 9's 400w

Massive Audio splits in the front

1.5 farad Vibe Cap

At the moment the splits and 6x9's are run off the deck but i have another amp

- 2ohms RMS Output: 150 x 4

- 4ohms RMS Output: 90 x 4

that i will also be connecting but i dont want to do that till i upgrade the alternator as i'm scared i am gonna fry it?

could someone please advise as to what sort of amps i am probably currntly pulling and what i need?

Hope that i explained enough

thanks

Click to read more...

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

upgrading to only 120Amp alt isn't worth all the hassle IMO, especially since it doesn't sound like your system will be too taxing on the alt you have. If anything just upgrade your factory electrical wires and add a battery in the back

 

[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

I agree with penn, put you a nice battery in the back and upgrade the big 3, you should be fine.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

if this is a daily setup, you will not be running the amps' full rms, so the alt will be fine.

Do as penn suggested, big 3 upgrade and a second battery, and you should be fine

I would also say to get rid of the capacitor.....1.5 farad will help with bursts, but if you have a sustained note, then it will just discharge and become more load on the alternator

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

ok well i dont wanna go the route of adding a battery in the back, i have virtually no boot space left for a battery and besides i wouldnt want it on show, is it now worth upgrading the alt for an extra 20 amps? for R500 over here thats not too bad i can chuck that in easy enough. would an extra 20 amps make much difference i just want my headlights to stop dimming, actually i am not even too concerned abou that what i am more concerned about is putting too much strain on my current alternator.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

what model is your class D?

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

i only just bought that freaking cap, was it not worth it? I dont know how to go about adding in a second battery or how to wire any of that up but i am srue i could find out.

 

[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

Not really. If you have enough money to piss away, go for it, but if you're more of a middle class like most of this forum, I'd say disregard it and find a place to put the battery in the back. If not, do the big 3 and go from there.

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

Its a local brand called IcePower not a great brand but good enoughi felt for what i was doing.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

i only just bought that freaking cap, was it not worth it? I dont know how to go about adding in a second battery or how to wire any of that up but i am srue i could find out.

There are some really good tech writeups on capacitors in car audio, and most of them show exactly what I just explained. Instead of a cap, you would do better with a "quicker" discharge battery such as a kinetik

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

use the kinetic as a second or first battery?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

use the kinetic as a second or first battery?

in place of the cap

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

is my current setup putting much strain on the alternator and what would be the outcome if it was. Also i havnt added in the second amp yet what will happen when i do?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

is my current setup putting much strain on the alternator and what would be the outcome if it was. Also i havnt added in the second amp yet what will happen when i do?

This is why I was asking what your amp model number was....so I can figure out what the RMS wattage is you will be running.

Do you plan to run 550wrms, or 550 per sub?

 

[seatslayer 10+ year member]

i am running two subs off this amp each sub is 550wrms

# PS-5000D

ICE Pro Series Amplifier

5000watt Monoblock (1channel)

RMS at 4ohm - 800w

RMS at 2ohm - 1500w

RMS at 1ohm - 2500w

Dimensions: 254mm(w) x 54mm(h) x 440mm(l)

here is a link to the subs

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/vibe-black-p-4424.html