upgrading questions

[ekah]

i have a cab1600 powering a single 12 dd at 1 ohm and a 4 channel amp powering jbl p660c fronts and 2 alpine type s in the rear

on stock alt and 4 gauge to sub and i think 8 or 6 gauge to 4 channel

do i need to upgrade my alt or do the big 3 or could i just run a second batt in the back

i honestly wanna avoid doing the big 3 since my alt is behind my motor and towards the bottom so its hard to get at and i dont wanna upgrade the alt any time soon. so i wanna just do a second battery instead since its easier even though i dont know how to do it but im sure theres videos on how to. just wondering if a second battery will do me enough justice compared to just running of a stock alt which i think is like 110 amps. anyone have any suggestions on secondary batteries i would appreciate. side note my sub seems to turn off when music is cranked up and comes back on maybe 2 seconds after and plays and then turns off. not sure if its because its because its demanding to much juice which i cant provide with stock alt.

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[garychoffmann 10+ year member]

You can try a battery as a fix. Your power wire is maxed out. If you have cheap 4 gauge wire at 16-20 feet your looking at the wire only supporting 110-150 amps max. Turn the sub amp down! Your going to fry the amp or the sub or both running that low

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

What vehicle is it? You def don't wanna avoid doing the big 3. It'll help with your electrical a lot if you do it. And you might notice an increase of spl too.

 

[ekah]

i have a mazda 6 2006 hatchback.

ill try to the big 3 but its a bit difficult. since the alt is hard to reach. all it is replacing the 3 different grounds from your bat and alt and one other one right?

so will getting a battery in the back not do a difference?

anyone have suggestions on a brand of power/ground wire? links?

using scosche from walmart..

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Being that you're, what? $1,000 or so into your system at this point and trying to do it yourself you really need to be spending a LITTLE something on the tools to do what you need to do. You can pick up a cheap jack and jack stands at your local parts store for $50 or so. Another good option is a pair of ramps. I pull mine out every couple weeks for one thing or another.

A cheap DMM would be a good idea too. You can check voltage at the battery and amp to try to figure out if it's your charging system causing the problem or something else.

Do you have the 3.0L? I'm pretty sure the setup is similar to my old SHO -- It had the 3.4L v8 but I'm pretty sure the dimensions and layout are a lot alike.

You can just jack up the right side and take off the wheel and access the alt wires w/o a lot of hassle. Removing/installing is a bit of a challenge, but getting to the output wire is not a big deal. Unfortunately, according to Rockauto the Mazda 6 is the ONLY car that uses that particular alt so finding an affordable HO is not very likely.