What Wattage is too expensive?

[Jake321]

"Personally I try and build around 2kw or less for subs and 1500w or less for highs. That's around 300amps of current draw. Anything more and electrical upgrades get extremely costly."

I'm assuming "2K" is RMS?

What are the potential cost risks?


My current DD712 3800 Watts Peak glitches my dashboard lights and probably headlights.

My Alternator is fried.

Though I never had a second Battery, high output Alternator, or Capacitor.

Click to read more...

 

[2RZ-FE 10+ year member]

I only build around 100 watts a side for highs passive and if I want it active 100 W for the mid and use the other two channels of my amp for the tweeters and up to 1200 watts for a single sub in a ported box. I don’t need a rolling concert so good enough for me for daily listening.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

"Personally I try and build around 2kw or less for subs and 1500w or less for highs. That's around 300amps of current draw. Anything more and electrical upgrades get extremely costly."

I'm assuming "2K" is RMS?

What are the potential cost risks?


My current DD712 3800 Watts Peak glitches my dashboard lights and probably headlights.

My Alternator is fried.

Though I never had a second Battery, high output Alternator, or Capacitor.

What is too expensive is based on your budget.

The cost are the upgrades
Alt
Batts
Wire
Ultra/super caps are nice additions.but don't buy anything sub 500farad

And your 712 is 3800 peak as in burp. You put 3kw to it daily and it's not gonna last. 1500-2kw is all that sub is gonna want unless you are really careful with it and know the signs of mechanical limit and thermal limits.

As stated in the previous thread 3kw is easily supported buy a 250amp alt and 150ah of agm

 

[Water Bear]

My current DD712 3800 Watts Peak glitches my dashboard lights and probably headlights.

My Alternator is fried.

Though I never had a second Battery, high output Alternator, or Capacitor.

Something else worth mentioning...Mechman himself commented that trying to charge a fully dead battery will kill alternators. Are you sure your battery isn't toast? Also a cheap (or free, as with d4s) volt meter can help you monitor your voltage. If you notice that it's low (dead battery) or dropping (alternator can't keep up) then you can cool it for a while and recharge.

 

[Jake321]

What is too expensive is based on your budget.

The cost are the upgrades
Alt
Batts
Wire
Ultra/super caps are nice additions.but don't buy anything sub 500farad

And your 712 is 3800 peak as in burp. You put 3kw to it daily and it's not gonna last. 1500-2kw is all that sub is gonna want unless you are really careful with it and know the signs of mechanical limit and thermal limits.

As stated in the previous thread 3kw is easily supported buy a 250amp alt and 150ah of agm

Thanks!

Was wondering if I ordered a 950 Watt RMS Subwoofer would it be sufficient to run a 130A Alternator and single Battery?

Would I risk anything mechanical to the car with a:
250A Alternator, Two Batteries, and Capacitor?




I switched my car battery to Optima Yellow Top, Lowered Port Tuning to 28Hz.
Then my Alternator fried.
/
Plus I spilt engine coolant on my Engines Alternator and then the smell came right after that.

 

[Jake321]

.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Thanks!

Was wondering if I ordered a 950 Watt RMS Subwoofer would it be sufficient to run a 130A Alternator and single Battery?

Would I risk anything mechanical to the car with a:
250A Alternator, Two Batteries, and Capacitor?




I switched my car battery to Optima Yellow Top, Lowered Port Tuning to 28Hz.
Then my Alternator fried.
/
Plus I spilt engine coolant on my Engines Alternator and then the smell came right after that.

No nothing mechanical should happen. If you burnt an alt after spilling coolant on it you likely just burnt the rectifier section of the alt. Unlikely but possible. A capacitor isn't required but ultracaps are nice when your voltage is nearing perfectly stable

 

[Jake321]

No nothing mechanical should happen. If you burnt an alt after spilling coolant on it you likely just burnt the rectifier section of the alt. Unlikely but possible. A capacitor isn't required but ultracaps are nice when your voltage is nearing perfectly stable

And Basically the Alternator should last for the same amount of time as a stock or longer?

 

[Water Bear]

Stock electrical in a sedan can typically handle 1k-1.5k total system power pretty much indefinitely. As long as your voltage is pretty steady with whatever setup you have, you should be good. The SPL guys will experience a lot of voltage drop and that's unavoidable for them without like 15 alternators.

And yeah if you spilled liquid on your alt that is probably what killed it. They are not water proof.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

And Basically the Alternator should last for the same amount of time as a stock or longer?

It should last a long time. But it's a man made part so who knows. Most of the ones I've had have lived long enough for me to sell the vehicle with it.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

With new battery technology you can support crazy power with little actual upgrades. My jetta has a 90-120a alternator, the markings are too hard to read to confirm which one it actually is.

I'm running a smart 5 at 2 ohm, and an audison APF8.9 bit active, 260wx2 for my midbass, 85wx2 for my midrange and 85wx2 for my tweeters. That's a total of roughly 5800w at a soft clip on the substage.

The only electrical upgrades I have done is the big 3 in 1/0 gauge, front battery delete, and a new 80ah LTO battery behind the drivers seat. My voltage doesn't drop below 14.3 or so on daily music, and 14.0 at idle with a soft clip.

I will never recommend anything but a Lithium battery for car audio purposes anymore. An upgraded alternator is always a good idea, but I'll only be upgrading to a 180a alternator instead of my planned 320a.

Matt

 

[Water Bear]

With new battery technology you can support crazy power with little actual upgrades. My jetta has a 90-120a alternator, the markings are too hard to read to confirm which one it actually is.

I'm running a smart 5 at 2 ohm, and an audison APF8.9 bit active, 260wx2 for my midbass, 85wx2 for my midrange and 85wx2 for my tweeters. That's a total of roughly 5800w at a soft clip on the substage.

The only electrical upgrades I have done is the big 3 in 1/0 gauge, front battery delete, and a new 80ah LTO battery behind the drivers seat. My voltage doesn't drop below 14.3 or so on daily music, and 14.0 at idle with a soft clip.

I will never recommend anything but a Lithium battery for car audio purposes anymore. An upgraded alternator is always a good idea, but I'll only be upgrading to a 180a alternator instead of my planned 320a.

Matt

Man...I really thought long and hard about LiFePO4 instead of the second D3400. What stopped me was mostly cost and the inconvenience of installing inside the cabin. But everything I hear about battery-delete LTO makes it sound like the godliest setup there is.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Something else worth mentioning...Mechman himself commented that trying to charge a fully dead battery will kill alternators. Are you sure your battery isn't toast?

I assume it kills them because a dead battery overworks them? Did he mention a safe load-level to get the most out of your alt without overworking it?

And yeah if you spilled liquid on your alt that is probably what killed it. They are not water proof.

Very slim chance of damaging an alternator with a splash of liquid. Mine has been nearly under water and still works fine.

I will never recommend anything but a Lithium battery for car audio purposes anymore. An upgraded alternator is always a good idea, but I'll only be upgrading to a 180a alternator instead of my planned 320a.

I could not agree more about prioritizing lithium. I really wonder if I would have needed to upgrade my alternator if I had added lithium first.

 

[Water Bear]

I assume it kills them because a dead battery overworks them? Did he mention a safe load-level to get the most out of your alt without overworking it?

He did not. If you think about it, setups with AGMs and HO alts can drop voltage by quite a bit, so running those setups probably works alts hard.

Very slim chance of damaging an alternator with a splash of liquid. Mine has been nearly under water and still works fine.

Maybe not due to a splash, but it depends on what a "splash" was. The coincidence is pretty hard to ignore in his case. There's also a difference between "put it underwater then let it dry out and it still worked" and "put it underwater and tried to run it." Like a hair dryer. Maybe he dumped liquid in it and then cranked his car.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

Man...I really thought long and hard about LiFePO4 instead of the second D3400. What stopped me was mostly cost and the inconvenience of installing inside the cabin. But everything I hear about battery-delete LTO makes it sound like the godliest setup there is.

I do agree it's a bit of a hassle to install inside the passenger compartment. However, you already have wire going to the back. All you really need is a distribution block under the hood, and big enough wire to the back of the car to handle your alternator output.

It's not for everyone, but after seeing the results for myself I don't think I'll ever buy another AGM for a car that has more than 500-1000w

Matt