Alright, for my 05 ls I have a problem with keeping my amps up. I currently have a j2 500.1 amp for my subs and it sucks up 48 amps or so. I want to add another amp for interior speakers but I know I need some upgrades. I dont think I would be lucky enough to get away with just a battery upgrade. Does anyone know where I can get a H.O. alternator?

 

ClubGP Store: High Output 160amp GM Alternator

 

NEW CHEVY & BUICK HIGH OUTPUT ALTERNATOR 200 AMP | eBay

IMPALA LUMINA 200 AMP HIGH OUTPUT ALTERNATOR 00-01 | eBay

 

NEW CHEVY & BUICK HIGH OUTPUT ALTERNATOR 200 AMP | eBay

that's what i use.


you don't need an upgraded alternator, upgrade your battery, the stock 650 CCA battery is meh, its a heavy battery but car audio is more in the 800 CCA, i run my system off a 940 CCA battery with that 200 amp alotnator but i also have a 4000$ sound system.

if you're amp is not even coming close to 64 amps, 340 watts rms, at 100% gains, it problbly is under rated so lets asume at lest 410-420 rms benched at 100% gains, you proboberly tune those gains, you're more oin the 280-300 range, which is fine, nothing to be ashamed of, that's NOTHING on a 90 amp altornator. actualy no, these cars are 110 amp stock if i recall, you're wayyyyyyyy good. upgrade that battery and you're golden, something like 800 CCA, probobly about 120-150$ range depending on brand and AH rating.

I emplor you to listen to me, ive seen tons of people do this upgrade for no reason. you may think "150$ batter but if i get the alt i can use a cheaper batter...NO, thats not how electricity works, you need a large resavuare. water from the water tower is more powerful than from a small bump, think of that way.

 

That's completely incorrect....

First off, CCA is cold cranking amps... that value is used for starting the vehicle and not the amount of power the battery can provide steady state.

Secondly, changing the battery nor adding a battery will help with dimming (unless the battery is shot). The battery is not responsible for powering the car once it is running, the alternator is.

The battery (when fully charged) puts out about 12.6V. The alternator when charging puts out about 14.4V

When the alternator can no longer supply enough current to meet the demand, it's output voltage begins to drop (simple ohms laws). When the alternator voltage drops, that's when you get dimming

If you haven't already done so, do the 'Big Three' upgrade to reduce the resistance in the large gauge power wires (again, simple ohms law).

Make sure your battery is healthy and if it's not, replace it. (This won't stop dimming, but a marginal battery will add unnecessary load to the alternator)

If that doesn't solve your issue, the only correct way to get rid of dimming is a HO alternator

BBEngineer

 

Alright well, this one should fit my 05 right? --> DB Electrical - CHEVY MONTE CARLO 3.4L HIGH OUTPUT 220 AMP ALTERNATOR 02 03 04 8287

Also, does anyone know if this has an internal regulator. It seems that it should but I just want to make sure.

 

it's completely swap out and in, i had to do no modification, the only difference is you need a longer bolt for the rear mounting, for what ever reason, they make it much longer than the stock one.

as far as a battery fixing his issue, i absolutely can guarantee with the tiny load he has on his car with the 300 watt amp, and a soon to come speaker amp (4 channel most likley) he'll be fine, in fact he could have much more than that easily. the alt produces 110 amp's at 2200 rpm's STOCK. i think it's something like 90 amps at idle, which is sitll more than enough for his situation.

far as cca being the standard to follow, it's just how they scale. ive not seen any other widely used factor to look at, i genraly look at the AH and the CCA, if you know of another facotr to consider please do tell. some high end battery companys will say "can power 2000k watt system" but not many, in fact i think only 2 ive seen do that, and i used a die hard platinum 940 CCA battery, i forget the exact, i think its like a something 36, i forget the size formats, its not an exact match but it fits, its slightly larger than stock. if you wanna refute my logic, use more than your knowledge of electronics and electrical, i'm a ****ing electrification of course i know CCA is the amperage provided to the engine at start, i really don't care, its how they rate the batterys. what i'm telling him to do is not wrong, and yes a good but sitll weak battery will still be dim, as it may have a full charge it may not have the mussel to hold out to burst demands.

 

I explained quite thoroughly why changing a battery doesn't help dimming... if you couldn't understand it, I'd be happy to explain it to you again in simpler terms

But let me say it again... changing a battery (that isn't shot on a healthy electrical system) will not help with dimming.

The voltage at the battery is nearly 2 volts lower than that produced by the alternator so by the time the battery can take up the voltage sag, it's too late... and you have already dimmed

Not to mention, you shouldn't even be drawing off the battery when the car is running... you should be drawing completely off the alternator

Like I said before, start with the big three, make sure your battery is healthy, make sure your power wire and ground wire to the amp are adequate in size. If those don't solve your issue, you should look at the HO alternator

BBEngineer

PS: Can you please explain to me what "electrification" is, as in "i'm a ****ing electrification"?

 

BBEngineer:

Thanks for all the info! I have been searching for answers myself on my post here. This has helped even more! What you are saying makes complete sense, not so much the electrification dude.

 

it's all good, it's not like i spent 30 mins trying to help you, giving you essentially the same advice.

your battery stabalized the voltage that the cars gets, the engine can run off the alt 100% but you're voltage might sag just off the alt. in fact it might just sag in idle with no draw, just from the vary nature of the alt's machanics.