So i just bought 2 alpines type R and a rockford p1000 amp. The system sounds great no problems there. My question is 1000 watts rms seems like a lot of power for my stock alt. Its most likely the original alt too. Is there a good way to tell when the alt is doing a little to much work? I know my voltage guage in the dash was going crazy when i cranked it. Also what do u upgrade it to? Whats it cost? How hard is it to change the alt?

Also i know about the big 3. i need to do it soon hopefully that will help a bit with the voltage guage dropping so low dont remember the number ill check how low its going a little later. Thanks for any help.

 

cheaper option is a 2nd battery. your alt should be 105amp.

for comparison....we had a member running an orion 2500D at 1/2 ohm on the stock alt i belive....he eventually fried it ya....but not for a good while!

 

Does a second battery actually help though. i didnt think u really ran off the battery a whole lot. A second battery to me seems like a capacitor. but im not getting into the great cap debate. Would just getting a yellow top or red top batt help? dont really wanna run wires for a second batt to the rear cargo area.

 

i would go with a yellow top and upgrade the big three. If you still have problems then i would look into an alt.

 

of course the h.o alt is the definate answer....but pricey.

alt charges the battery-battery powers the system.

 

Whats it take to replace the alt? (just bolt on and run wire?) what we talking in price range for an alt over $200? links to a site to buy one would be great to. obviously it would depend on how much better i went i think the stock alt does about 60amps at idle and 100 at like 1200rpm. I would like to go 200 at least.

Whats a yellow top battery run?

Thanks for all the help, this new system kinda took me by suprise i wasnt really planning on getting it so i wasnt to prepared. But a friend had it and only ran it for about a month and didnt like it in his truck not enough room (standard cab) so i bought it all for 380 bucks hell of a deal since the amp alone runs at least 400. i couldnt pass it up.

 

not sure on an alt but i think yellow tops run around $170ish

 

a second battery will only help if you plan on powering your system with the engine off. If you alt has a tough time now, a second battery will only make things worse.

 

AD244...that is your answer.

 

Check on eBay for new alternators. I bought a 165 amp alternator from eBay to replace my 85 amp original alternator. It cost me just over 200 bucks off ebay for the alternator, but if i was going to buy the same one in my town it was going to cost me over 500 bucks.

I suggest looking on eBay for a eBay user called DBelectrical. That's the company I bought mine from. They have a rather large selection of alts, from 105 amps to 200+ amps.

As for you question about ease of installation, as long as you know what you're doing it doesn't take too long (45 minutes max). Basically it's just a couple bolts you have to unscrew and a couple wires to unplug to get the old alt out. To put the new alt in though, since mine had such high output, I had to make my own charging wire out of 4 gauge wire, 2 heavy duty ring terminals and a 200 amp fuse I bought.

But like I said, if you know what you're doing it doesn't take long. If you don't, go to a mechanic and get them to install your new alt.