alternator

[keleko]

with all the wattage i'll be throwing into my MP5, i'm gonna need to power it correctly

a single gel cell and 2 1 farad caps might not be enough, so what's the biggest alternator i can stuff into the bay and still be bolt-on?

i'm not looking forward to a $500 custom alternator, so if i can avoid that, it'd be nice

 

[TrueProtege]

I just recently had to get my alt. canged. A local rebuild shop said the could re-build my stock one to put out 100amps for $145.00cdn. Didnt see too much in the way of aftermarket, although I'm shure there out there.

 

[steve_protege]

I need to get my alternator replaced as well. My headlights are dimming and stereo whines whenever I accelerate and the stereo is on. I remember seeing something about upgrading, not replacing, the alternator because aftermarket ones aren't available.

 

[keleko]

I need to get my alternator replaced as well. My headlights are dimming and stereo whines whenever I accelerate and the stereo is on. I remember seeing something about upgrading, not replacing, the alternator because aftermarket ones aren't available.

dim cuz the audio system is pulling too much, noise cuz you aint grounded it properly

 

[steve_protege]

dim cuz the audio system is pulling too much, noise cuz you aint grounded it properly

And whats the proper way of grounding it? The guy who installed my amps and speakers told me he has the same problem with his car and he's pretty sure its because his system is pulling too much and he needs a higher output alternator.

 

[jersey_emt]

And whats the proper way of grounding it? The guy who installed my amps and speakers told me he has the same problem with his car and he's pretty sure its because his system is pulling too much and he needs a higher output alternator.

A whine that rises and falls with engine RPM is because of a ground loop, not because of too little power.

 

[steve_protege]

A whine that rises and falls with engine RPM is because of a ground loop, not because of too little power.

So how would I go about fixing that?

 

[keleko]

ground everything to the frame, NOT the body - to start
having all the grounds for the amps in the same location also helps
(though when i do my install, amps are gonna be under both seats and in the hatch, making that quite difficult)
doublecheck all connections, make sure nothing's loose


and if you paid for that install and they guy says he has the same problem...... :Ownedd: lololol

 

[Str8Dwn]

I gotta go with keleko on this one. If he has that problem still, then he's not experienced enough to know how to fix it. I am not an installer (i did installs for 3 years, but I am certainly not a pro), yet after research on Crutchfield (flow chart on how to find and fix noise problems http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/noise_diagnose.html), I decided to get the Monster Cable Silencer by David Navone (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=90147565&loc=111&sp=1). It really did a great job on mine. Zero noise now. Before I bought it, I moved the ground of my radio directly to the battery, but that didn't solve the issue. I knew my RCA's were on one side of the car and my 4ga power was on the other (4ga ground less than 18"), so accoridng to the chart, I bought the Silencer.

Definitely worth the $28.

 

[hurleyblink]

with all the wattage i'll be throwing into my MP5, i'm gonna need to power it correctly

a single gel cell and 2 1 farad caps might not be enough, so what's the biggest alternator i can stuff into the bay and still be bolt-on?

i'm not looking forward to a $500 custom alternator, so if i can avoid that, it'd be nice

Okay heres a little advice dont waste your money on a capacitor they DO NOT do anything but cost money and look nice, in no way do they help your charging system what so ever, they only fill in a small difference in your cars charging system, its only good to have one if your alt is maybe 100 watts off im not trying to be a dick im just telling you this to help, and save you money.. you may not even need a new alt if you stay below 1000 watts, well 500 rms, i had a 600 watt rms (1200 max) audiobahn 8002t, says its 1600 but its really not, they overshoot their ratings, running on my other car which i sold and it was fine you just gotta check, the mp5's have the same alt as a 03 protege Es right, i think its 80 amps, i mean it really just depends on what kind of power you are going to be using in your car, like how many watts rms do u think u will use.

 

[hurleyblink]

So how would I go about fixing that?

http://www.bcae1.com/ go here you can learn alot about car audio and there is something about engine whine in it also and this guy really knows what he is talking about.

 

[blthlt]

just ground the radio to the frame of the car, do NOT USE THE FACTORY GROUND in the harness.

So how would I go about fixing that?

 

[keleko]

Okay heres a little advice ....

perhaps you have missed every other post i have made on the subject of car audio, and that my system will have an RMS of close to 4500 watts (maybe a few less or more, depends on how big of amps i end up using)

i have been doing this since 1990, i know what i'm doing and what's needed and what works and what doesn't work in any particular situation

as cartman says: respec' mah atoritah!

 

[hurleyblink]

perhaps you have missed every other post i have made on the subject of car audio, and that my system will have an RMS of close to 4500 watts (maybe a few less or more, depends on how big of amps i end up using)

i have been doing this since 1990, i know what i'm doing and what's needed and what works and what doesn't work in any particular situation

as cartman says: respec' mah atoritah!

obviously you dont if you were thinking of throwing a cap in there to get some extra power, 4500 watts rms lol and you think you could just cap your power source... there is no way to go around buying a new alt, and probab about 4 yellow top optima batts along with a battery iso. "your the one asking questions im giving you answers, remember that"

 

[solid_snake]

just ground the radio to the frame of the car, do NOT USE THE FACTORY GROUND in the harness.

i used the factory ground, but my car has a device that eliminates alternator whine in the radio

 

[keleko]

obviously you dont if you were thinking of throwing a cap in there to get some extra power, 4500 watts rms lol and you think you could just cap your power source... there is no way to go around buying a new alt, and probab about 4 yellow top optima batts along with a battery iso. "your the one asking questions im giving you answers, remember that"

where are you getting the idea that i'm thinking a single 1 fard cap is going to "cover" it all? (poke)
a rebuilt custom alt is likely going to happen because nothing else (apparently) is going to fit in the place for it, as well as a second battery in the hatch
i don't need 4 batteries

 

[TrueProtege]

OK reading this makes me chuckle. I cant stand it when people who dont seem to know what they are talking about are giving out advice. Without even touching on amp efficiency, you need to know that you will need to see how many amps of current your system will be pulling then you can asses your power needs. Just with basic math you can see that your system may have the ability to pull almost 350a. From what I have read so far an extra batt. will be nessary in the back of the vehicle, as will a rewound alt. if not a new high output one , and I would recomend at least four farads of cap.
A cap can react faster to a load than your batt. or your alternator, therefore filling in voltage dips and allowing your charging system supply constant charging power. Not only do caps have the ability to also filter AC ripples in your power (and yes there are some) but it also makes things easier on your amp because it will not have to operate under low voltage situations as often, and when your amp has low voltages they tend to heat up making them even more inefficient. You cant really deny the benifits of caps as there are many and they are def. not a waste of money. Keep working on that system and it will be great. I hope I have cleared a few things up and I hope it helps.

 

[ZenProtege]

I'm curios how long your stock alt. will last if you let it try to power the system for a while..........
Hurley Blink----please read trueproteges post above me, he knows what he is talking about, you don't

 

[hurleyblink]

OK reading this makes me chuckle. I cant stand it when people who dont seem to know what they are talking about are giving out advice. Without even touching on amp efficiency, you need to know that you will need to see how many amps of current your system will be pulling then you can asses your power needs. Just with basic math you can see that your system may have the ability to pull almost 350a. From what I have read so far an extra batt. will be nessary in the back of the vehicle, as will a rewound alt. if not a new high output one , and I would recomend at least four farads of cap.
A cap can react faster to a load than your batt. or your alternator, therefore filling in voltage dips and allowing your charging system supply constant charging power. Not only do caps have the ability to also filter AC ripples in your power (and yes there are some) but it also makes things easier on your amp because it will not have to operate under low voltage situations as often, and when your amp has low voltages they tend to heat up making them even more inefficient. You cant really deny the benifits of caps as there are many and they are def. not a waste of money. Keep working on that system and it will be great. I hope I have cleared a few things up and I hope it helps.

i didnt mean to say capacitors were completely useless, i just thought that maybe he might throw them in there to compensate for the lack of power from the alt. yes i do know that they stabalize power and prevent (somewhat) an amp from clipping in a way because of the dc to ac conversion. but im just going to leave it alone now, look i was just trying to help, and umm yeah i guess what you said makes sense ina better way then what i was trying to say before. i just thought the guy was going to be running a 80 amp alt with four 1 farad caps on it, because he said he was trying to not have invest in a $500 custom alt. theres a couple sites to get them from the 1 i got mine from is www.excessiveamperage.com and yeah go read these they are quite informative... the magical answer fairy can be found here:
http://www.wickedcases.com/caraudio/capacitors.html
http://www.wickedcases.com/caraudio/charging.html
http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt/
http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htm
http://www.bcae1.com/chargin2.htm

 

[keleko]

yeah, i would PREFER not to have a custom alt built since it's rather expensive

but in reality, if i wanna crank the volume, that's exactly what i'm going to have to do

i know full well what power req. i need, like i said i've been doing this for a while

i just don't wanna spend the $$$$$ lol