Should I Upgrade the alt or add a battery?

[BEEMDUB]

Hey guys so by the end of the month I should have 2 sa-12 D4s and a hifonics brz 2400.1 in my charger and I'm starting to try to figure out what accommodations I should make electrical wise... Right now it has the stock 140 amp alt and stock battery in it and a 0 gauge ground from battery to chassis. I plan on running the sa-12s at 1 ohm daily...My setup I just sold was 1500rms at 1 ohm daily (doubt the amp put out 1500 it was a crunch and I had it for 2 years) and the voltage dropped to low to mids 13 at full volume.. Heres the options running through my head I need help on now should I ....

A. Use 0 gauge pos and neg Wire for my new amp and call it a day?

B. Use plan A but also replace my stock battery with a yellow top?

C. Add a second battery? ( I already own a pac 200 amp relay/isolator)

D. Replace the alternator with a H/O one..

I know its easy to say well just do all of that, but money wise it's not possible right now thats why I grouped those options the way I did.. What I was thinking now is what if I bought a yellow top and added it in my trunk and hooked it up to the pac relay and used that battery as my audio battery and the stock battery as my starter? Would that have a good chance of killing my stock alt?

[666WMD]

Originally Posted by BEEMDUB

Hey guys so by the end of the month I should have 2 sa-12 D4s and a hifonics brz 2400.1 in my charger and I'm starting to try to figure out what accommodations I should make electrical wise... Right now it has the stock 140 amp alt and stock battery in it and a 0 gauge ground from battery to chassis. I plan on running the sa-12s at 1 ohm daily...My setup I just sold was 1500rms at 1 ohm daily (doubt the amp put out 1500 it was a crunch and I had it for 2 years) and the voltage dropped to low to mids 13 at full volume.. Heres the options running through my head I need help on now should I ....

A. Use 0 gauge pos and neg Wire for my new amp and call it a day? You should use 0awg regardless of what else you do.

B. Use plan A but also replace my stock battery with a yellow top? There are better and cheaper AGM batteries than Optimas

C. Add a second battery? ( I already own a pac 200 amp relay/isolator) Running 2+kwrms, you should have an extra battery of some sort.

D. Replace the alternator with a H/O one.. May or may not be necessary depending on the size of the extra battery and the replacement of the one under the hood. But for long term peace of mind, you should probably upgrade your alt at some point.

Hope that helps. Decide what you want to do and go from there.

[KickinBlazer]

Just run a oguage dedicated line from alt up front to rear battery and a least get a second batttery...the bigger the amp hours the better you might need to get a 3rd battery....or 2 matching batteries...2 carquest ngt65s or 3 ....there 115 a peice andae 75ah I'm fixin to run 4 of them on ahifonics 2610d at stupid low impedence

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by 666WMD

Hope that helps. Decide what you want to do and go from there.

alright thanks those are the answers I was lookin for btw I'll be pming you later for box help
but anyways

1. if theyre cheaper and better agms out there than optima what would you recommend?

2. Well seeing as I'm leaning towards putting a second battery in now I guess I need to know whats the biggest possible one I could get without putting the alt in danger, you think the alt would be fine with the 2 batteries on them for like 5-6 months because it would be that long before I could upgrade the alt...

Originally Posted by KickinBlazer

Just run a oguage dedicated line from alt up front to rear battery and a least get a second batttery...the bigger the amp hours the better you might need to get a 3rd battery....or 2 matching batteries...2 carquest ngt65s or 3 ....there 115 a peice andae 75ah I'm fixin to run 4 of them on ahifonics 2610d at stupid low impedence

I'm gonna check out those batts in a minute forsure, and I was trying to upgrade the alt wiring too 0 guage one day but couldn't because my stock battery is in the trunk and the alternator wire is through this crazy looking harness..but the stock wiring for it is a pretty good size prolly about 4 gauge so I put upgrading it off since I didn't know what to do there..

[666WMD]

What Kickn said about batts.

And you don't need to remove your stock wires, just run the 0awg in conjunction with the stock. Thread it through the car wherever you can. I have a 5.7 V8 with the 140amp alt running about 2k of power and have been for 6 months, hasn't hurt it yet. Though I have 180ah of agm batts.

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by 666WMD

What Kickn said about batts.

And you don't need to remove your stock wires, just run the 0awg in conjunction with the stock. Thread it through the car wherever you can. I have a 5.7 V8 with the 140amp alt running about 2k of power and have been for 6 months, hasn't hurt it yet. Though I have 180ah of agm batts.

SHURiKEN SK-BT120 (SKBT120) 2600 Amp 12V Car Battery Power Cell

would this one be good?

Excuse me if I'm wrong but to find out how many Ah you need wouldn't you do rms wattage/voltage? if that is correct then 2400/14.4= approx 167 Ah this battery is only 120 ah but says its good for up to 2400watts?

[KickinBlazer]

for 300 friggin dollars its not worth it....the carquest extreme ngt65s are 115 a peice 2 of these would outperform 1 bt120...150ah>120ah...and not to mention its much cheaper and you get a 3 year warranty

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by KickinBlazer

for 300 friggin dollars its not worth it....the carquest extreme ngt65s are 115 a peice 2 of these would outperform 1 bt120...150ah>120ah...and not to mention its much cheaper and you get a 3 year warranty

Alright well I'm all for what's cheaper so I'll save up for the carquests I think I have a carquest store nearby so I'll go check em out, so if I get two of these i would hook them up in parrelel and then connect the first ngt65 to the relay that goes to the starter battery ?

[jmelton86]

You do not need to use a relay/ isolator...

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

You do not need to use a relay/ isolator...

Why is that?

[jmelton86]

Added resistance.

The only thing they're good for is if you plan on listening to your system for long periods of time with the engine off.

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

Added resistance.

The only thing they're good for is if you plan on listening to your system for long periods of time with the engine off.

So your saying run the starter battery and the two extra batteries in parrelel?

[jmelton86]

Yep. Fused properly, of course.

[BEEMDUB]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

Yep. Fused properly, of course.

But I thought if you run two different kinds of batteries from different ages, capacity and so on in parallel they'll just drain each other and cause damage? Not meaning to argue or anything with you but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I'm almost positive two dissimilar types of batteries can't be paralleled together..

[jmelton86]

For your batteries' sake, and that you want to run your stereo for long amounts of time -without the car running, use the isolator. If this is just for DD, don't use it

[SINTORMAN]

Originally Posted by KickinBlazer

for 300 friggin dollars its not worth it....the carquest extreme ngt65s are 115 a peice 2 of these would outperform 1 bt120...150ah>120ah...and not to mention its much cheaper and you get a 3 year warranty

Thats debatable... Do they have 1175 cranking amps each?

Originally Posted by BEEMDUB

But I thought if you run two different kinds of batteries from different ages, capacity and so on in parallel they'll just drain each other and cause damage? Not meaning to argue or anything with you but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I'm almost positive two dissimilar types of batteries can't be paralleled together..

And no a battery isolator is not necessary.. As long as they are both 12 volt batteries you should be fine. If you are really concerned replace your stock battery with a skb20.

[jmelton86]

The Carquest NGT Extreme batteries really are a deal. The are made by Deka and can be had for the cheap.

I will be getting one for my trunk now that I have gotten an estimate for a 220a alt for $550...

[SINTORMAN]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

The Carquest NGT Extreme batteries really are a deal. The are made by Deka and can be had for the cheap.

I will be getting one for my trunk now that I have gotten an estimate for a 220a alt for $550...

from who? that is way too high.. check out quality power or singer alts or mechman.

And ngts don't hold a flame to shuriken

EDIT: my 200 amp was 300

[jmelton86]

From your local Carquest. They are agm's made by Deka.

Shipping is a bitch, especially when it comes to batteries.

Check them out.

EDIT: My alt is somewhat rare-ish. The price estimate I brought up happens to be from one of the brands you mentioned LoL

[SINTORMAN]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

From your local Carquest. They are agm's made by Deka.

Shipping is a bitch, especially when it comes to batteries.

Check them out.

EDIT: My alt is somewhat rare-ish. The price estimate I brought up happens to be from one of the brands you mentioned LoL

who mechman or singer? singer was quite cheap for an estimate.. I never got one from mechman.

And I know all about the dekas.. They are good for a budget but shurikens own them.

[jmelton86]

How much better are the Shurikens vs the NGTs when it comes to price?

[SINTORMAN]

Originally Posted by jmelton86

How much better are the Shurikens vs the NGTs when it comes to price?

IMO the skbt60 is a much better battery than a deka intimidator which is 55 ah right? it isn't much more price wise but it is 1500 cranking amps.. When your really pulling amperage this battery will stay above 10 while I bet the dekas will fall into 9s and 8s.

bottom line is you can buy the cheaper stuff but you get what you get man.. Sure audiopipe will put out rated but you know for a fact that sundown with the same rms rating is loads and loads better. Its your money man .

[jmelton86]

LoL :P

[BEEMDUB]

Alright lol well first things first why do I always read and hear if u mix batteries and run them in parallel that they'll drain each other, no I don't really plan on playing my subs with the car off but I guess I just want to be sure I'm not gonna go to start my car one day and nothing happens....


Also the SK-BT120 from sonic has free ground shipping I see

[SINTORMAN]

Originally Posted by BEEMDUB

Alright lol well first things first why do I always read and hear if u mix batteries and run them in parallel that they'll drain each other, no I don't really plan on playing my subs with the car off but I guess I just want to be sure I'm not gonna go to start my car one day and nothing happens....


Also the SK-BT120 from sonic has free ground shipping I see

yes it does and mine took less than a week. 4 days iirc. You will only have to worry about the older starter battery draining the new one if your starter battery is very old or can't hold a charge at 12.6 or higher. Next time go out to your car after it has been sitting overnight and test the voltage on the terminals with a multimeter. If it is 12.6 or higher then you are fine. If not you might consider getting that replaced either if it has a warranty like an interstate battery or with a small one like the skbt20 like i mentioned.