Got a 96 ex w/ 1800watt kenwood powering 2 1200watt kenwood 12's. I've still got to put the cap. in the equation. I was reading on some other forums and a couple people said to upgrade the grounds on the engine to bigger ones. Anyone ever did this?? I'm planning on getting a better alternator and a new battery just wanted to prevent my lights from dimming and what not.

 

I would like to inform you that you are not seeing 1800 watts of power from that amp. No way a kenwoods pushing 1800 watts, you can take a look and read the amps fuse size and it should be somewhere between 160-200 amps. Now that we have that clear, I highly suggest not using a cap, a Powermaster D5100, or Kinetik 1400, or a Optima Yellowtop would be a much better idea.

Since you seem to be dealing with a lot of current, to be easier on your electrical and amps, I suggest you upgrade your 4 gauge power wire and ground, to 1/0 gauge. It'll be more, but this will allow less resistance, more power to the amp. If you havent already done so, do the Big 3 upgrade in 1/0 wire too, engine block to ground, neg. terminal to ground, and alternator-positive ( fuse in between, some dont).

1 run of 1/0 for ground is fine. Make sure to file off the paint and have a strong grounding point.

 

I know the kenwood isnt pushing 1800watts but thats what its max output is. We'll say its only pushing out about 500watts at 4 ohms. As for wiring, currently I'm using 5gauge power and grounds I believe.Thanks for the input on the grounds though I'll probably get those on this weekend.

 

I agree with upgrading the power wire but, with the quoted part above, i would have to disagree with only replacing the battery. The battery should be replaced only if u are running the amps when the car is off.

Otherwise, the first thing you should upgrade is your alternator. The alternator is King; Your car sees the battery only when starting, after the engine is running, the power is coming from the alternator; if power is coming from the battery while driving, that means the alternator is overloaded, can be damaged, and if too much power is drawn from the battery while driving, that means your car wont be able to start next time.

While you upgrade the alternator to a high output one, (like its been said before), also upgrade "The Big Three"(grounds, alternator+ cable,...etc). If you do upgrade the battery to play the system while the car is off, you will still need to upgrade the alternator

 

What is the model of the Kenwood amp and subs? 94

 

The speakers are KENWOOD KFC-W3011 1200w with a KENWOOD KAC-9104D 1800w amp. I believe I have a interstate battery(stocker) with a stock alternator. The grounds on the engine and what not are still stock too. The wiring harness is running on 5gauge power and grounds atm.

 

What you are wanting to look at is the RMS wattage, not the peak wattage. the 1800 watts is the peak wattage; the peak rating doenst really matter. Your amp is 900RMS at 2 ohms. The subs handle 400 watts RMS, and they are 4 ohms each.

With regargs to the rated RMS of the amp, this is done under ideal labratory conditions, which are not attainable in th real-world automotive environment. Your amp will put out less than 900 watts, but it will be enough to power the subs you have now.

To correctly wire your subs to the amp, wire the 2 subs in parallel like this:

 

As of right now I have it hooked up and sounding pretty good. Just the lights flicker everytime they hit and my belts will squeel if I'm stopped. Also if i turn it up too far it will cut off and come back on. Any input on this?? Thanks for the replies!

 

Id say fix the belts, if its the alternator belt then its not turning the alternator efficiently.

Also, even at 100% of the amp's efficiency(which this is impossible to get), the amplifier is drawing close to the max of ur alternator's amperage output leaving no room for your car's current draw needs.

With this setup, you will need a high-output alternator and upgraded ground/alternator wires.

 

I was thinking the alternator would be a MUST. Probably do the alternator and grounds this weekend. Thanks for the answers!

 

Ditto what god said^^^.94

 

Why would you want to play the system while it off? It wouldn't put out sufficient electrical for the stereo system. The guy doesn't need a H/0 alternator because his amp isn't going to put out 1800watts. C'mon it Ken wood amp. Here what you should do first. See what the problem might be on electrical because you said you having light dimming or something? Have you check the big 3 thread.

 

I have not checked the "Big 3" yet. I was planning on replacing them this weekend to see if that would fix the problem. Money IS a issue since I'm in college and work part time, so not buying a alternator would be O.K. with me. I know my stuff isnt the top of the line or the best but it gets the job done for me at least.

 

hahaha dude save yourself some real money, an alternator will cost you anywhere from $200-450, get some 1/0gauge wire and do the BIG 3 like I said on my 2nd post!! 900 watts aint no where near where you should be upgrading alternator, a small battery would supplement this, dont listen to the guys above, when you start playing with 1500 or competitions where you dont want low voltage then upgrade alt but youll be fine, seriously I know a lot of people running 1500 watts with upgraded batt, now I talked with powermaster and he told me when i get my D5100, I should at some point upgrade my front battery to a powermaster so they dont have charging problems, but dont upgrade the alt for 900 watts man.

 

Cool, thanks man! I'll do the Big 3 this weekend and post up to let you guys know how it went. Let's hope it makes a difference. Any suggestions on what type of wire to get? Or does it not make a difference? It's hard for me to think that audio wire will withstand the engine heat and what not.

 

I agree, it is 1800 watts peak, but it is putting out 900 watts RMS. 900watts at 13.4 volts = 67 amps. This is at 100% efficiency, which for any amp is impossible. Even at 60% efficiency, which is a more realistic figure, this amp would draw 110 amps. This is WAY over what the stock alternator can put out. That is why its shutting down and flickering because the amp is drawing over what the alternator can put out.



Its pure common sense that you need an alternator. When Your stock alternator can only output 70-80 amps; to fully power the amp at 900watts, you will need 110 amps. 110 is way greater than the 70-80 range that your alternator is rated at. This isnt even counting what the car is drawing to run itself.

A "small battery" will not supplement this at all; i have no idea where this is slipping through people's minds. The alternator is what powers the amplifiers when the car is running; the battery IS ONLY FOR STARTING THE CAR. Also about "low voltage", this has to do with amperage draw; with 900watts wanting to pull 110 amps, this exceeds what the alternator can put out.

If you want your stuff to work right:
1.) Upgrade your alternator or it will be fried soon, guaranteed.
2.) Upgrade the Big 3

Again, at 60% efficiency, 900 watts will draw 110 amps. That is more than what your stock alternator puts out. When something doesn't have enough power, it shuts off. Its pure simple math really.....

I hope you dont choose to go the ghetto way but either way, good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, and dont worry I'm not going to ghetto rig it up. With this information I'll put it to good use. I'll check into a alternator and definetly do the Big 3 this weekend. No one really answered my last question of what brand of wire should I get to do the Big 3? Will regular speaker wire work or do I need something heavy duty to deal with the engine heat??

 

I went to wal-mart and bought the scosche 4ga wire kit for 2 amps and what is in the engine compartment has stood up fine for about a year now.

 

What he should not do is listen to you...

First, he does not need 1/0 gauge, at the most he could go with 4ga.
Second, adding a batt. will do nothing but add play time when engine is not running, a batt. adds no current, only a bigger alt. can do that.

As mentioned, at 900W RMS the amp will use 110A, the Kenwood amp is closer to 50% efficient, so more like 130A of current is needed to make the 900W RMS.
The current capasity of 4ga cable is 150A, and you would need a cable longer then 12 feet to have to go to a bigger cable for a 900W RMS amp.

With that said, current consumption of the OPs amp will depend on how loud he plays it, and music is dynamic so the average draw will be much less, but during peak demand the current draw will far exceed what the alt. can produce, so the only fix for that is a bigger alt.

The stock batt. will work as a "buffer", and a better quality batt. can't hurt, but adding another batt. will only add more load to the already overloaded alt. and do nothing but add more play time when engine is not running, a better bet is to add a cap to supply the current needed by the amp during peak demand, although also an added load for the alt. it will at least be a benefit instead of just a load.

To the OP... find a 4ga amp kit with an ANL fuse, or just get the a 150A ANL fuse and a basic ANL fuse holder... http://cgi.ebay.com/ANL-Single-Fuse-...3A1%7C294%3A50 and proper 4ga ring terminal to fit the studs on the fuse holder, forget about any of those pimp my audio system "gold/platinum plated" fuse holders that use set screws to hold the cable in place.
Best cable you can get is at a welding supply store, [arc welding cable] solder the ring terminals to the cable and you can't get a better power supply to your amp, use the same cable for grounding the amp, ground to cars floor pan, rear seat and seat belt bolts/studs work the best, keep the amp ground as short as possible.

Install the cap as close to amp as possible and ground the cap at the same point the amp is grounded at.

Beef up the batt. to chassis and chassis to engine ground, you do not have to replace the stock ground just add the 4ga, from batt. to shock tower stud and from stud to any bolt/stud on engine, alt, mounting bolt is best.

Unless you are upgrading the alt. I see no point in upgrading the alt. charge lead, although it can't hurt. 94

 

Cool thanks for the reply. Anyone else using a specific kind of wire to do this? Im most likely just going to use the audio wires for the engine compartment.

 

I bought the Kolossus Kable series from http://www.knukonceptz.com/. If you go with them, thats the series to go with. the other is CCA, copper clad aluminum which will have a higer resistance than the Kolossus Kable.

If you are waiting on doing this, I will have a video up soon about how to properly solder ring terminals to large gauge wire. I would recommend doin this also to ensure the best connection possible

 

Sounds good, if you get the video up I'll definetly check it out. But if it's not up by saturday then I'll go ahead and do it myself. I'm pretty handy (at least I think) so it shouldnt be a problem. Thanks again for the replies.

 

anyone who knows anything in the install business knows CAPACITORS DO NOT DO ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!! You see the low end shitty budget installs use caps all the time, real systems use batteries and alt. In this case I know MANY people on 1500 watts with stock setup. Sure they get the usual voltage drop, but nothing serious. This guy prob dont want to spend $300-$450 on an alt when he could easily spend $200 on a nice battery and beefed up 1/0 wire, sure all you need is 4 gauge but 1/0 will help him outt sure dude I know yourr smart and been around for a while but that might just be your problem, dont think about using a cap, just get 1/0 wire, you might not even need a 2nd batt bro, try the 1/0 wire if not add a small batt.

 

Well anybody that knows anything about installs, [and I do, 35 years of installing car audio says I do] knows caps do work, they also know that 1/0 cable will make absolutely no diff., the 4ga capacity is already more then is needed.

Let me ask you this, why do amp manufacturers install caps in the amps power supply section? nuf said. 94

 

c'mon guys im running 8 gauge only, lol and my **** knocks, quit arguing, 96 ex, post sum vids!