upgrading the "big 3"

[cisco5311]

has anyone done this?

I was thinking of using 2ga but would like to use 1/0ga if possible.

The only hard part to it is squeezing the wire into the fuse box and clamping to the fuses.

It looks as tho 2 ga might be the largest i'm going to be able to use.

I am doing this because i'm installing a competition sized audio system in my gst and it's going to need to be able to move some major current.


thanks in advanced guys

 

[blcknspo0ln]

WTF is this post about? IF it's about sound and such, we have a subforum for that.

 

[cisco5311]

it's more about electrical


power from the altenator to the battery (but it goes through the fuse box) and ground from battery to frame, and from engine to frame (the big 3)

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

I did it, 4ga wire...very tight fit with that.

 

[oldman]

"big 3"? I must be getting old.

 

[cisco5311]

I did it, 4ga wire...very tight fit with that.

did you get good results with it?


I think i can manage to squeeze 2 ga in there, it's not going to be easy though!

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

did you get good results with it?


I think i can manage to squeeze 2 ga in there, it's not going to be easy though!

Good luck...its made for 10 haha I still have to ground the engine, but I havnt had my car on the road since so I cant tell you directly...but I mean its logical so Im guessing it does something.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Big 3 =
Alternator to battery pos.
Alternator to battery neg./ground
Battery neg. to body

At least I'm pretty sure what they are.

I'm very interested in this actually. I wihs someone made a kit for our cars cause it can be a pain trying to solder up connections on 4ga. wire with a 15watt iron!

To the OP, go with 2ga. for your setup will be plenty of current but will absolutely be a tight squeeze.

 

[luvmygst]

4awg wire from the alternator to the battery, then 4awg to the motor, then 4awg to the chassis. 4 awg wire will carry all the current you are going to get out of your alternator. I have done alot of spl systems and on the big ones we run 0 awg to the back from the positive and negative terminal of the battery. This eliminates the resistance of the car body when you ground your amps in the back. If you are going to run a battery in the back hook up the ground from the front and then ground to the second battery to the chassis in the back also. You dont need to upgrade the wire to the fuse box you should not be pulling any power from there in a high powered system.

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

Big 3 =
Alternator to battery pos.
Alternator to battery neg./ground
Battery neg. to body

At least I'm pretty sure what they are.

I'm very interested in this actually. I wihs someone made a kit for our cars cause it can be a pain trying to solder up connections on 4ga. wire with a 15watt iron!

To the OP, go with 2ga. for your setup will be plenty of current but will absolutely be a tight squeeze.

Thats right accept like above this post stated. Its Engine groundm to frame, not alt ground.

Each step is this

1 Alternator to fuse box then to battery

2 battery to ground

3 Upgrade engine ground

I have some 4ga left so I will be doing the write up wret did on a DIY grounding kit...Might as well right?

 

[DGajre777]

It did it on mine, used 4g wire from discount auto and my idle volts jumped from 13.6 to 14.2v. I rewired my alternator to battery with an aftermarket 100amp fuse (had to tap into fuse box to run another wire and used stock wires), new battery to chassis ground wire, and new alternator bracket to chassis ground wire.

 

[cisco5311]

Thats right accept like above this post stated. Its Engine groundm to frame, not alt ground.

Each step is this

1 Alternator to fuse box then to battery

2 battery to ground

3 Upgrade engine ground

I have some 4ga left so I will be doing the write up wret did on a DIY grounding kit...Might as well right?

yea the only problem is going to squeeze the fittings in the fuse box, it would be a walk in the park if it didn't route through there

I'm going to be gettin a 205 amp high output alt from a place in texas, every other place i've contacted only has them up to about 165 amp.

i know it's excessive, but i want a really sturdy electrical system for my 4400 watt amp!

when i do get around to doing this, i'll take a bunch of pics and make a work log of it

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

yea the only problem is going to squeeze the fittings in the fuse box, it would be a walk in the park if it didn't route through there

I'm going to be gettin a 205 amp high output alt from a place in texas, every other place i've contacted only has them up to about 165 amp.

i know it's excessive, but i want a really sturdy electrical system for my 4400 watt amp!

when i do get around to doing this, i'll take a bunch of pics and make a work log of it

yes the 4 was rough i dont think you can go bigger IMO

 

[n0va91TSI]

yes the 4 was rough i dont think you can go bigger IMO

As a licenced master electrician who went to electrical school I need to tell you guys that youre going about this completely wrong. This isnt a car stereo amp drawing huge amounts of current. The size of the conductor is based on the amperage passing through it. If you had lots of amps on a small wire it would heat up and melt...thats how the fuses work BTW. If you just completely oversize the wire it helps nothing. The ONLY reason you need large wire is for high current or to reduce voltage drop. Now 14v will have a decent amount of voltage drop over any real distance maybe 30ft or more (estimate) in which case you could oversize the wire to reduce this. BUT we are talking about runs of like 5ft and less under the hood. You can google the voltage drop formula. The most important thing really is to have clean connection surfaces here so get some fine sandpaper or something like that where you connect. For the alternator wires you need to look up the max amperage of your alternator and then go on to google and type in "Wire ampacity" and im sure you can find a chart telling you what wire size you need for that amperage. As for the connection to the frame, it wont have to be a very big wire. The only current it has from a few accesories in the interior of the car. I would think a 10ga would be fine for that. This isnt like when you hooked up your subwoofer

And remember if the wires to the alternator werent large enough they would have melted long ago

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

As a licenced master electrician who went to electrical school I need to tell you guys that youre going about this completely wrong. This isnt a car stereo amp drawing huge amounts of current. The size of the conductor is based on the amperage passing through it. If you had lots of amps on a small wire it would heat up and melt...thats how the fuses work BTW. If you just completely oversize the wire it helps nothing. The ONLY reason you need large wire is for high current or to reduce voltage drop. Now 14v will have a decent amount of voltage drop over any real distance maybe 30ft or more (estimate) in which case you could oversize the wire to reduce this. BUT we are talking about runs of like 5ft and less under the hood. You can google the voltage drop formula. The most important thing really is to have clean connection surfaces here so get some fine sandpaper or something like that where you connect. For the alternator wires you need to look up the max amperage of your alternator and then go on to google and type in "Wire ampacity" and im sure you can find a chart telling you what wire size you need for that amperage. As for the connection to the frame, it wont have to be a very big wire. The only current it has from a few accesories in the interior of the car. I would think a 10ga would be fine for that. This isnt like when you hooked up your subwoofer

And remember if the wires to the alternator werent large enough they would have melted long ago

I did it beause my battery is in the back and I ran an extra 13 feet of wire to get it there. I do have 1 sub and a 750 watt amp. Nothing special but what ever. I plan on having this alternator Redone at a good local shop and have it beefed up.

 

[DGajre777]

yea the only problem is going to squeeze the fittings in the fuse box, it would be a walk in the park if it didn't route through there

I know what you mean, I didn't want to deal with that, so I found another way...

The cable from the battery to fuse box goes on one side of the stock 100amp fuse. Disconnect and cut the stock wire coming from your alternator and going to the fuse box. Keep the existing wire from your battery to the fuse box - this will supply current from the battery to the fuse box and keep your 100 amp stock fuse. Now take your thick or new 4g wire and re-wire your alternator with an aftermarket fuse. It's that easy!

Here - this is what I did... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249200

 

[cisco5311]

As a licenced master electrician who went to electrical school I need to tell you guys that youre going about this completely wrong. This isnt a car stereo amp drawing huge amounts of current. The size of the conductor is based on the amperage passing through it. If you had lots of amps on a small wire it would heat up and melt...thats how the fuses work BTW. If you just completely oversize the wire it helps nothing. The ONLY reason you need large wire is for high current or to reduce voltage drop. Now 14v will have a decent amount of voltage drop over any real distance maybe 30ft or more (estimate) in which case you could oversize the wire to reduce this. BUT we are talking about runs of like 5ft and less under the hood. You can google the voltage drop formula. The most important thing really is to have clean connection surfaces here so get some fine sandpaper or something like that where you connect. For the alternator wires you need to look up the max amperage of your alternator and then go on to google and type in "Wire ampacity" and im sure you can find a chart telling you what wire size you need for that amperage. As for the connection to the frame, it wont have to be a very big wire. The only current it has from a few accesories in the interior of the car. I would think a 10ga would be fine for that. This isnt like when you hooked up your subwoofer

And remember if the wires to the alternator werent large enough they would have melted long ago

yes the main thing i'm trying to avoid is voltage drop, i'd like to keep it as close to 14 volts as possible while bumpin away

 

[cisco5311]

I know what you mean, I didn't want to deal with that, so I found another way...

The cable from the battery to fuse box goes on one side of the stock 100amp fuse. Disconnect and cut the stock wire coming from your alternator and going to the fuse box. Keep the existing wire from your battery to the fuse box - this will supply current from the battery to the fuse box and keep your 100 amp stock fuse. Now take your thick or new 4g wire and re-wire your alternator with an aftermarket fuse. It's that easy!

Here - this is what I did... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249200

I was thinkin the same thing, it made sense in my head, I think I might go with that set up just for ease of installation, and I can go with some 1/0 ga then! ( i've got a lot of spare wire to use up)

thanks for all the replies guys