Amp/System Hook Up: How's Yours Done?

[ExplorerDMB]

Amp Connections are key to pumping out those "tunes". Now, there's the easy way to hooking amps up by connecting a power wire directly to the battery or connecting to a fuse or to the alternator. What's your way? Why? Did you know about hooking it up to the alternator? Do you think it makes a difference?

I am currently in my second semester of Electricity class and today we had a vehicle in that had a aftermarket system hooked up and the small gauge power wire was just pinched into the positive terminal connection. My instructor went over and pulled it out without any effort and said "here's a fire waiting to happen". I agreed and then got to thinking. There are A LOT of people out there that just throw that wire on the battery and say let's turn it up. My instructor went on to explain it a little by just covering the basics by saying that the alternator is what runs your accessories/vehicle while the engine is running - the battery is strickly for starting. So the consequence is less battery life. What do you all think? Does it matter?

I would like to hear everyones opinions - even the younger people who just have to have the bass!

-Drew

 

[KPT]

I have 4 ga from the alternator pos to the battery and a bolt on the alternator case to the battery neg. 2 ga from the battery negative to the body. Dual 4 ga runs to the back that each go into 1 farad caps and then a distro block. All that and I only have a 200 watt amp.

I use to have about 1300 watts though and that setup stopped the volt gauge from moving. Before that I just had 2 8 ga runs and none of the alternator wiring.

 

[davesexplorer]

So far in every vehicle I have upgraded the alt positive wire, batt ground wire, engine/alt ground cable and haven't ever had any problems. Right now I have a single run of 1/0 going from the alt to my HC2400 batt, two runs of 1/0 for the batt ground, a 1/0 negative to the alt/engine, two runs of 1/0 positive going to my stereo, and two 1/0 neg. runs in the rear directly to the frame/body. This may seem like overkill but when you have a single sub amplifier that can draw 500 amps... it makes sense.

 

[mrpeaches]

i have 4ga running from a post that has ring terminals on it, apparently powers everything else, couldnt get it on the battery without replacing the terminal. 4ga from amp to a rear seat bolt. alt to bat wire is stock, i get very little dimming if any. fused up front, no caps, single 600w amp.

 

[White97Jimmy]

4ga directly to battery. Always installed that way and never had any problems in 9 years.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

What about premature battery failure or going through batteries a little quicker?

-Drew

 

[White97Jimmy]

I replaced 1 battery in my last vehicle. It was in Dec of 2000, and it was in my '97 Jimmy. It was the original battery, and I would guess that it was just it's time to go. I would expect an OEM battery to go after 4 years including some harsh northern Michigan winters. I replaced it with an Optima red top, and it ran fine up to when I traded it in March of 2005. I'm guessing it's still going strong today, however I have no idea.

 

[CougarX]

I'm not sure if I agree with the less battery life theory. Since everything is more or less hooked together it doesn't make that much difference where you tie into the system. If you tie in at the battery post you aren't going to drain the battery which is in turn charged by the alternator. If this was the case you would only get about 12.5 volts hooking up to the battery, not the 14 or so most people get. The charging system is going to send the extra power towards the battery when it senses a load. It does not distinguish between a load from an accessory or a load from a low battery, it just sends the juice needed. If the extra power is needed down the line in an amp, its not going to go into the battery and back out, then to the amp, its going to go straight through the terminal to where it's needed.

The whole system is run as a parralel circuit, not a series circuit, so everything is getting the same power. The only thing that should limit the voltage is the resistance of any given wire or connection.

I'm pretty sure this is the question you were asking and I am by no means an EE, but his logic doesn't seem to make sense.

 

[jeephater#1]

i mostly agree with cougarx the only thing is the reostat limits the power anywhere in the system to a max of 12.5 volts use a real digital meter such as a fluke and you will see what i mean next the alt. is directly conn. to the battery it makes no diff. at all the only thing you need to do is take a bigger ground to the frame and to the motor and you'll see a difference mainly no light dimming . it will not even affect your batt. except just more wear and tear as with any system dmb you have a lot of post on here i envy your knowledge on a lot of these post so any time you need a answer to any electrical problem being home truck or school let me know i am licensed in my state and can offer a quick answer to most any electrical question. thanks

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Well, your alternator does this. The current from the alternator goes from there to the fuse panel in the engine compartment which feeds all the "accessories". The other cable hooks up to the battery is just for recharge. Anything the vehicle doesn't consume, goes back to the battery through that cable. So basically - the alternator would see the amp (if hooked up to the alt) as another accessory, which when hooked to the battery the amp gets the 12-14v from the battery. I hope that made sense

-Drew

 

[jeephater#1]

ok let me try this in a different way all direct current electricity flows in one way from neg to pos. its all one large circuit the reostat in the alt. will up the amps for any load weather directly placed on it or indirectly as i said before if your alt is working properly you should not get any more than 12.5 volts the alt only bumps amps. not voltage. the reostat will keep the voltage at right around 11.5 to 12.5 volts i know this sounds weird but you dont need 13-15 volts to charge a batt. hell in old cars they used 6 volt batts.! you can charge with any voltage just the rate of charge will be affected. [Anything the vehicle doesn't consume, goes back to the battery through that cable.] any power in the car at all goes through the battery not just the "overflow" its a circuit all power goes somewhere.