hey guys, so i finally got all of my amps and wiring for my 98 civic but now im a little concerned that i will still need a new battery and alternator, ive got the 4 gauge to do the big 3 upgrade and im running one run of 4 gauge to an ED nine.1 which has 120 amps worth of fuses but ill only be running it at 2 ohms to a single type r 12, so thats only 900 rms instead of the amps rated 1200 at 1 ohm, but either way, im also running an alpine f300s 4 channel to my speaks, 30 amp fuse with its own run of 4 gauge (overkill i know) so thats basically 150 amps max current draw before it blows the fuses right? well ive got a stock alternator and battery, will the big 3 and all this 4 gauge be enough to stop my lights from dimming? im gonna be setting it all up this weekend i just wanted to make sure there wasnt anything else i should do (besides buying bats and alts) to ensure the voltage will stay as high as possible. THANKS!

 

Why not run a single run of 1/0 (though I would go pos and neg runs) instead or two runs of 4 ga and then distro to your amps? Do all your big 3 in 1/0 as well, if you want less voltage drop then you need less resistance in your power wires. Once you've done all this you will be able to see where you stand... and my guess is you will have some dimming, voltage drop with high current draw is inevitable, buy some HID's and call it a day

 

i already had one run of 4 gauge from a previous install so i just bought another 4 gauge wiring kit cuz it was like half the price of the 1/0 from what i was told 4 gauge can handle 150 amps of current and the one amp is only 120 amps max probably 100 amps at peak with my setup and ill almost never have it up past half gain, so i figured double the money on wire wasnt worth it when ill never be drawing over the 150 amps the wire can handle

would you suggest i use the two runs as power and ground to throw a second battery in the trunk? i can easily get batteries cuz my friend owns a scrap yard, but id also have to buy a battery isolator so that the batteries dont drain eachother

 

Ideally you want the batteries to be of same make and age and you're running around 1200 rms, I doubt you'll need them... I have a 5 year old yellow top running 1600rms daily on a 90amp alt, I've had it on a charger only a handful of times and it has stayed reliable all through the winters

 

optima yellow + alt upgrade.

 

I think I'm getting a yellowtop from a buddy this week, so that will help, I'll let you guys know how it ends up working out and go from there I'll update the thread on Sunday

 

what does the alt put out? overall i can run my 200amp amplifier (8 runs of 4 gauge for power and ground, 4 each) and at full rpm i can run my setup fine. idle is another story altogether.

i have a 105amp alternator and 2 stock batteries.

 

I think it's only around 80 Amps it's a stock Honda civic, anyone know? I just talked to a couple of my buddys who have civics and they have all run a killowatt without any electrical problems so I'm pretty sure I'll be alright, also i'm getting a motomaster eliminator spiral cell battery tomorrow for $35 from a friend so with the big three and the bigger battery I should be rockin, I got some battery terminals from knukonceptz so my connections should be clean, I can't wait to hook all this up!

 

I have a gen 6 civic like you and the alt is around 60 to 65A. I read one article and it said the alt was 55A. Highly doubt it is 80A.

I'm running 1100w rms of amps on the stock alternator and battery with 4awg to the trunk. The ground is in the trunk also. I did 2 of the big 3. Waiting to install the HO alt before finishing the last cable. Lights barely dim. When I'm driving I don't notice it. Voltage at the amps is 13.4 - 13.6V at an idle. Volume up it gets down to 13.2V.

 

Sweeeeeet!! Thanks wvince, I have the 4 channel installed, gonna hook up the mono block tomorrow morning, I did the big 3 with a couple extra body to engine and battery to body grounds just cuz I had extra cable, it should be fine! I'll make a video once it's all set up