Wiring question

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07-14-2004, 08:38 AM

sharky

50 Watt CAFz'r

Thread Starter

Join Date: Apr 2001

Posts: 97

This is for all you tech people. I am running a 3 amp system. Two JL 500/1 and one JL 300/2. I also have 3 PG 1 farad caps. Now my question is this.

I am wondering how do I find out how much amps these 3 amps will draw in order to find out if I will need a higher output alternator or not. Or what would you suggest??

And secondly, if I go with a higher alternator, does upgrading the battery become necessary???
If so, Optima Yellow Top good enough??

07-14-2004, 01:08 PM

Paul Niwranski

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Posts: n/a

Well you have 1300watts there. Lets use 13v as a limit and assume your amps average 65% efficiency.

Power Draw = (1300/13) / 0.65

Power Draw - 154 amps.

Ok, so that is full bore test tone kinda draw. And since no rational human listens to test tones (I hope anyway) nor music at the 1300watt level you could probably say that you draw about 70% of that even when really wanking on the system so 110 amps is likely your maximum draw on music.

Now considering that the factory alternator on your car was a stunning 65amps I would look for something in the 100-130amp range.

And a Yellow Top rarely hurts, I would pick one up.