How much is too much?

[cavzilla_z24]

I have 2 10'' sony Xplod sub's and a 600 watt amp w/ nice pioneers in the kickpanels and some nice speakers in the back of my 97 z24 and i also have 2 more 10'' SPL soundstream sub's that are not hooked up but i was THINKING about maybe one day sticking those in my trunk as well but i know i would have to get another amp also i was wanting to put really nice competition speakers in my interior that i would also have to amp up so we would be talking around 2-3 amplifiers. now not that i would ever do this but IF i did....would this put too much stress on my battery/alternator i have heard that i might have to get my alternator re-spun or somthing like that does any1 know how much a z24 can handle? how much is too much? and what would i have to do to compensate for all this power?

[Chevy4life1985]

Originally Posted by cavzilla_z24

I have 2 10'' sony Xplod sub's and a 600 watt amp w/ nice pioneers in the kickpanels and some nice speakers in the back of my 97 z24 and i also have 2 more 10'' SPL soundstream sub's that are not hooked up but i was THINKING about maybe one day sticking those in my trunk as well but i know i would have to get another amp also i was wanting to put really nice competition speakers in my interior that i would also have to amp up so we would be talking around 2-3 amplifiers. now not that i would ever do this but IF i did....would this put too much stress on my battery/alternator i have heard that i might have to get my alternator re-spun or somthing like that does any1 know how much a z24 can handle? how much is too much? and what would i have to do to compensate for all this power?

If your going to run 2 amps just buy another battery. You can run the Battery line for the positive and the ground from the negative. Have a custom steel box mad to fit your second battery and place it in the trunk (obviously you would need a distrubition box). If you are going to run 3 do the same thing. However this time run the small 4 channel amp from the speakers off the car battery. You should get 2 Optima batterys. One for your 2 bigger amps and one for your car/4channel amp. If this doesnt make sense let me know.
Im running 2 Audiobahn amps right now. Off my car battery but its takin a beating. I just bought 2 Optima batteries. One for the trunk for my 2 amps and one for my car. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT RUN THOSE 3 AMPS OFF YOUR CAR BATTERY.

[cdru]

Adding 1 or 2 extra batteries isn't going to increase the amount of current the system can handle, only the amount of time that the system can stay powered up with the car off...or being able to restart the car after using your radio. So adding a battery alone isn't goin to be enough. Your best bet, if your current setup is insufficient would be to add a high-output alternator.

As a rule of thumb, figure your amp is about 60% efficient, meaning it requires about 166% the peak power rating to power it. So your 600W amp needs about 1000W total power at peak output. Car charging voltage is ~13.5V, so P=V*I becomes 1000W = 13.5V * I. Rearrange for I and you get about 74Amps.

I'm not sure about the Z24, but my 97 RS has a 105A alternator. Figure 1/2 of that is used by the car so the other half is available for accessories. Obviously 52.5 is less then 74, so something in the system is going to have to give. When the car is running at speeds higher then an idle, all your available current comes from your alternator. At idle, it could come from either the battery or the alternator depending on the car's characteristics. Off, obviously all the current comes form the battery.

If you don't run your system at peak output, you may not have had a problem as high current is only necessary a portion of the time (e.g. heavy, long base notes). A sign of insufficient current is your lights dimming to the beat of the music. If your lights dim sligtly at the first bit of a long base note, but then come back up, it's likely just your alternator being slow to respond to the increased current demand and is not necessarily a sign something is wrong.

If you are going to install a 2nd high powered amp and plan to use the full potential of both amps, you'll want to upgrade the alternator. If you are only going to crack the volume normally but occassionally have a little fun, you may be able to get away with it but you are probably borderline pushing it.

You may also want to check out the Car Audio forum if you haven't already. From the FAQ in that forum, systems with a rating under a 1000W are usually fine, over 1500 likely needs a bigger alternator, and inbetween 1000-1500 could go either way depending on the car.

[01Cavy]

Originally Posted by cdru

Adding 1 or 2 extra batteries isn't going to increase the amount of current the system can handle, only the amount of time that the system can stay powered up with the car off...or being able to restart the car after using your radio. So adding a battery alone isn't goin to be enough. Your best bet, if your current setup is insufficient would be to add a high-output alternator.

As a rule of thumb, figure your amp is about 60% efficient, meaning it requires about 166% the peak power rating to power it. So your 600W amp needs about 1000W total power at peak output. Car charging voltage is ~13.5V, so P=V*I becomes 1000W = 13.5V * I. Rearrange for I and you get about 74Amps.

I'm not sure about the Z24, but my 97 RS has a 105A alternator. Figure 1/2 of that is used by the car so the other half is available for accessories. Obviously 52.5 is less then 74, so something in the system is going to have to give. When the car is running at speeds higher then an idle, all your available current comes from your alternator. At idle, it could come from either the battery or the alternator depending on the car's characteristics. Off, obviously all the current comes form the battery.

If you don't run your system at peak output, you may not have had a problem as high current is only necessary a portion of the time (e.g. heavy, long base notes). A sign of insufficient current is your lights dimming to the beat of the music. If your lights dim sligtly at the first bit of a long base note, but then come back up, it's likely just your alternator being slow to respond to the increased current demand and is not necessarily a sign something is wrong.

If you are going to install a 2nd high powered amp and plan to use the full potential of both amps, you'll want to upgrade the alternator. If you are only going to crack the volume normally but occassionally have a little fun, you may be able to get away with it but you are probably borderline pushing it.

You may also want to check out the Car Audio forum if you haven't already. From the FAQ in that forum, systems with a rating under a 1000W are usually fine, over 1500 likely needs a bigger alternator, and inbetween 1000-1500 could go either way depending on the car.

WOW...that advise actually helped me out a lot too. I plan on getting a nice setup at the beginning of the year using 3 amps. Thanks for the heads up!