How Much power Batteries/Alternators do I need to Power my car audio amp? 

yea, thats a great plan. of course, the clamp will only ready what you ARE pulling, not what the amp WANTS to pull. in the video i explain what you said, and offer that a 3k would require 150a on music with adding a bit of storage

​@@CarAudioEnthusiastsI don't know what you mean by what the amp WANTS to pull. Do you mean what it's CAPABLE of pulling if you change your impedance, battery, alternator, etc...? I'm not sure that would be relevant. What matters is what you ARE pulling. At least in my opinion.

what i meant was, the amp meter will only read the amount of current flowing through the wire, if you only have say 100amps of free output from the electrical, and you crank the amp hard, youll pull all 100amps, and the meter will read 100amps. but if the amp wanted more power than was availible, and you had say 200amps free to pull , then when you cranked it, the meter would read a different amount.

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts The difference would be quite small. We don't actually need an exact number of the amperage being drawn, we just need a close approximation. The difference between 100 and 110 amps is negligible. If we think it's drawing 100 amps and it's actually 50, then that's significant. Assuming we don't have massive voltage sag, the amperage readings should be close enough. The main thing is we shouldn't guess. We can learn a lot by measuring. 👍

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts Well almost all batteries are capable of putting out 800 plus amps some even over 1000cca (CCA or CA rating) so there always is the available amps in reserve. the amplifier always will have the amps available it is asking for unless you have been playing long enough and went beyond the batteries AH but by then you will also have a voltage drop. Saying that an amp is asking for more amps than your car can supply it is just incorrect. Other factors can cause this situation you describe though like to small of wire and length of wire or a bad ground and with the ground you can have the correct wire size but only grounded to the frame most don't do it but you should run a ground wire to the rear frame and also back to the front and ground it to the engine block preferably to the alternator mounting bolts. the best ground is using a distribution block and landing it to 3 points the rear of the car frame then to the engine block and also the front battery. the reason for this is a lot of newer cars don't have a solid frame like the old days they also use aluminum more often there is body bushings and a lot of connections through the body. I have clamped a lot of systems 30 year installer here, and most don't use anywhere near 100 amps per 1000 watts my personal car I'm running 3 class A Zapco AP amps two 6.150s and a 2.600 running two 12s in a sealed box, they are not efficient like class D's amps. at full volume I only pull an average of 72 amps on music rarely see it spike at anything over 100amps, if I am playing some Techmaster PEB I have seen it pull 90 to 170 amps bouncing all over in between. I am running a stock 130a alternator with group 34 XS battery up front and another XS 34 in the trunk 2/0 Runs of OFCT Sky high XL wire. Yes, I am running a SQL system it is different than a SPL system I get that I'm not running 5K at .5 ohms or anything. Still good advice not hating on you good video and for everyone that reads my comment it is always better to have more power than you need you don't want to turn on your stereo for 5 minutes with your car off and then need a jump. get as much reserve as you can AH is important and oversize your wire always.

yea the agm's are for sure your weak spot.

agreed

People can go higher depending on vehicle stock alt (140 amps plus), battery capacity, wiring, amplifier class, gain settings, efficiency of drivers, and listening habits. The class D amps of today are so much more efficient than amps of 20 years ago. Myself and others run setups up to 2000+ watts on the regular with just a single 27f AGM battery (1500 watts on subs and 300-500 watts for full range duty) with very little voltage drop. Going to 4000 and beyond gets to where a second battery becomes necessary and then going higher still then it's time for the after market alt....

This is all true however you want the fuse to be located closer to the battery NOT to the amp. Whenever there's an issue in a component that causes the wiring to begin to heat up it begins heating up at the battery and working it's way towards the component, this is the reason manufacturers put that fuse right at the battery terminal this way the fuse pops as soon as the issue raises and it prevents not only damage of components but also prevents the wiring from being damaged as well. Far to many don't understand this and end up with the results of things catching fire.

​@Valverde713 I think you misread my comment. I'm not referring to a single fuse, I'm talking about two fuses.

@Valverde713 yes I know I had a 200 amp hard blow blade fuse up there, I'm saying 2x80 amp fuses on the back of a 25w amp doesn't even make sense in reality, think about it, why would a 50w amp need 2x 80 amp fuses

Thank you too!

I charge at 14.8 , powering 8k watts, send me some that can work with that, ill test, if all is well, ill advertise.

that cap made SOO much of an improvement in my rig

We’re u get the cap at ??

@@sosdeathvalley lucked out b stock amazon

Help me out here guys, loxus cap? How does this cap work, to where you guys are in awe about it. Thanks guys

@@arnoldsalazar5851 an ultra or super cap, stores energy FAST and releases it FAST, so it acts like a buffer, or shock absorber for the electrical system. it feeds the amp when it needs power in burst, and allows the alternator to do a steady charge instead of big power swings.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Appreciate it

agreed!

Welcome aboard!, yes would be a solid upgrade,

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts thanks. I have a 5th gen Camaro. As far as I've seen on internet so far, there's no bracket option for dual Alternators.

you may have to look sideways, like same engine different car, then possibly mod it a touch

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts die hard Camaro. 1 alt for now. If it ever HAS to be 2, I'm sure there's a way. Cross that bridge if I ever get io it.

i agree with you

need to be able to kick 250amps outta your battery, for about 30 seconds. if your batteries can do that youre good, if not head to Trunk Thunder Lithium, use discount code CAE10 for a DISCOUNT! LINK BELOW!

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts Thanks brother 👍

Also... I do not have the lifepo4 battery connected into the car's 12V battery at all. It is a stand-alone battery system. I do not have any issues with any noise coming through the system whatsoever. My battery is mounted very near to the amp and DSP, so the wire runs are about 2 feet in length. It's all in the trunk and had no need for long wire runs going through the firewall or any of that trouble. I only have a thin 15 foot aux cable running from a bluetooth controller in the cab to the DSP in the trunk with rca connectors. There's another 15 foot aux cable with rca connectors running from the DSP to the car audio aux port in the cab. These two aux cables pass through the trunk under the rear seats which can fold down.

yea, you could use a 2nd 320, and more storage as well.

Thanks for the sub!

always the answer!

so many variables, frequency cutoff, slope, music type..

@@CarAudioEnthusiasts ok

You are wired for at leat twice the power your using. My old truck had 1500 watts of amps with 4 guage wire to stock battery and was just fine.

@@bigbirdstube can't never have CLEAN POWER to help the amp work efficiently.

Got one of those diodes from orileys now my voltage is up from 13 volt full tilt to 13.9. Diodes for the win 😆

Most welcome!

nice setup! in fairness though, the mesurement system changed s while back. so an oldschool 154 is about the same as a current 144db still crazy loud for 2 12s on that power though!

@CarAudioEnthusiasts didn't know decibels changed 154 decibels then should 154 now I just said spl

@@dustydawson8977 the device used to score changed

​@CarAudioEnthusiasts well in all fairness, they soon outlawed those amps, they claimed they weren't fair, they are hi current amps and 1/4 ohm stable no fans,they make stupid power, but the rules then said you add the power the amps make @4 ohm together to find your competition class 0 to 300. 301 to 1000 and a 1000 and up classes. These amps quadrupled there power @ every ohm drop. 4,2,1,1/2,1/4

@@dustydawson8977 o i remember

Glad you like it!

Nice I wish my car have 130a alternator

itll be a bit close, and you may notice a bit of headlight dimming, but you should be fine

Add a digital volt meter and run it full tilt. See what your voltage sag is. Get a DC clamp meter and see how much current your actually drawing. I'd imagine your stock alternator should be fine.

Thanks. Next year or two I will try and do big 3 with 200 amp alternator.