Major Electrical upgrade: 400 Amp Alternator & Lithium Battery - GMC Yukon XL Sound System Build 

In this video we raised the Yukon's original drop back up about 1" in the rear anticipating the weight increase from the subs and amp rack. We also added some more lithium and a Purple 400 amp elite series alternator. We did spend some time chasing a check-engine-light that wouldn't go away. Finally got it fixed! Now we can get it smogged and registered. Then we can start adding some wire runs and the rest of the stuff. 2 24" Sundown Subs powered by a DC Audio 7.5k amp. It should be fun! Make sure to hit that notification button and thanks for watching if you did!

SMD is ultra passionate about his builds big or small ( usually bigger lol ) always doing cool stuff even when it's just battery and/or alt upgrades. Always enjoy these vids, salute from Brisbang, Australia 🇦🇺

Man that alternator looks sick! I remember Mechman advertising on at least one CB radio forum when I was big into CB long ago, was at least 15 years ago so they been around a long time now. Glad to see them still making a decent product. And what a huge weight difference with those batteries.

the best part about all SMD videos, is he's always bumping the Home Theater, and making my wife mad 😂

Thank yall for giving me inspiration for my 2007 Yukon that 400 amp alternator is a beast.....

So sick! Can’t wait for the next drop.

Awesome build . enjoying this series. Thanks for sharring all your ideas it really makes a difference, for those of us that dont know where to start .

Sweet. I have to get one of those batteries. The weight difference is incredible.

Perfect timing. These are the ones I was looking at getting for my 2007 tahoe. Awesome video as always. Love this series

Love this build!! Reminds me of my old build but this is over the top Steve!! Awesome ride KK!!

Nice upgrade and superb installation Take five from Colombia

thank you for this video and walkthrough. I have been wanting to do this to my chevy for a while now. I have the XSPower battery, just need to get an Mechman alternator now.

You would be surprised by how tiny something can be and yet cause such a headache! I’m in New Jersey where we also test for smog! We had a Toyota pick up come in the shop for a check engine light due to emissions being too high! The customer stated that he has taken the truck to several shops plus Toyota, To make a long story short this truck had three different sets of aftermarket catalytic converter’s installed and then finally Toyota installed OEM converters! The check engine light was still on, Toyota recommended the customer bring his vehicle to our shop! It took us a few hours but we finally found the problem, There was a pinhole in one of the factory welds near one of the O2 sensors! The hole was so small that you could not hear any leaking, Also there was no condensation dripping from it because the pinhole was on the top of the pipe! Let me just say that none of the shops had charged him for any of the work and Toyota said they would give him his money back if he wanted to bring the cats back! As for us we figured the customer paid enough in his own time trying to figure his vehicle out that we told him there was no charge, That was 6 years ago and he is still a customer of ours to this day not to mention the rest of his Family and Friends that he has recommended are also our customers!

Badass Steve cant wait to see you upgrade it.

That purple POPS under the hood. Looks great guys.💯🙌✌️

What a coincidence. You uploaded this the same day I blew my alternator 😅

Anytime you drop a vid I drop what I’m doing and watch!

Dope as always. I always run the green gates, haven't had one fail yet.

Those alternators are very awesome ! I have the pink 400 plan on getting another one. For my wife's 2012 Jeep Liberty

The check engine issue was a good thing cause it made waiting for parts more bare able

Im Ready 4 this one!!!...Heck Yeah!!

Hell yeah that's a nice upgrade!

That purple 400 hard Steve great choice and wow that is a huge weight difference in batteries. Gotta love technology. Great vlog bro salute 💪✌

Love your videos man.i was watching your video where you lowered your escalade to install level lift on my escalade.

My alternator on my semi was 140amps stock. I took it to local alternator shop here my area and they rebuilt it and turned it to a 200 AMP alternator. They didn't have the bigger winding to make it a 270 or 300. But, just getting it to 200 made a big difference in my system in my semi. I found a place in Ohio that did Bassin Semi's truck. They turned his to a 270. Alternator is key brother!

I like yours videos. Very clean and beautiful works.

Hey Steve tht batt is so lite I was laughing whn u put it on the scale compared to the other batt can't wait for the good stuff lol.. peace

So dope you got an underhood lithium. Those are expensive batteries, but the tech is amazing.

40 lb weight reduction in just a battery swap is insane.

Awesome video as usual Steve!! Bad Ass Man 👍🏼👍🏼 I really enjoy all your stuff Brotha “

Impressive on that weight...

That Mechman Purple looks sick! 😁Too bad none of my current vehicles have one available. Had a Mechman Elite Yellow in my GMC Jimmy that got totaled by a drunk.

Looks good bro I'm trying to save up n do the same on my SUV need to get the alternator bigger amp for my subs new mids n highs n amp for them plus new 4 gauge wire kit

That purple alt a beauty. Juat got mine installed. Purple brand X 370 for 10 civic. Mechman no longer has alternators available for my civic. Great customer service though with setting me up with someone who could make 1.

Meade for the win 🏆 🙌 dad of the year.

I want 😫 a mechman Alternator so bad its looks very nice under the hood just with the new battery and alternator what a transformation 👌

Excited for this build #TeamSundown

Very nice

Steve the best way to monitor 3 alternators and do you directly run to one set or individually separate among the battery bank after fusing on both ends

Glad I watched this video I’m just about to change the same alternator on my hummer had no idea I had to change belts thanks

KK be beating the block down in no time.

So what was the issue with the Yukon that fixed the problem ?

Oh sweet!

My Singer alternator will be here in a week. Installing in 2. Really looking forward to it. That Mechman is so nice. My alternator is buried. No need for it to look pretty. Lol

Steve, what ended up causing the check engine light?

I need to consider on upgrade to my 23 caddy xt4 with standard 7 speaker set up that sounds like garbage to something for enjoyable sound without killing the bank and keeping the stock head unit.

Its gonna be slamming!! But what the hell was wrong with truck, and how much was it to fix???

Is that a self exciting alt skipping the PCM? Best thing for a car audio application imho.

Will that green belt work if I put it in my 2014 Escalade? I’m looking to upgrade my alternator for my sound system as well.

Had so much problems with my mech and it was a 350 it would push 16v out the box I had no voltage control and changed the part to have 14.8 stable at a local shop no problems. But how did you have like that out the box without modding it? Does that 400 come like that ready? If so I’m copping it. I have a video how I installed my mech boi it was driving me nuts until I figured that out though.

Hey steave i have a question when you do multiple batteries in the back do you ground them all individually to the chassis?

Hey brother love your videos! Quick question about a 2019 Honda Accord LX. I currently have a taramps smart 3 bass amp, 0 gauge wire with 320 amp fuse, big 3 also 0 gauge, and 1 Skar EVL 12 (1250 rms) and I have no battery issues at the moment with my stock 130 amp alternator and an 80 amp hour platinum Duralast AGM battery. I am swapping that single EVL 12 out for the dual EVL 12 prefab box from Skar and am worried I might run in to battery/alternator issues. What do you think? I am ok with adding another AGM if that will suffice. With regards to a HO ALT though, Honda has an electric load detector system and I have read that adding the HO ALT doesn’t help. What do you do with Accords and their power limitations and do you bypass the ELD? Just need to figure out the best, cheapest, most efficient, least invasive way to power my subs and keep rolling. Thank you brother.

We lucky in SC did away with inspection a long time ago.

Great video as always Steve!!! 👍👍👍 That's a beautiful Purple alternator!!! I assume they charged an extra fee to get it in Purple correct??? You made that battery and alternator swap look so simple!!! Most shops would of probably charged a few hundred bucks just to do what you did in a fraction of the time that they would have charged to do it!!! No telling what the dealership would've charged that's for sure!!! Can't wait for the next video!!! Quick question Steve, why are those lithium batteries a lot more expensive than the regular XS POWER batteries??? When your doing a CAR AUDIO SOUND SYSTEM how do you figure out what amperage of an alternator will you be needing for your install before you even get started??? Thanks for your help on that!!! ✌️✌️✌️

Hey Steve, can LTO be ran parallel with Lifepo4? I want to run this but have seen other manufacturers say not to run LTO and regular lithium, I believe because the higher resting voltage of LTO.

Hey Steve, I was wondering if you could educate me on a setup I am trying to run. I have a mechman 400 amp alternator and a xs d3100 for power. It’s gonna be powering an 8k taramps going to 2 vxf 15s. Would running the stock battery and the d3100 be enough power?

What's up with that harness in the 400 amp alt ? My 03 Tahoe has that same harness and uses same belt you had to buy my factory amp was 145 amp . Is that harness you have in there with one wire some bypass because your factory harness is different along with alternator ?

If I was running 2 d3400s with the same alternator could I use a 300 amp isolator between the two?

Can you please tell me which one is the ignition switch from the fuse box

he made that battery look like a fake boulder from the movies LMAO

Damn, looks like he has the big boy 6.0L v8 in that Yukon!! So I'm assuming that battery was out of your Escalade since it says Cadillac, and my Cadillac takes a group 48 battery so it seems only right for you to sell me that one if it works! I built a hodgepodge of a 12 inch woofer so I can finally have some beat in the car after blowing the stock Bose a couple times. Hopefully I will build a box for it soon, and then try to find a mediocre 1500ish watt amp for it, and put that prototype SMD HLC-1 back to use again!!

Does this alternator have an internal regulator specific for lithium batteries? If not what kind of external regulator are you using? I thought You couldn't just slap a regular alternator on a lithium battery? Was under the impression of Having to have some kind of external regulator, or one of the other half ass workarounds in my opinion... dc-dc converter or running the charging cables through an AGM or lead acid battery then paralleled to a lithium. Having a alternator with a built-in regulator, specifically set up for lithium, or running an external regulator specifically for lithium. Best way to go. But didn't see or hear you mention anything about this?! Just wondering if im unaware of another way. Always trying to learn something new every day. Nice set up

Was there any additional battery added or is it possible to just use that titan as the only battery to power it all?

Hey when you switch over to lithium do all batteries now need to be lithium? Like no AGM up front, lithium in the back?

Steve where exactly did you get the ignition power from the fuse box ? I’m installing a Mechman on my Tahoe same body style and need to know.

Why purple? No knock but a white one would’ve matched better in my opinion. Even tho I know my opinion means absolutely 💩. Anyway I can’t wait to hear the final results bro!!!

Yo Steve, i might be your age but i can pretend to be your kid bro. I need a new system too dad 🤣

What was the engine light code & fix? Was it P0011?

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Aren’t those batteries 14.5v max though?

I don't know if this was mentioned before but why not go with a second alternator and battery? I have the same type of truck and I went with a second alternator and a second battery in the right front corner of the engine compartment. It did wonders for my system! A charging station strictly for my stereo. BTW I love your work bro! If you ever decide to open a shop in Milwaukee or somewhere close I know several guys waiting for you!

What was the fix 4 the emissions?

Which xs power agm battery is that in the factory battery location? I been wanting to replace my factory battery with a AGM but I was told a AGM battery couldn’t run my car. Let me know please!

What type of engine cleaner do you use?

so lithium is fine for a under the hood batt to sart the car as well? assuming so haha

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So what was the problem with check engine light being on? What was the fix??

I love you

What's was it 🤔

Aye Steve I'm trying to switch over to lithium but I keep hearing lithium isn't good under the hood can you educate me on this cus i see you putting them in the hood....im told to put agm under hood and isolate the lithiums from it....so idk

Following

Would that alternate fit my 99 odyssey

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What's a good lithium battery to run my car and my lil 1000 watt system? Mostly for the weight savings on my 1000ph hellcat.

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What engine is in that?

9:32 could someone explain this?

My xs battery went from 14.4 V to 13.2 with in seconds after the first charge

Can you please tell me the number for the ignition switch power inside the fuse box

What battery can I use for 30000 watts

🤗🤗🥰

I keep hearing don’t not use lithium as a starter battery. Can someone explain why so many say don’t use beyond Agm for up front?

Glad Indiana doesn't have the inspection bullshit.

400 amp alt will make my check engine light come on. does it do this for this suv? i have a 2006 i wanted the 400 amp. but was warned the light comes on.

Where to buy a 400 amp alternator ??

Im curious why you dont choose ohio generator for power?

I thought lithium batteries shouldn’t be used under the hood.

Can I have the old battery I have 2 12s I want to run but go no battery

God do I hate california. I have a car with 2019 registration because for the life of me I can't find the mystery computer problem that won't set the readiness monitors for smog

Steve can you please upgrade my alternator