65 Hardnoks

Sorry Scott, I should have realized you had a newer Vette. Your under hood wireing is fine.

EatRice

Actually his underhood wireing could use an upgrade....it never hurts. Scott...you mention grounds a few times. Current flows in a circle and depending on which current flow law you believe it can flow from the most positive to the most negative or vise versa. Does not really matter. What matters is that as much current flows through the ground cable as the positive cable. So yes you should upgrade your grounds. Personally I remove the factory lines and replace them with 0ga. But you can also just add another ground to your system. Just take a piece of 4ga or 0ga and attach one end to the neg terminal and the other to the frame. I use a grounding block from Stinger because it gives a large contact patch but a nut and bolt work also. I never use a screw because they can wobble out and become loose. Make sure to grind away all the paint to a smooth bare metal and then recoat the entire connection. You can also run a larger gauge wire from the alternator to the positive terminal of the battery.

Just like knewblue said...you can compare current flow to water flow. The larger the pipe the more water or current will flow.

Is anyone running the Iaggi (did I spell that correctly?) alternators in a C5 without problems? I have heard some people using those and a few others and having problems. The C5 alternator interfaces with the BCM and that is what causes a problem. I have an alternator guy that has high output alternators that do not have any problems. If you end up needing one.

scott_fx

thanks guys i really appreciate all of the input and options.

snoopdan

Here is Dominick Iraggi's ebay offerings : http://stores.ebay.com/Iraggi-Altern...nd-Electronics

not too bad price wise. But this may be too bold or brazen of a remark by me, and I dont want to overstep my bounderies.



Anyways, check out this iraggi alternator I NEED one of these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...761381252&rd=1

65 Hardnoks

I'm too old school for this crowd.
After looking over that Iraqi alternator website, I think I'll buy one of those myself. If they can deliver those kind of amps at idle, I'm in! I may not need a cap but that has yet to be seen

Thanks for the link Snoop!

knewblewkorvette

10 million $, WTF

Of course, I'm in agreement with Randy on the wire and altenator.

Scott...I need to add for you info that the wire to the amp DOES affect the overall system. If the amp wire or connections are not up to par, they will put up an additional draw. Ie, you amplifier pulls 100 amps. With 4-guage wire and great connections, you could be pulling 110 amps at the battery (you will always pull more current at the battery than the amp uses since you will have some resistence with wire, etc.). With 8-guage and bad connections (with that same amplifier drawing 100 amps) you could be drawing 160 amps at the battery. That extra pull of 50 amps will affect all the car since those 50 amps will no longer be there to help the headlights, etc. I'm trying to explain this in a simple way and I hope I'm not confusing you more.
PS Scott, I'll also will be sending you my PayPal account and credit card numbers so you can pick the best account to purchase double of everything you buy for your Vette

chillcat

Snoop, I have a mcintosh 4000m, haven't had it installed yet, but do you think it would need a cap, I believe it is 1000watt/6channel, 2x300 and 4x100. I have a 1/2 farad monster cap sitting around-do you think its wise If I use that, Currently I have a yellow optima battery

knewblewkorvette

Hi Chillcat,
That is a super sweet amp
Macintosh amps are built extremely well. They are fully regulated and have a great power supply (like SnoopDan said about amps having internal caps, look at yours and you'll see some nice big blue ones inside (if I remember right they are blue)). At the same time, these amps are current hungry. The normal rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1000 watts.
If I was in your shoes and had that an expensive amp, I would use 4-guage wire (0-guage would be better). Be sure and redo the factory wiring from the battery to the altenator and also the chassis. I think you'll be okay without a cap. If you do decide to do a cap, don't skimp there either, do at least 2 farad or above.
I personnally use a yellow top like you, plus a 15 farad cap. I run about 2000 watts and have no electrical swings, just ear damage

scott_fx

that was a great explanation.

waiting.....

snoopdan

Uhm thats a kickass amp, I doubt it would need a cap on it, but since you have one already, it couldnt hurt. Some amps just dont have very robust capacitors in them. Just open a low end sony, pioneer, or pyramid amp...you'll see a just a few transisitors, and a couple of cheap anemic caps......Open up that McIntosh, i'll bet it has caps the size of hog legs in there.

But some people insist on putting multiple caps on their system, when they should of just bought a high output alternator in the first place. Caps are a cheap solution for some people, and thats OK and all, but in a vette, you're already pressed for space. I know I am

Post some ampifier pr0n when you get it installed.


snoopdan

knewblewkorvette

gee...I keep forgetting to do that :o

scott_fx

snoopdope

snoopdan

Lay off the pipe scott.