Amps matching Alternator question

[Deutscher]

Hi all,

Currently I have a stock VS Alternator (75A I think they are), I'm in need off upgrading. So before I buy any old alternator, I wanted to buy the correct one to begin with.

The amps I am going to be running is:

SoundStream TRX 2.820 (3x 30A fuses) = 90A (250x2 @ 4ohm)
Orion D-5000 (1x 250 Inline Fuse) (2500x1 @ 1ohm)

2 questions:
What is a Inline Fuse? means internal ye because I can't see any fuses on the outside of the amp..
It doesn't really mean 250A does it? because if thats being said I'll need a 340A alternator + whatever the car needs itself? supposedly. Plus in the future I'll prob want to get another 2 channel.

Unless I'm misunderstanding this... but I've been looking at a 120A one and got quoted $330 (police one). What do you guys use? Is a 120A going to be sufficient?

[holdenboy]

Why not just put that money into a decent battery or two?
You could get an Optima D34 YT for the same amount as the 120A alternator, and would provide a better power source than an alternator. Remember an alternator will not charge the battery until the voltage drops, sometimes it can take a second or two for the alternator to "kick" in and charge the battery.

An inline fuse in a fuse thats "inline" with the power cable, i.e. a normal fuse near the battery.
If it states that it needs a 250A fuse then yes, you will need an "ANL" fuse/fuseholder.

The amplifier will never draw 250A during normal operation, it will only draw that amount of current if something goes wrong internally. I would imagine it'd draw 150A during normal, musical use (on heavy bass notes only), and up around 220-240A on a SPL burp (tone).

Same goes for other amps, they generally will only draw lots of current during heavy bass notes / tones. Amplifiers running speakers with the HPF on will not draw anywhere near their fuse rating, say if its a 60A fuse i'd imagine 30-40A would be normal at full volume.

[Deutscher]

Why not just put that money into a decent battery or two?
You could get an Optima D34 YT for the same amount as the 120A alternator, and would provide a better power source than an alternator. Remember an alternator will not charge the battery until the voltage drops, sometimes it can take a second or two for the alternator to "kick" in and charge the battery.

An inline fuse in a fuse thats "inline" with the power cable, i.e. a normal fuse near the battery.
If it states that it needs a 250A fuse then yes, you will need an "ANL" fuse/fuseholder.

The amplifier will never draw 250A during normal operation, it will only draw that amount of current if something goes wrong internally. I would imagine it'd draw 150A during normal, musical use (on heavy bass notes only), and up around 220-240A on a SPL burp (tone).

Same goes for other amps, they generally will only draw lots of current during heavy bass notes / tones. Amplifiers running speakers with the HPF on will not draw anywhere near their fuse rating, say if its a 60A fuse i'd imagine 30-40A would be normal at full volume.

Hi Holdenboy, once again your helping me out. I found the number and amps the Soundstream amplifier has but I can't seem to find any information on the Orion amp. The only information I got from the owners manual is that:

ATC Fuse - this fuse(s) protects the amplifier against internal electrical damage and is meant to protect the amplifier only. All other power connections should be fused at the source, The HCCA-D1200 has two 30-amp fuses, The HCCA-D2400 has three 40-amp fuses. The HCCA-D5000 has one inline 250-amp fuse.

I know what a inline fuse is on the wiring kit, but because its speaking about the ATC fuses which are the little fuses on normal amps, I thought that maybe its still speaking about one of those. So the D5000 doesn't actually have any fuses apart from the one thats on the power cable??

Will the stock alternator be able to support a battery over 600cca? (I've currently got a 600cca battery) with daily driving? I will have a look at the battery you mentioned though. So it's not worth upgrading the alternator?

[camstatic]

Thought I might throw in my two bucks worth:

I've clamp metered a 4 channel amp (4x75wrms stated), running 4 speakers, high passed at 80Hz, at what I would presume was full volume (just before clipping) and it was pulling 21A on an average.

I run an optima D34 blue top (same as the yellow, but with auxiliary posts)in my VP, with the standard 85A alternator, upgraded engine earthing and charge wire, it's rock solid with my system and I'm running an Audison lrx1.1k (1090wrms apparently underrated) and Fusion FP-504 (4x55 or something like that, I keep meaning to replace it with another lrx 4 channel but things keep coming up).

I have two runs of double shielded 4ga running to the boot, one for each amp, and the same on the earth side of the amps, and between the battery and chassis.

Long story short, the optima and your standard alternator should do the job just fine. I've just retired an Exide Orbital after 3 years though, lost about 1/3 of its kick. I'm not the only one too apparently, so I'd recommend staying away from those.

[holdenboy]

Basically, fuses add resistance.....and adding a second fuse to the power supply (one at the battery and the second at the amp) is not really needed, especially for high current drawing amplifiers like yours. This is the reason why they dont fit a fuse to the large monoblocks, its not needed provided you have adequate fusing at the battery.

The stock alternator will support any size battery to an extent, even the largest Optima (D31) which is 1125cca, the larger the battery the less "work" it has to do. Therefore the less work the alternator has to do in order to charge the battery back up.

Its better to upgrade the battery to a specialised unit first.

[Deutscher]

Basically, fuses add resistance.....and adding a second fuse to the power supply (one at the battery and the second at the amp) is not really needed, especially for high current drawing amplifiers like yours. This is the reason why they dont fit a fuse to the large monoblocks, its not needed provided you have adequate fusing at the battery.

The stock alternator will support any size battery to an extent, even the largest Optima (D31) which is 1125cca, the larger the battery the less "work" it has to do. Therefore the less work the alternator has to do in order to charge the battery back up.

Its better to upgrade the battery to a specialised unit first.

Hmm so it really seems that my alternator is fine to use. Now I guess I gotta look for a better battery. So you recommend the D34 TY? whats the next model up? Hows the BT and RT differ from the YT?

Uhh ... these are deep cycle batteries. I won't be able to use the YT for my normal battery will I? I don't want to have 2 batteries.

[StoneX]

Yes, the Optima batteries can be used as your primary battery. Deep cycle just refers to the technology inside it.

Yellow and Blue are basically the same. The Blue is meant for marine, so it has an extra positive and negative post, the inside of the battery is the same.

The Red Top is a starting battery, high quick discharge but won't last that long with the car off and stereo running.

The Yellow/Blue are the ones to use for car audio.

[Deutscher]

Yes, the Optima batteries can be used as your primary battery. Deep cycle just refers to the technology inside it.

Yellow and Blue are basically the same. The Blue is meant for marine, so it has an extra positive and negative post, the inside of the battery is the same.

The Red Top is a starting battery, high quick discharge but won't last that long with the car off and stereo running.

The Yellow/Blue are the ones to use for car audio.

Thx StoneX,
I'll be using the battery as my primary battery, I won't be running the soundsystem without my car on. So I would go for the YT? How do I work out which battery I would need?

[StoneX]

If you buy an Optima, a Yellow or Blue top, it doesn't matter which. The Yellow is the one labelled as an automotive battery though.

I had a Yellow Top for about 5 years as my primary (and only) battery and now I have a Blue Top as that's all that my local auto elec had. Does the same thing.

D34 is the perfect size for a Commodore.

[holdenboy]

Optima wont provide warranty on a blue top if a car audio system is fitted to the car, whereas the yellow top has got warranty for car audio. But as StoneX said the BT and YT are internally the same, they just charge extra for the YT because of the warranty.

Yeah go with the D34, perfect for the commodore (size wise). You can fit a D31 (about 30% bigger) but its alot of hassle and not really worth it unless you want to run in SPL comps.

[Deutscher]

Thx both Holdenboy & StoneX - Now I'll need go do some research on the cheapest price in Perth.

[2LOUD2OLD]

perhaps look into the Deka Intimidator batteries too, apparently very good and a lot cheaper than an optima
mind you i run a BT myself :P