BIG 3 Upgrade

[Deutscher]

Hi guys,

Just wondering, about the BIG 3 upgrade. I am purchasing a new subby and amp (Hifonic Olympus 2412 (2400rms) & Hifonic Brutus BXI-2608d (2600rms)) and I already have 2 sets of Type R 6.5" running of a 4-channel alpine amp (the speakers are only 75 or 70rms).

I was wondering if I should upgrade to the BIG 3, if I do I'd get 0 Gauge.

Also.... what does 1/0 mean? I see a lot of 1/0 gauge cable...

[Tasmaniak]

1/0 is 0ga. Although your not running enough to REQUIRE the BIG 3 I would definetly recommend upgrading the battery to earth.

[Deutscher]

Yay. I was hoping I wouldn't need to upgrade the BIG 3. I have enough expenses at the moment getting this sub+amp and having to run 0-gauge through my car.

Anyone know how much cable I would need? I've got a VS sedan and I want enough cable to have the amp at the very end of my boot (I don't want to pull my old cable out to see how long it is), I don't want to buy too short.

[Haydz]

6 metres mate.

[Deutscher]

6 metres mate.

Cheers for that.

I was going to buy by the meter but I got quoted $25 per meter and that would equate to $150 + the 1M ground and a Amp kit would be $175 for 6M power cable and 1M ground cable + 250A fuse and clamps.

[Haydz]

send this guy a message and see if he still has some of this left.

he should do.

use that. excellent wire for car audio.

Welding Cable 600 amps PER METRE - eBay Other Power Tools, Power Tools, Tools, Home. (end time 08-Aug-08 11:49:53 AEST)

[Deutscher]

Sorry to bring up an older thread.

I was reading about the big 3 upgrade again. Just wondering if the big 3 upgrade would make a difference in performance? I've read that anything with 1500rms would require the upgrade. My lights don't really dim so haven't had the upgrade as off yet. But was wondering if I'd get a better quality sound because of better current etc. ?? Or if it would be complete waste of time for me to do it?

[holdenboy]

Wouldnt be a "complete" waste of time mate, you'd only need say 3 meters of 0g and probably 6 x 0g lugs (ring terminals).

Also give the electrics in your car a easier time too.

[Deutscher]

Wouldnt be a "complete" waste of time mate, you'd only need say 3 meters of 0g and probably 6 x 0g lugs (ring terminals).

Also give the electrics in your car a easier time too.

Say, regardless for the electrics easier time. Is there a change in Audio Quality? I think my amps are getting enough power... but whats clean power? Like said ... my headlights etc don't really dim. So thinking of doing it.. It's like those external crossovers you can get ... would they actually do anything?

[holdenboy]

Clean power is power thats coming out of the amps that is not clipped (distorted). Your amp is less likely to clip if the voltage at the amps terminals is a good as possible.

As far as your question about audio quality goes....it would depend on how good your electrical / charging system is at the moment, maybe its in great condition and can handle the extra amps drawn by your amplifiers, maybe its not and has trouble handling the extra current draw. (Remember when they design an electrical system they only had the standard electronics in mind, not 100-150A of extra current draw).

Overall, one thing i CAN say for sure is it will not hurt to upgrade your earths. For the price you'll outlay it far outweighs the cost of upgrading to a proper car audio battery, for example Optima, or fully sound deadening a boot to gain sound when compared to just reducing/eliminating rattles. (Ive sound deadened entire boots with Dynamat with no improvement in sound, except for less rattles).

[acarmody]

Actually I'm interested in any advice that would stop my light dimming problem. When I turn on some real bass my whole dash dims and I can actually notice my headlights dim (can't be good for them). I decided to turn on the dash voltmetre and play Bass I Love You (love it). Pretty much the whole song the volts sat around 11.8v-12v. Even dipped to 11.4 at one point.

I'm only running 1400wrms to the subs and 600wrms to the splits. I already have 0gauge to the amps and 0gauge from the negative terminal to the strut tower. Next on my list is replacing the alternator to positive wire with 0gauge. I was holding off placing som 0gauge from the negative to chassis because I would have thought the the factory wire and the 0 to the strut tower would easily handle my power demands. I have a spare bosch gold battery if that will help. But I'm hoping that I won't have to get a bigger alternator as they are quite expensive.

Oh and yes my grounds are good. Professionally installed amp by a good installer and I still checked the grounds myself.

[holdenboy]

acarmody.....its always good to also add a 0g earth from the engine to the negative terminal or the strut tower. This ensures the alternator itself can produce as many amps as possible.

If you do this and still have a problem, maybe a proper high capacity battery is an option. I have over 4000wrms running my 2 15s and upgraded the earths under the bonnet something crazy....but still had headlight dimming problems (i had a second battery too). When i upgraded the second battery to an Optima D31 (the biggest they make) i almost have no headlight problems and the voltage stayed above 12v ALL the time.

So firstly i would say upgrade the "big 3" to 0g and if that dosent solve your problems go with a better or second battery.

[acarmody]

I probably should have mentioned that my battery is a D34 Optima, nice battery.

I was just checking out the specs of the D31, hopy crap that has a lot of cranking amps, probably about 1000 at room temperature.

[holdenboy]

Yep, not cheap either

Well if youve already upgraded the battery the next step is to do your earths.

[Deutscher]

Actually I'm interested in any advice that would stop my light dimming problem. When I turn on some real bass my whole dash dims and I can actually notice my headlights dim (can't be good for them). I decided to turn on the dash voltmetre and play Bass I Love You (love it). Pretty much the whole song the volts sat around 11.8v-12v. Even dipped to 11.4 at one point.

I'm only running 1400wrms to the subs and 600wrms to the splits. I already have 0gauge to the amps and 0gauge from the negative terminal to the strut tower. Next on my list is replacing the alternator to positive wire with 0gauge. I was holding off placing som 0gauge from the negative to chassis because I would have thought the the factory wire and the 0 to the strut tower would easily handle my power demands. I have a spare bosch gold battery if that will help. But I'm hoping that I won't have to get a bigger alternator as they are quite expensive.

Oh and yes my grounds are good. Professionally installed amp by a good installer and I still checked the grounds myself.

Sup Acarmody,
May i ask what you are running? 600wrms for splits? (this has to be fronts and rears? still a nice number haha.)

(I haven't figured out how to quote multiple things)

Holdenboy - what the hell are you running? 4000wrms? guess in ur sig u do mention 150db nice! you own a wagon ye? wish I could fit more into my boot just no room with gas tank.

Also, how hard is it to re-wire the big 3? Had a quick look in the engine bay of my VS and it seems pretty unkeen!!

[holdenboy]

lol....yeah its a wagon. The amp is a Schneider SPA 7000X, and people in the SPL scene think i should run more power

You dont need to "re-wire" the big three, just adding them on top of the stock earths is fine. One thing that i do which makes it easier is just run one (or maybe two) runs of 0g to the strut tower etc, then run your other earths to this. That way your not overcrowding your neg. terminal. Ive actually got a peice of alum. screwed to my chassis rail near the battery, then all my earths run to that (engine, 2 x chassis and 2 x neg terminal runs). I'll post up some pics if you want to give you some ideas?

[acarmody]

[QUOTE=Deutscher;1129399]Sup Acarmody,
May i ask what you are running? 600wrms for splits? (this has to be fronts and rears? still a nice number haha.)

(I haven't figured out how to quote multiple things)

Yeah 300wrms to the front splits and 300wrms to the rears. All door mounted (except front tweeters, they are in factory location) and all are PolkAudio MMC-6500. Deck is a Kenwood KDC-X9006U. Amps are all Cadence, one ZRS-7504, one ZRS-1502, and two ZRS-6000D. Subs are two L7s, each getting 700wrms.

Its plenty loud enough and I am finding myself adjusting the bass on the H/U to like -9 to level the system out to play quality music, except bass songs of course then it goes back to zero.

[Denno]

lol....yeah its a wagon. The amp is a Schneider SPA 7000X, and people in the SPL scene think i should run more power

You dont need to "re-wire" the big three, just adding them on top of the stock earths is fine. One thing that i do which makes it easier is just run one (or maybe two) runs of 0g to the strut tower etc, then run your other earths to this. That way your not overcrowding your neg. terminal. Ive actually got a peice of alum. screwed to my chassis rail near the battery, then all my earths run to that (engine, 2 x chassis and 2 x neg terminal runs). I'll post up some pics if you want to give you some ideas?

I wouldn't mind seeing some photos of your engine bay extra wiring if that's cool. If possible can you include some photos about how to upgrade the alternator to battery? I am not really sure where on the alternator I'm supposed to connect the wire.
And excuse me if this is a stupid question, but strut tower? What is it?

[acarmody]

Strut tower is where the top bolt of you front shock absorbers is bolted too.

[Denno]

Oh ok then.. So undoing the bolt won't affect the shock?

[acarmody]

As long as the car is sitting on the ground it shouldn't. But why bother? Just make some new holes.

[Denno]

Ahh, new holes, didn't think of that lol. Personally I'm not a huge fan of taking a drill to my car though, so I don't think I'd do that..

[SweetWagon]

I don't think holdenboy meant the strut tower literally as arcamody suggested. You would acheive nothing adding earth's to that strut bolt as its situated in rubber...

What I think he means is instead of cluttering the neg battery terminal, upgrade the battery > chassis earth, then run any new earths to the chassis instead of the battery terminal.

[acarmody]

I didn't mean onto the strut bolt, I meant ground it onto a bare piece of metal on the strut tower. Mine uses one of those Stinger grounding pieces that come in their 0gauge kits, two screws into wherever you want to ground it.

[SMIT]

I wouldn't mind seeing some photos of your engine bay extra wiring if that's cool. If possible can you include some photos about how to upgrade the alternator to battery? I am not really sure where on the alternator I'm supposed to connect the wire.
And excuse me if this is a stupid question, but strut tower? What is it?

Yes PICS!