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Replace ac compressor with another alternator poasible...advice please!

plexlove

Full Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2013
Messages
61
Ok so heres the deal...i already have 2 300amp alts installed and made my own dual bracket outta angle iron...coat 3 bucks and 30 min of time...not pretty but a lot better than payin dc or mechman 700 for one.
Anyways i recently upgraded my audio system just a tad. Now running 4 sundown nightshade v3 12s on 2 sundown scv6000 amps strapped @.5ohms benched at almost 18kwatts....16 runs of 0 gauge and 7 batteries in the bank.
Problem is two things...first the base shakes the motor to the point of causing the belt to slip making god awful sqealing everytime i turn it up half way...second is im getting voltage drop once i start pulling over 900 amps pf juice.
So im going to replace my serpentine belt tomorrow and noticed my compressor belt is shot too. But since im needing to add another alt to power this beast and i never...ever use my ac, i figured instead of making a triple alt bracket why domt i just pull that ac and fab one in it spot!
Now im pretty mechanically inclined and a fast learner. Prolly could have it figured out in a short time but i always like to ask first just to be safe and get various opinions fronthose who have done this.
So if anyone has any advice on fabrication to make it fir properly please feel free to let me know ur ideas or theorys!
Im ready to be able to fully crank this without the embarrassing squeel!
Also while im asking advice..any advice on a good belt brand? My alignment is just a tad off (maybe 2mm)  not an issue until the bass shakes it then it gets a nice wobble. So i figured gatorback or continetal now bit they dont sell those locally. Someone recomended gates brand at oreillys....and specific one? Or any other brand work good for belt noise?
We have pep boys, walmart, oreiilys, autozone, and a few local mom and poo shops here and none sell gatorbacks...but inmy research i found 90 outta 10p prefere gatorback and in another group 9p outta 100 prefer gates...so any opinions?
Also want my ac out cuz i got a never ending leak.  It runs not stop for aome reason and cant figure out why. I run the heater and hear it running then my floors soaked. Ive check it over and drains are all clear so screw it ill just tak le it out
Just wanna make sure this is possible and im not ripping poop out for no reason lol.
Thanks in advance guys for any advice!
 
Have you thought about a bigger wire 2/0 even 4/0, the 0 gauge longer than 10 feet may not be able to handle the power.
 
I have 16 runs of 0 gauge...more than enough for 40kwatts lol. The majority of the power comes from thebattery bank in the nack which is only 2 ft of wire...voltage drop osnt an issue. The issue is im pulling over 1000 amps of power when its turned up at all and only have 600 amps of alt power..the other 40p+ amps being pulled from the batt bank os draining them veey quick.
I wanted another alt anyways possibly 2 more...better to have overkill than not enough...especially when running $2500 in amps at a half ohm..def not worth the risk to underpower them.
I just need to know about the compressor alt swap and how difficult it would be to accomplish.
I will most likely go ahead and fabricate a triple alt bracket and add 2 more. But 1 will be in the place of the compressor.
Not trying to be rude but i know my stuff whennit ccomes to car a/v...just dont know much about engines andbcomponents of the engine lol
2
 
Good enough for me, good luck.  (y)
 
Please excuse all the typos....im using my phone and my fingers are too bigband hit the wrong letters constantly as well as the letter b instead of the spacebar lol hope its legible!
It was raining all day here so didnt get into it. So gonna try tomorrow, hopefully someone can give me some advice by then. Like do i need to pull any certain fuses or anything? I want to comoletely remove the ac compressor and all components giving me plenty of room to work...may be able to squeeze 2 alternators in its placce with any luck.
 
Here's a company that has triple alt brackets with out losing the AC compressor and they also have quad alt brackets..


https://www.dcpowerinc.com/brackets-and-kits/triple-alternator-bracket.html?make=Chevrolet&model=Avalanche&year=2004


https://www.dcpowerinc.com/brackets-and-kits/quad-alternator-bracket.html?make=Chevrolet&model=Avalanche&year=2004&engine=5.3L+V8
 
Lol u obviously didnt read what i wrote.
I know they make alt brackets...a LOT of companies make them that isnt the issue...i said i dont want to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of metel i can fab myselfbjust like i already have!
This has absolutely nothing to do with alt brackets...i want the ac gone...i just wanted to know if anyone had ever put an alt in its place.
No need to post links for a product i already know about and clearly posted i DIDNT want. Lol
Why on earth anyone would ever EVER spend $700 on a $10 pully and $10 piece of steel is beyond me! Hamds down alt brackets have to be one of the biggest scam rip offs in the hostory of the world!
Same with ho alts! U can buy 5 brand new 140 amp alts for the price of 1 275amp mechman alt! The uphraded parts are only about $12 in price difference so why do they charge $500 more than and stock alt!?
So anyways....please guys, read my question before answering. Its just rude! I dont come on ur posts where u ask how to change tranny fluid and post links to purchase a new tranny do i!? Lol

Randy said:
Here's a company that has triple alt brackets with out losing the AC compressor and they also have quad alt brackets..


https://www.dcpowerinc.com/brackets-and-kits/triple-alternator-bracket.html?make=Chevrolet&model=Avalanche&year=2004


https://www.dcpowerinc.com/brackets-and-kits/quad-alternator-bracket.html?make=Chevrolet&model=Avalanche&year=2004&engine=5.3L+V8
 
plexlove said:
Lol u obviously didnt read what i wrote.
I know they make alt brackets...a LOT of companies make them that isnt the issue...i said i dont want to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of metel i can fab myselfbjust like i already have!
This has absolutely nothing to do with alt brackets...i want the ac gone...i just wanted to know if anyone had ever put an alt in its place.
No need to post links for a product i already know about and clearly posted i DIDNT want. Lol
Why on earth anyone would ever EVER spend $700 on a $10 pully and $10 piece of steel is beyond me! Hamds down alt brackets have to be one of the biggest scam rip offs in the hostory of the world!
Same with ho alts! U can buy 5 brand new 140 amp alts for the price of 1 275amp mechman alt! The uphraded parts are only about $12 in price difference so why do they charge $500 more than and stock alt!?
So anyways....please guys, read my question before answering. Its just rude! I dont come on ur posts where u ask how to change tranny fluid and post links to purchase a new tranny do i!? Lol

My definition of rude is posting self-admitted hard to read posts and then accusing people trying to help of being rude because our answers are not spot on to the hard-to-read questions you are asking.
 
plexlove said:
Lol u obviously didnt read what i wrote.
Same with ho alts! U can buy 5 brand new 140 amp alts for the price of 1 275amp mechman alt! The uphraded parts are only about $12 in price difference so why do they charge $500 more than and stock alt!?
If I remember correctly, you posted just last year the you were running a pair of HO 300A alts. Am I mistaken?

I'm also slightly confused by your math and calculations. The SCV-6000 is a 6000W RMS provider at 1Ohm, so strapping them will give you 12000 RMS @ 2 Ohm. Strapping doubles your Ohm load, not halves it, and doubles your power, not triples it. In addition,the NSV312s have dual 2 ohm coils, there is no way electrically possible to wire 4 of them down to one channel w/ a .5ohm load.
Also, they are only 3000wRMS capable,  much more than that and you'd be burning VCs up all day, especially on music. You can't possibly be putting 18000 into them, they wouldn't survive. You may need to have a serious talk w/ your installer and his representation of what your equipment is really putting out.

With the correct math, without knowing what you are running to power mids and highs, two SCV-6000s strapped are going to pull somewhere between 930 and 967 amps depending on minor resistance and cable length (12.4-12.9 W/A), So you def. need to upgrade your generation supply as anything over 42% output is going to exceed your generation supply and start draining your bank extremely rapidly.  The V drop you are seeing is attributed to two shortages in your current setup. one being generation. You are requesting far north of the 600A that your alts are putting out, and that's assuming that your normal operation system has an amp draw of 0 which we know is not the case, it's more like 60-85A depending on running conditions. This only gives you approximately 525 for the system. The second is consumption vs. distribution. Upon quick analysis many would think that the bank can keep up for short period of time,  however,  there are no batteries that can discharge as rapidly as your system will consume the power, and very very few that even get close, hence the V drop.

To answer your original question, mounting might be problematic in that location due to plate thickness and lateral flex as well as a sufficient mounting point to the block or a supporting member. Here's a thought. Would it not be easier to fab up a quad plate in place of your twin plate w/ 2 additional idler pulleys and just ditch the AC belt to stop the compressor from running and just open the high and low side ports and let atmosphere enter they system, rendering it useless and taking the load off the motor.

 
plexlove said:
Lol u obviously didnt read what i wrote.
I know they make alt brackets...a LOT of companies make them that isnt the issue...i said i dont want to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of metel i can fab myselfbjust like i already have!
This has absolutely nothing to do with alt brackets...i want the ac gone...i just wanted to know if anyone had ever put an alt in its place.
No need to post links for a product i already know about and clearly posted i DIDNT want. Lol
Why on earth anyone would ever EVER spend $700 on a $10 pully and $10 piece of steel is beyond me! Hamds down alt brackets have to be one of the biggest scam rip offs in the hostory of the world!
Same with ho alts! U can buy 5 brand new 140 amp alts for the price of 1 275amp mechman alt! The uphraded parts are only about $12 in price difference so why do they charge $500 more than and stock alt!?
So anyways....please guys, read my question before answering. Its just rude! I dont come on ur posts where u ask how to change tranny fluid and post links to purchase a new tranny do i!? Lol



Hey just trowing it out there for you or anyone that may be wanting to add an alternator, that's what this place is for...  If you spent all this money on the equipment, why half ass it now like your current set up that shakes, squeals  and slips.


If you don't like the advise don't use it..
 
Lol yeah i have 2 300 amp alts already..ur point?
And u obviously dont know much about electrical...strapping the 2 6k amos does do 12k at 2ohms ur correct on that front...but when u wire all four 2ohm dvc subs to 1ohm...strapping the amps xuts the ohm value in half therefor giving u a half ohm at the amps. Ive been i stalling for 20 plus years...i know the math and the dmm doesnt lie!
Those amos do well over rated angways...something like 6800 at 1ohm...im running them at .5 and didnt take a wild guess i benched tested them and they are putting out nearly 18k but not quite.
Also u must bot know much about sundown or u would know their subs do waaaaaaaaaaaay over rated!
My zv4s were rated at 1500 and i had 4k daily to them...these nightshades have taken 20k burps without frying and i personally k ow people who have over 10k on them daily....so do a little research before making an ass outta urself!
To the guy claiming my question was hard to read...i think u have it backwards...u meant to say it hard for YOU to read.
My question was crystal clear i even said clearly im not going to buy a bracket...i want to put an alt in olace of the ac compressor...simoly asked if anyone had dones so. Doesnt get much clearer than that.
So, if u idiots are done trash talking for no reason and throwing around useless information please exit my thread and aloow others who actually have knowledge to help.
I came here for helo not ignorance!

I still cant stop laughing though lol...only capable of 3k lol and thinking those amps wont do 17.5k at .5 just goes to sgow how little u actually know about electrical resistance and the quality of sundown products.
People were pullin 10k off the ns1 at .5...is it that hard to believe im pulling 8750 at .5 on an amp that already does almost 7k at 1ohm?
And there are numerous people who can back this if u soent a little more time researching and less time making up stories.

Calicak89 said:
If I remember correctly, you posted just last year the you were running a pair of HO 300A alts. Am I mistaken?

I'm also slightly confused by your math and calculations. The SCV-6000 is a 6000W RMS provider at 1Ohm, so strapping them will give you 12000 RMS @ 2 Ohm. Strapping doubles your Ohm load, not halves it, and doubles your power, not triples it. In addition,the NSV312s have dual 2 ohm coils, there is no way electrically possible to wire 4 of them down to one channel w/ a .5ohm load.
Also, they are only 3000wRMS capable,  much more than that and you'd be burning VCs up all day, especially on music. You can't possibly be putting 18000 into them, they wouldn't survive. You may need to have a serious talk w/ your installer and his representation of what your equipment is really putting out.

With the correct math, without knowing what you are running to power mids and highs, two SCV-6000s strapped are going to pull somewhere between 930 and 967 amps depending on minor resistance and cable length (12.4-12.9 W/A), So you def. need to upgrade your generation supply as anything over 42% output is going to exceed your generation supply and start draining your bank extremely rapidly.  The V drop you are seeing is attributed to two shortages in your current setup. one being generation. You are requesting far north of the 600A that your alts are putting out, and that's assuming that your normal operation system has an amp draw of 0 which we know is not the case, it's more like 60-85A depending on running conditions. This only gives you approximately 525 for the system. The second is consumption vs. distribution. Upon quick analysis many would think that the bank can keep up for short period of time,  however,  there are no batteries that can discharge as rapidly as your system will consume the power, and very very few that even get close, hence the V drop.

To answer your original question, mounting might be problematic in that location due to plate thickness and lateral flex as well as a sufficient mounting point to the block or a supporting member. Here's a thought. Would it not be easier to fab up a quad plate in place of your twin plate w/ 2 additional idler pulleys and just ditch the AC belt to stop the compressor from running and just open the high and low side ports and let atmosphere enter they system, rendering it useless and taking the load off the motor.
 
@calicak89...thanks for the advice at the end of ur statement...but no i dont have room for quad alts because i have all my wiring and distro block there....possibly can fit a 3rd alt with some rearranging..which is the plan but wanted to add another (4th) on the ac side...just figured it made sense since i already have a belt over there to turn it. I know people have done it before just cant find any good info on it.
 
Oh and before u start arguing about strapping amps doubling ur ohm load google it...strapping amos cuts ur nominal ohm load in half...therefore when i wired my subs at 1ohm they are actually seein .5 from the amps...u seem like u know the basics of elec so u know that the lower the resistance rhe more power the amps will produce..like a 2k amp at 1 ohm will do 2k...at 4ohms itll only do 1k..at .5 it can do 2.5 or more but there are other factors...box rise, sufficient power and amp efficiency are 3 main ones.
I know i need more power thats why im adding more alternators...ive pretty much broke the bamk with this build so my plan is to toss in 2 oem 145amp alts...thatll give me an additional almost 300 amps which should be enogh. Isnt like i crabk it for extended periods of time...kinda hurts and is extremely hard to breath at full tilt.
My amps are seeing under full load about 515 amps from the alts....i also have 3 fosgate 200.2 amps and a mb wuartz 400.4 pulling power from them along with other electronics and regular consumption of the vehicle.
I would prefer to have another 500 amps just to be safe but 275ish should be more than enough for what i mees it for.
 
LETS be NICE else this thread will be REMOVED and we can start over.
 
ygmn said:
LETS be NICE else this thread will be REMOVED and we can start over.

Im sorry...but i was being nice. I asked a very simple and clear question and got an answer to anpther question not even asked lol.
Then get everyone talking trash to me just because i asked that people actually read my post before commenting stuff that makes zero sense.
So threatening to shut down my thread where im asking for help doesnt make much sense to me.....punishing the guy who did nothing wrong.
All information i gave is 100% correct and 100% clear. So of course when somemone gets on my thread and mouths off to me, especially when their information is incorrect i am going to set them straight.
I wasnt rude about it...i was upfront, honest, and thats it. So sorry if people feel that honesty is rude. Im not going to sugarcoat other peoples ignorance tonmake them feel better...im going to tell them exactly what they did wrong and how to fix it so it doesnt happen again...its called constructive criticism.
 
plexlove said:
And u obviously dont know much about electrical...strapping the 2 6k amos does do 12k at 2ohms ur correct on that front...but when u wire all four 2ohm dvc subs to 1ohm...strapping the amps xuts the ohm value in half therefor giving u a half ohm at the amps. Ive been i stalling for 20 plus years...i know the math and the dmm doesnt lie!
Also u must bot know much about sundown or u would know their subs do waaaaaaaaaaaay over rated!

I came here for helo not ignorance!

I still cant stop laughing though lol...only capable of 3k lol and thinking those amps wont do 17.5k at .5 just goes to sgow how little u actually know about electrical resistance and the quality of sundown products.

I'm not questioning the quality of your gear and I know that many of the components Sundown produces are underrated, (as a former IASCA world record holder in IdBL class 2 [<480] I'm well aware of manufacturers underrating their gear and why they do so)  I did the math based on the rated numbers as I am not in possession of your bench results. I have no doubt that those 2 amps strapped are capable of going north of 16000 @ .5 ohm (obviously so if you bench tested them) and that the NSV12s will take a burp of 4x their RMS (12000). I was speaking of daily use on music north of 3000RMS, not a burp in a competition setting doing damage, excuse me if i was not clear.
Where I'm not following you is how you have four 2 ohm DVC subs wired to a 1ohm load and on only one channel resulting in a .5 ohm load at the amp.

Back to your original question, upon looking at my engine bay and pulling tape on the compressor and the cases on my alts. I think w/ a little bit of creativity it's totally possible to squeeze an alt in there in place of the compressor so long as you are able to fit pulleys to match the applicable belt that will fit on the crank pulley. I think it would be possible for you to fab up a plate w/ a 90 in it and utilize the stock compressor front mounting location and create a similar mounting condition to what is in the stock location or on a dual plate. That being said, if you can bend a bar or angle and create a through bushing to use on the rear of the potential alt, and mount it to the lower rear compressor bracket location to prevent lateral flex and keep from twisting, you would be good to go.(see photos)
 

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Thank you for the help..finally something actually usefull! Lol
As far as the ohm load goes....u r misinformed in believing that strapping amps doubles the ohm load...it cuts it in half. Thats why i said to google real quick.
U have a 1ohm load being split by two amps....so each amp is seeing a half ohm.
Where u r confused at..which is very common....is when strapping amps the manufacturer (of a 1ohm stable amp) will tell u not to wire ur subs below 2ohms because each amp will be seeing 1ohm if they are wired to 2ohms. So if u were to wire ur subs like mine, to 1ohm them the ohm load seen by each amp is .5ohms...and that voids the warranty.
Theres two diff ways i can run my setup at .5...1st is how i have it...strapped at 1ohm they see .5 and dont have to worry bout gain matching.
2Nd...i can run a pair to each amp and wire them down to .5ohm...only diff is the second way id have to gain match and thats a pia!
Strapping amps seems to cause a lot of confusion in the audii world...seen a lot of people frying amps from thinking if they wire to 1ohm they are seeing 2 ohms or 1ohm when in fact they see half that and in turn need to have some very stout electrical....with that little resistance, skimping on voltage for even a few seconds can fry a good amp.
If u still have questions just google it...12v.com or caco can prolly explain it easier than i can...im not that good at explaining stuff i just know in my head how it works lol.
 
Coming in here and bashing people trying to help you out is NOT a good way to get help...

Since you have not diagrammed your system out and explained why you believe your numbers are realistic we can only go based off what we know. And since there is more ignorance in the sound and audio field than actual knowledge those answering you are trying to sort out what your system actually is and what you are trying to do. Without seeing those diagrams, seeing how things are laid out and knowing how you got your numbers you should expect to be questioned... It is most certainly NOT rude to suggest other routes. You have issues with your system and you may not be looking at the actual source of your issues. Most people that have dealt with this stuff WILL question you until they find the real source of your issue and try to provide realistic help unless you turn them away with arrogance.

If you are running 16 gauge 0 wires in parallel to carry power this can hide lots of issues. You are better off dumping all of those and replacing with 2 HIGH quality 2/0 gauge wires. (Going up 1 gauge size quadruples the capacity.) Also if you are not using a good high quality brand you may NOT actually be running 0 gauge wiring. There are MANY Chinese knockoffs that SAY they are 0 gauge and are actually more like 4 gauge...   Curious why you would go with that many wires when a larger gauge wire would be MUCH simpler, cheaper and more likely to work better. Without your telling us the brand of wire we have to assume it may be undersized...

Issue with a bunch of small wires is depending on the length and type of connectors you used on them each wire can have a different resistance and when carrying parallel wires like that you can have one wire carrying over its rated capacity which will start a domino effect of the wires self destructing. And you won't notice it until your whole system is degraded. You REALLY should consider something more reasonable..  Also how would you ever know one of the 16 wires or even 8 of your 16 wires hasn't lost connection some how?

As to the alternators... Why not replace your 2 alternators with bigger ones? I have seen them over 500 amps...
Unless things have changed with the rating of alternators in the 20 years since I last took classes on them most OEM's cold rate their alternators.
When warmed up they are at most 50-75% of the rated value depending on the quality of the alternator. While the windings and magnets may handle the extra heat the electronics within the alternator can't. You need higher quality components to handle the higher heat. In your case if you are using upgraded OEM alternators your lucky if your actually getting 200 amps per alternator... You CAN get a high quality rebuilt alternator that puts out what is says when hot but it will certainly cost some money. It is MUCH more than a $10 part...  No reason to spend a bunch of money for chrome plating or for a brand name but if you get quality components it will certainly cost you more.

Also, there is a reason why alternator brackets are expensive... Other than the dress up on a majority of them they must be strong. Without seeing what you actually did I have to question the actual strength of your bracket. I seriously doubt the issue is your bass is hitting too hard driving your belt off the pullies. I can believe the alternators are under heavy load and your brackets are bending under load... Also a 2mm misalignment can be a lot on a belt. At work I have seen much higher quality belts shred at much less of a misalignment and under slower speeds. Without seeing pictures of how you fabricated your brackets you leave a lot open to the imagination. We have a fabrication shop at work and we don't have ANY angle iron that would be sufficient in size to prevent deflection in the metal under a high load like that. We would likely start out with a heavy plate and cut it for the best strength since they will put ALOT of torque on those brackets..

As to wiring. Have you tested the voltage at the alternator and at the battery? The voltage should be the same. if not then you have issues with your wiring. When running your voltage should maintain the same voltage from the alternator right up to the amplifier. If not then you have an issue with your wiring. You will have nominal voltage loss over the length of the wire but with a vehicle the voltage drop should be almost undetectable on a volt meter able to go to .00

As to alternator in place of the AC... You COULD but going to make a lot more work for yourself.

So for me... Since you haven't shared enough information I have to question the quality of some of your power components and suspect once you upgrade them your system will be more than sufficient. Better and maybe higher output alternators, bigger and fewer numbers of high quality wires, better alternator bracket and you will be much happier.

So if you respond negatively to THIS post. I assure you I won't waste any more of my time. But if you are willing to actually learn and resolve your issue then I know I as well as others are more than willing to help...
 
I will ask about a term I am seeing here...

Strapping?  I am not familiar with that term.

but in general certain things are true...

Run voice coils in parallel you HALF their total ohm.

Run Voice coils in series you DOUBLE their total ohm.

When you take a standard amplifier and bridge it the amplifier sees it the same as running an ohm of half the connected value on each channel. In other words, an amplifier seeing 4ohm on a bridged connection is the same as seeing 2 ohm on each channel in stereo. Thus most amplifiers that will run 2ohm on a stereo channel can not do the same when bridged. Note that some amplifiers are engineered to run bridged and may have different results. I would refer to the amplifier manual as only valid information and not to posts by users on the internet...

 
redheadedrod said:
Coming in here and bashing people trying to help you out is NOT a good way to get help...

Since you have not diagrammed your system out and explained why you believe your numbers are realistic we can only go based off what we know. And since there is more ignorance in the sound and audio field than actual knowledge those answering you are trying to sort out what your system actually is and what you are trying to do. Without seeing those diagrams, seeing how things are laid out and knowing how you got your numbers you should expect to be questioned... It is most certainly NOT rude to suggest other routes. You have issues with your system and you may not be looking at the actual source of your issues. Most people that have dealt with this stuff WILL question you until they find the real source of your issue and try to provide realistic help unless you turn them away with arrogance.

If you are running 16 gauge 0 wires in parallel to carry power this can hide lots of issues. You are better off dumping all of those and replacing with 2 HIGH quality 2/0 gauge wires. (Going up 1 gauge size quadruples the capacity.) Also if you are not using a good high quality brand you may NOT actually be running 0 gauge wiring. There are MANY Chinese knockoffs that SAY they are 0 gauge and are actually more like 4 gauge...   Curious why you would go with that many wires when a larger gauge wire would be MUCH simpler, cheaper and more likely to work better. Without your telling us the brand of wire we have to assume it may be undersized...

Issue with a bunch of small wires is depending on the length and type of connectors you used on them each wire can have a different resistance and when carrying parallel wires like that you can have one wire carrying over its rated capacity which will start a domino effect of the wires self destructing. And you won't notice it until your whole system is degraded. You REALLY should consider something more reasonable..  Also how would you ever know one of the 16 wires or even 8 of your 16 wires hasn't lost connection some how?

As to the alternators... Why not replace your 2 alternators with bigger ones? I have seen them over 500 amps...
Unless things have changed with the rating of alternators in the 20 years since I last took classes on them most OEM's cold rate their alternators.
When warmed up they are at most 50-75% of the rated value depending on the quality of the alternator. While the windings and magnets may handle the extra heat the electronics within the alternator can't. You need higher quality components to handle the higher heat. In your case if you are using upgraded OEM alternators your lucky if your actually getting 200 amps per alternator... You CAN get a high quality rebuilt alternator that puts out what is says when hot but it will certainly cost some money. It is MUCH more than a $10 part...  No reason to spend a bunch of money for chrome plating or for a brand name but if you get quality components it will certainly cost you more.

Also, there is a reason why alternator brackets are expensive... Other than the dress up on a majority of them they must be strong. Without seeing what you actually did I have to question the actual strength of your bracket. I seriously doubt the issue is your bass is hitting too hard driving your belt off the pullies. I can believe the alternators are under heavy load and your brackets are bending under load... Also a 2mm misalignment can be a lot on a belt. At work I have seen much higher quality belts shred at much less of a misalignment and under slower speeds. Without seeing pictures of how you fabricated your brackets you leave a lot open to the imagination. We have a fabrication shop at work and we don't have ANY angle iron that would be sufficient in size to prevent deflection in the metal under a high load like that. We would likely start out with a heavy plate and cut it for the best strength since they will put ALOT of torque on those brackets..

As to wiring. Have you tested the voltage at the alternator and at the battery? The voltage should be the same. if not then you have issues with your wiring. When running your voltage should maintain the same voltage from the alternator right up to the amplifier. If not then you have an issue with your wiring. You will have nominal voltage loss over the length of the wire but with a vehicle the voltage drop should be almost undetectable on a volt meter able to go to .00

As to alternator in place of the AC... You COULD but going to make a lot more work for yourself.

So for me... Since you haven't shared enough information I have to question the quality of some of your power components and suspect once you upgrade them your system will be more than sufficient. Better and maybe higher output alternators, bigger and fewer numbers of high quality wires, better alternator bracket and you will be much happier.

So if you respond negatively to THIS post. I assure you I won't waste any more of my time. But if you are willing to actually learn and resolve your issue then I know I as well as others are more than willing to help...

Idk where u got that i was bashing people...i did no such thing...i was givin an answer to a question that wasnt asked and specifically told i wasnt going to do.
As far as the specs i DID post them but just went and looked and saw the post didnt save lol so thats my bad.

The reason why i have so many runs is because i originally had 4 runs of knucocept which is legit 0gauge...then upgraded my system so instead of teaeing out what i already had i ran 4 more runs...then upgraded again and doubled it...was it neccesary? No...lol i could have went with larger gauge wire but the dual terminal inputs only accept 0gauge so i would have had to buy reducers...seemed like a huge wast of money.

And yes i know how to test everything. I tested each alt clamped on a heavy load and they both are doing very close to 300 amps under load...120 at idle.
I know for a fact i need more power generating.

As far as my setup goes and explaining it all i just didnt feel there was a reasonto do so...this thread isnt about my audio system it was about whether or not i could swap the ac with an alt...the reason i didnt buy a 500 amp alt or two is because i already have two 300 amp alts and eont get my money back. Im not rich and canr afford to waste money. I only need 300 more amps and ill be good so im gonna go with 2 145amp oem alts.

I dont need help with the electrical or any other part of the audio build..ive been doing this for over 2 decades lol om very well versed...not saying i know everything by any means cuz that would just be stupid...u can always learn more!
What i dont know is the engine...never messed with mechanics of an engine really so figured it best to ask for advice before i mess something up lol.

So thank you for explaining ur point but i wasnt intendig on being rude. Just upset me when everytime i ask for help in these forums i get people who teash talk and try to sove problems that dont exist yet completely ifnor the actual question.
Then they turn it around like it was my fault like saying my question was vague or unclear when it couldnt have been any more clear lol
 
redheadedrod said:
I will ask about a term I am seeing here...

Strapping?  I am not familiar with that term. 

Rod,
when you "Strap" amps, you are essentially taking the signal processing capabilities out of a second identical amp to your first one and using it as a "slave" to the first one, allowing you  to run  2, 4, 6, 20, 40, or however many drivers you wire up and can utilize the output  of both amps with only having to tune one of them and not have to worry about trying to set your slope/gain etc. identical on both amps because the master amp is being used to create an identical set of specifications for the second or "slave". This is where plex mentions
plexlove said:
Theres two diff ways i can run my setup at .5...1st is how i have it...strapped at 1ohm they see .5 and dont have to worry bout gain matching.
2Nd...i can run a pair to each amp and wire them down to .5ohm...only diff is the second way id have to gain match and thats a pia!
By strapping, he is able to drive all 4 subs w/ two amps using identical specs but only has to tune one amp, as that amp creates a mirrored set of controls for the second amp to follow.
 
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