Hey guys,
I have a stock alternator and a new Duralast Gold battery. I have a Viper alarm system and a 1000 amp connected to the battery. I also have HID headlights as well. I'm going to be adding HID fog lights. Will the fogs be too much for them? The fogs will be wired to a switch and not be on all the time. I'm asking because before I had a new wiring harness for my HID headlights, when I had my bass up the headlights would dim. I'm just curious if that problem would arise again with the fog lights.

 

Yep. It'll happen again.... Bigger alternator or a bigger battery..

 

Or bigger both. Haha I had the same problem. I put an optima yellow top with like 970CCA and haven't had a problem. As soon as my alternator goes I am going bigger as well cause I plan on adding more accesories.

 

Get a capacitor for your amp.....

 

they make 200amp aftermarket alts. for these trucks.

 

x2.... it will store voltage for when your amp needs that extra punch

 

Agreed. Capacitor would be a great help to your stereo. But if you are planning on running a lot more electrical stuff, go ahead and upgrade the alternator, or wait for it to go out and replace it. Either way you may want to give it thought.

-MColford

 

HIDs have less draw than standard halogen lights so your actually doing yourself a favor using them. But do get a capacitor, a drop in power is not good for the ballasts

 

Thanks for the info guys. Where could I get a bigger alternator for a descent price? Would a lightnig alternator work?

 

Rockauto.com

 

little bit pricey but 250 amps is insane!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-F...ht_3672wt_1165

heres a 200 amp for 190+ shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-F...ht_3700wt_1165

Ebay is your friend

 

Your getting into an area where everybody is guessing about utlimite system capacity.
Breakdown:
What is your total worst case current draw? You need to do this work just the same as figuring how big a gen set to use for emergency powering a home.
For example; 1000 watt stereo amp will take 14 volts x 75 amps = 1050 watts.
What is the draw from the rest of the truck and any extra power consumming devices?
Then what happens at low speed when the alternator is not turning fast enough to generate the current the whole system needs to keep from battery discharging and voltage drop?
And the list of things goes on.
Battery capacity is not the only thing that needs to be increased in amp hour rating.
An alternator current rating is not rated at full "continious" output but for intermittant battery recharge duty only.
A 200 amp alternator will provide 14 volts x 200 amps = 2800 watts, so what would you have left to keep the battery up and the lights from dimming when a huge load is being drawn and at what engine speed.
One cannot just add hardware and hope it is good enough.
Best bet is to visit a shop that specializes in fire, rescue and Emg vehichle mod and service.
Let them evaluate your total expected loads and and advise.
The cost to run this rediculas amount of audio and lighting will be high no matter how you cut it.
At the very least the audio system needs a capacitor bank to draw current peaks from because the alternator and battery won't hold system voltage up without power dips in tune with the "noise" affecting other devices due to voltage drops accross the wiring.
The general rule for sizing to keep out of voltage drop and keep a battery bank up is an alternator size of 150% of average load. This could mean at 1000 watts plus another 500 = 1500 watts times 1.5 = 2250 plus a safety margin enough to keep the alternator from to high a continous charge duty cycle that can over heat it and cause short life.
Part of the load is heating in winter and A/C in summer that takes a large amount of power.
Good luck with it.

 

Nice post bluegrass.

my buddy has always had late model 70's broncos and 94 broncos its funny to watch his 85-95 amp alt struggle with his 2,400 watt amp. when his 2 12"s hit the head lights dim at any RPM its pretty funny

 

My 500.1 will dim my lights at low rpms when it hits low. Anything more would need a capacitor.

 

Yea, I would look for an Alt with a higher MAX @ idle. Since most my demand would be @ idle. For temporarily powering up a cabin back in the woods or a power outage for that matter, - If your to cheap to buy a back-up generator lol.
Also, if your running high max/draw inverter. Iduno, a better max @ idle and only on demand would be preferred. Your battery won't feel the stress that way.
You can run quite a bit of power , IF set up right. You definitely need correctly rated cable. Awg size needs to be properly calculated.