Alternator wire question

Just out of intrest, should you upgrade to a bigger alternator wire when you add more electrical devices to your car? I don't recall seeing anyone do it, yet I figure if you have say 4AWG wire going from your battery to an amp or something, but your alternator only supply current via a 16AWG wire, eventually your battery will drain and the alt will not supply sufficient power. This is only what I have come to understand after many Physics lessons at school, and after being told that once a car is started the majority of the electrical power is drawn from the alt and not the battery. Could someone please relieve my confused mind and give me an answer and correct me if my theory is wrong.

Cheers,

Nick

i dont think that, generally speaking, upgrading alt wire will cause noise.. usually something downline.. like power wires and signal wires too close to eachother... have seen where passive crossovers were strapped to a factory wire harness and there were noise problems.. if there is a problem you are not aware of and you upgrade your charging system then it can make the problem more apparant....

nick....  checked out the website!.. wicked insane resto on that holden!!  im hoping that a commodore ss will be here soon.. there is a used car dealer tryin to get one in.. lookin at the engine room.. looks like a 4 guage tied to the block but is that small wire the only thing tied to the frame/body of the car?? might i suggest that if upgrading the alternator wire that you also tie a 4 guage to the frame or body!!! we sell an aerospeed grounding kit that has a couple blocks that are mounted to the body and 4 guage wires are snaked all over the engine room... aerospeed claims horsepower gains due to increased spark from proper grounding!!.. i will post some pics of a suzuki install where i used the kit!!

calculate the total wattage of the normal car load on the alternator ie lights, engine etc.  subtract it from the normal output of your alternator, ie 80A x 12v= 960W  or  as some would 80A x 14v= 1120W. if my math is wrong its off the top of my head :? 

anyway I think a "serious" system would require a upgrade but decide on that when you decide on your system components requirement, a good stereo guy would help you out, alternators are not a thing they sell at stereo shops usually so you'll get a pretty honest opinion, as long as they dont talk you into 4 caps instead. ;)

JD

pps my understanding it to making the ground shorter is better but of the same gauge. so that would lean to body mounted near device if possible, also safer when running lines near postive in case of shorts, dont forget to fuse the positive close to the battery speaking of that

ciao

jd