new system for a ’96 probe

I had a system in my 1996 Ford Probe which consisted of two 12" Eclipse subs (500w RMS each), a Hifonics amp (1000watt RMS @ 1 ohm), and a 2-channel Phoenix Gold amp to run my back speakers. This was all fine until I had some bad smoke pouring from my Hifonics amp. My amp then no longer would work. It would light up but would not do anything else. Then, like a week later my Phoenix Gold amp went bad. It would do the same thing except this time there was no smoke. When I took apart my Hifonics amp I saw that two transistors and resistors were black. My phoenix gold amp had no noticeable damage though. So my question is, what went wrong with my amps? I was told before that it was low voltage. If this is true wouldn't my fuses protect the amps? Also, what is the cause of low voltage? Is it a bad alternator? I really need to get this fixed because now I bought two new amps that I want to install. I have a US Amps 1000watt RMS @ 1 ohm amp and a new Eclipse EA4200 4-channel amp (60watt RMS x 4 @ 4 ohms). So what would I have to do to fix my problem? Before I didn't know anything about upgrading my car so I had a stock alternator and a 5 gauge wiring kit (bough from Walmart so it is 5 gauge, lol). I plan on either getting my alternator rewound or get a new one altogether. I also plan on doing the big 3 upgrade which I didn't know about before. I also plan on getting a new amp kit. I have a new battery so I shouldn't need to upgrade that. So, will all this keep my amps safe? What size alternator should I get and what gauge wiring kit? Sorry for all the questions but I just want to make sure I don't wreck my amps again. Especially since I got some nicer amps this time.

Oh yeah, I tested a couple of things with my DMM. I tested the battery at 12.7V which was the same as positive to my alternator case. I also tested my voltage back at the amp and got 14.3 with the car running. I was wondering, what is bad about having a ground with resitance signiificantly over 0 ohms (like 5-6 ohms)? Doesn't that just mean you loose voltage? Because my ground was at about 5 ohms but I couldn't figure out the reading of the jumper cable I used. I used an extension cord for a house because it was the only thing I had at the time.

Upgrade your wiring with non-wal-mart brands, change your ground spot.  Electronic components look for ground and if it doesn't see a good ground it'll look somewhere else to find it.  That may be what caused your amps to fry!  Someone will correct me if i'm wrong, though!  And upgrading your big three will help considerably!  I would think the biggest thing though is too change your ground and upgrade the big 3! ...half of the truth can be worse than a lie. <----Roger Russell said that..

I think an easy way to determine what size of wire to use is by adding up the fuse sizes on your amps, and choosing the size of wire corresponding to the maximum amount of amps your amplifiers can draw. Here is a link to a page listing ampacities of wire. Yous can also do a search for "wire ampacity" http://www.affordable-solar.com/wire.charts.htm Keep in mind, if you do this, that the number would be the MAXIMUM amount of amps; you would only achieve this if you cranked your system all the way up and the song had some real bass to it. What would cause low voltage? Too much current draw from your car and audio system is likely. Check the voltage at the amplifier while under a load (listening to music at decent volumes - the louder, the more the load). I don't know what would cause your amplifiers to fry.

Recommended wire size: https://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp the12volt • Support the12volt.com

Okay, that answered a couple of my questions. I will use 2 gauge wire for my power. So does anyone have anything else to add regarding a couple of my other questions. Specifically, what I should do to upgrade my alternator? What size I should get if I get a new one or if having it rewound will be sufficient. Also, if anyone has any ideas of why my voltage would be low would help a lot. If upgrading everything I said will fix the problem then that is good. I just don't want to upgrade everything and have my amps blow again only to find out there was another problem I wasn't aware of. Thanks.

Anybody??

My recommendation is ALWAYS "as big as you can find". If you are planning on running that kind of power, and you are anticipating needing 2 gauge wire, then your alternator should be rated 225A or so. It's gonna be expensive, but if you REALLY want to do it right, that's what you need. Your system might not use all that, but you need a bit of buffer to run all the OTHER parts in the car (engine management, headlights, AC, rear window defroster...), without burning them out, too... I also recommend agains ever having your stock alternator re-wired, as if your HO toy ever pops for some reason or another (they can and DO - speaking from experience), you'll need a "fall-back".It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

haemphyst wrote: My recommendation is ALWAYS "as big as you can find". If you are planning on running that kind of power, and you are anticipating needing 2 gauge wire, then your alternator should be rated 225A or so. It's gonna be expensive, but if you REALLY want to do it right, that's what you need. Your system might not use all that, but you need a bit of buffer to run all the OTHER parts in the car (engine management, headlights, AC, rear window defroster...), without burning them out, too... I also recommend agains ever having your stock alternator re-wired, as if your HO toy ever pops for some reason or another (they can and DO - speaking from experience), you'll need a "fall-back".

I will look for the biggest alternator I can find. Thanks for the help. One more questions, does anyone have experience with this company or have any other recommendations for what company to buy an alternator from? http://www.highoutputalternator.com/ Also, how hard is it to install a new alternator yourself?

Cool, I have a star now.