the big 3 without a high output alt
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=98561
Printed Date: April 26, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Topic: the big 3 without a high output alt
Posted By: may03lt
Subject: the big 3 without a high output alt
Date Posted: November 02, 2007 at 6:19 PM
Some people on another forum are being misguided as far as the big 3 goes, maybe even myself:) I don't believe there would be a benefit (i.e voltage drop or dimming lights fix) to doing the big 3 without upgrading the alt. What do you guys think? ------------- 2003 Trailblazer LT
2007 Envoy SLT
Replies:
Posted By: fakepete
Date Posted: November 02, 2007 at 6:41 PM
The factory wiring is usually not that great. Any system can benefit from the big 3 even with a stock alt.
Posted By: splaudio
Date Posted: November 02, 2007 at 7:22 PM
yes big 3 on stock alt. these dayz lot of trucks come with a 130+ amp alt with only 6g wiring...
Posted By: may03lt
Date Posted: November 03, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Quite a few Envoy and Trailblazer owners complain about dimming lights and voltage gauge drops after installing audio systems. My cluster dims a little with just my mids and highs on. I am saving the money up to do the alt-batt-big 3 in a one shot deal. I did the big 3 in my last ride and I did notice a difference in the ouput of the audio system, but the lights still dimmed and the gauge still dropped. I do believe that there is a benefit to the big 3 from the audio standpoint, but Im skeptical that as a stand alone solution, the big 3 will not fix the dimming lights or gauge drops that plague the gmt 360/370 platforms. ------------- 2003 Trailblazer LT
2007 Envoy SLT
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: November 03, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Nobody ever claimed (here at least) that the Big 3 by itself will "fix dimming lights." In some cases it can probably help, and in all cases it will improve the performance of your electrical system. But if your audio system is overloading your alternator, the only thing that will permanently fix that is to install a higher output alternator. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: may03lt
Date Posted: November 03, 2007 at 5:03 PM
Thanks DYohn......thats what I was looking for ------------- 2003 Trailblazer LT
2007 Envoy SLT
Posted By: aznboi3644
Date Posted: November 04, 2007 at 1:08 PM
My lights used to dim when I would just turn my fan on high...the voltage would drop but NOT recover.
After the big three the voltage drops but recovers back very quickly.
My voltage used to drop and not recover with a 500 watt amp
now it barely dims and the voltage jumps back quickly
Posted By: mrarff
Date Posted: November 07, 2007 at 1:09 PM
Always be sure, ground anything that DOESN'T move(lol)even without aftermarket audio, vechiles do much better with the upgrade. Alls you need is to get the appropriate length battery calbe from the local parts house, and dig in.
Posted By: evileagletalon
Date Posted: November 07, 2007 at 6:07 PM
I think it is much more involving then just throwing in a bunch of larger gauge power and ground wires and calling it a day.
Most people don't take into consideration that different parts of the car will have different resistances. If you choose a ground point for your amplifier that has a pretty high resistance, the amplifier has to work harder to complete the circuit. If you bust out your DMM, you can test different places and ground your amplifier on the location that has the lowest resistance.
I've fixed many cases of bad grounds, engine whine, dimming light, etc, where I just changed the location on the ground to one with much less resistance, and fixed the issue in a matter of minutes.
Posted By: jmelton86
Date Posted: November 07, 2007 at 6:44 PM
I noticed a HUGE improvement. How is 105amps (max, BTW) supposed to get through the wimpy 12g (max) wire that came on my car? It simply can't. How about when some vehicle makers go cheap on all the grounds, too? 4g surely fixed it up! I can now run my 95a max audio system WFO with the lights on with NO dimming. At idle, noless. ------------- 2013 Kia Rio -90a alternator
DDX470HD GTO14001 GTO1014D (x3)
Big3 in 1/0G
1/0G to GTO14001
Posted By: sonofthor
Date Posted: November 08, 2007 at 2:57 PM
I was thinking of doing the big 3 in my BMW 3 series (e36) but Looking at the wiring it looks pretty substantial - 3 or 4 gauge.. Is this typical?
Posted By: mrarff
Date Posted: November 08, 2007 at 4:00 PM
earlier in a post, I may have sounded a little flippant concerning grounding upgrades. What is best will give not only better grounds for your audio, but also better performance for your engine. with standard black battery cables, (the ones with pre-atteched "lug" ends, and of appropriate length, start at the block on the passenger side and attach cable from the block to the cylinder head on passenger side. then connect ground cable to cylinder head on drivers side. from there attach cable to block on drivers side. then ground cable from alternator to battery ground,and then battery ground to chassis. from there, does'nt really hurt to run ground cable to tranny case.then, red cable of same size from alternator pos to battery pos, and just to make sure, I've run 2/0 wire from battery directly back to amp area where it splits and grounds both amps. no noise,no half @##@@ grounding issues.
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