Battery cable upgrade
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Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,038
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From: Olathe
Battery cable upgrade
So during my last oil change and inspection my mechanic showed me that my cabling from the battery to the starter and from the battery to the alternator had the insulation beginning to brake down.
Now I know I could always just get the cables replaced with stock gauge cables and all will be well but my question is if I replace them with a much heavier gauge cables is there any major benefits?
I have aftermarket running and fog lights that if I am just running the one of them plus the head lights and I turn on the A/C there is a noticeable dimming of everything for a moment or two as things spin up so I know I'm touching the upper limit of my electrical capacity.
So my thinking is a cable upgrade would reduce that dimming until I swing a 200 amp alternator.
I know that a lot of car audio guys with at least 1.21 jiggawatts of speakers in their rigs call this a "Big 3 Upgrade" but for the life of me I can't figure out what the third cable is after Battery-Alternator, Battery-Starter, and ?????
Now I know I could always just get the cables replaced with stock gauge cables and all will be well but my question is if I replace them with a much heavier gauge cables is there any major benefits?
I have aftermarket running and fog lights that if I am just running the one of them plus the head lights and I turn on the A/C there is a noticeable dimming of everything for a moment or two as things spin up so I know I'm touching the upper limit of my electrical capacity.
So my thinking is a cable upgrade would reduce that dimming until I swing a 200 amp alternator.
I know that a lot of car audio guys with at least 1.21 jiggawatts of speakers in their rigs call this a "Big 3 Upgrade" but for the life of me I can't figure out what the third cable is after Battery-Alternator, Battery-Starter, and ?????
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,907
Likes: 143
I wasn't going to get into this thread but you need to know the fuse in your truck is 175 amp rating.
The battery capacity has a large effect on system load reaction.
With audio systems the power comes in peaks.
This often is handled with large capacitor banks to feed stored power.
In your application, the load is steady state as you turn on circuits.
If the engine speed is to low the alternator may not output enough so the power comes from the battery as well.
I thought you should hear about the differences.
It's always good to reduce voltage drop with larger feed lines but it isn't always the total answer.
Good luck.
The battery capacity has a large effect on system load reaction.
With audio systems the power comes in peaks.
This often is handled with large capacitor banks to feed stored power.
In your application, the load is steady state as you turn on circuits.
If the engine speed is to low the alternator may not output enough so the power comes from the battery as well.
I thought you should hear about the differences.
It's always good to reduce voltage drop with larger feed lines but it isn't always the total answer.
Good luck.
Thread Starter
|
Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,038
Likes: 0
From: Olathe
I wasn't going to get into this thread but you need to know the fuse in your truck is 175 amp rating.
The battery capacity has a large effect on system load reaction.
With audio systems the power comes in peaks.
This often is handled with large capacitor banks to feed stored power.
In your application, the load is steady state as you turn on circuits.
If the engine speed is to low the alternator may not output enough so the power comes from the battery as well.
I thought you should hear about the differences.
It's always good to reduce voltage drop with larger feed lines but it isn't always the total answer.
Good luck.
The battery capacity has a large effect on system load reaction.
With audio systems the power comes in peaks.
This often is handled with large capacitor banks to feed stored power.
In your application, the load is steady state as you turn on circuits.
If the engine speed is to low the alternator may not output enough so the power comes from the battery as well.
I thought you should hear about the differences.
It's always good to reduce voltage drop with larger feed lines but it isn't always the total answer.
Good luck.
I think I will see about getting the bigger lines but still thanks for the info.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,907
Likes: 143
The only time the fuse would be a limit is if or when that amount of current would be passed by the fuse. It heats and melts.
To put it in a different perspective, 175 amps at 14 volts = 2450 watts of power.
At 200 amps at 14 volts is 2800 watts of power.
You would or should never draw or generate that much power for very long or something will go poof.
An alternator's current rateing is only for a very short time not continious because it wll overheat and the engine bay temps add to it. It can't dissapate the heat fast enough.
There is more to this than meets the eye.
good luck.
To put it in a different perspective, 175 amps at 14 volts = 2450 watts of power.
At 200 amps at 14 volts is 2800 watts of power.
You would or should never draw or generate that much power for very long or something will go poof.
An alternator's current rateing is only for a very short time not continious because it wll overheat and the engine bay temps add to it. It can't dissapate the heat fast enough.
There is more to this than meets the eye.
good luck.
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