Has anyone ever hooked up 2 alternators on the same engine? Im going to be putting on a 200 amp alt to power my stereo equipment and was thinking since my old alt was still good I might try to find a way to mount it up too.
More Power!! as Tim Allen would say. however thing dont alway work out so well for Tim. I was just looking for some wiring and mounting sugestions Thanks

 

Well, if your going with a 200amp 1 then I would say the stock alt. is not gonna do crap. Also the belt routing would be a pain.
What kind of sterio system you running?

 

Dual alternators is a factory option on the F-Superduty line.

I have also seen it done on dedicated stereo vehicles. On a particular Mustang I remember the factory alt. was in the normal place doing the normal thing, and he had a second alternator in place of the smog pump powering the stereo.

 

Oh good grief! Anyone who believes that much power and that much sound generation is even worth the effort in a space the size of a truck or automobile cabin obviously has absolutely NO idea how to produce good sounding, well attentuated, accoustically balanced audio. That much power to run car audio is like using a searchlight in place of your headlamps. You will acheive incredible amounts of nothing but pure distortion with all that in such a confined space. Not to mention te fact that the entire system is mounted in a METAL space which is so naturally resonant to begin with.

Ok, ok, I'll get off my soapbox... But enormous multiple speakers of various ranges, EQ and sub amplification etc. in a space the size of a truck cabin is nothing but buttons and ***** to play with because the sound doesn't travel far enough in that space to need all that tweaking. It needs to be properly attenuated to the space, period. Of course, who knows maybe some people prefer to have a giant noisemaker on wheels. End of rant.

Please note ,this is not intended as a personal slight to anyone who prefers to have that much audio gear installed into their ride. I just work with the pros who know the "ins" and "outs" of real, professional audio production and the reality is that there is more science to accurately producing quality audio than just pumping as much power as possible through the system.

 

Wow!!

He sure does have an opinion...

Click it! If you dare.

 

Oops...

I forgot what the question was. Oh yeah two alternators, sure can be done. You'll just need to fabricate a bracket and replace the belt.

I'm assuming that you'll also be adding extra batteries and storage capacitors as well. No matter, it's all good.

Later.

 

"using a searchlight in place of your headlamps" that is some funny stuff.... i will have to use that one on some people that listen to rap music


Ray

 

unless youre running 4 18" and thousands of watts for each one, i don't think you'd need an extra alternator, maybe an optima battery for sure. i had 1600 watts going to two 12" solo barics and the stock alternator never so much as hiccupped. i used an optima battery which also had two electric fans running straight off of it. unless you want the whole block cracking into oblivion, 2 12" solo barics with a kenwood amp should be enough bump to satisfy you. you could even parallel the battery to an optima in the backf if you so please, i just don't think it would be worth all the trouble and sacrificing.

 

The last truck I worked on that had a building shacker in it had 4 18s with 2 1500 watt amps and a 500 for the other speakers in it. Also it was a surburban. and when the system hit it only drew about 80 amps peak. We fixed up a 200 amp alt for it and it never came close to draining the 2 batteries. It could of gotten away with about 130 amp easily.
I would just use a 130A 3G and use a cap if you want more peace of mind.

 

my truck has 6 12s and 4 6x9s and curently runing stock alt, a 1000amp/875 CCA Bat. and 2 capacitors. the problem is when the bass hits, the 4000 watts RMS Amp sucks the voltage down to about 10.3. I dont want to burn up the amp with the low voltage so thats why I want to up grade to the 200 amp alt. I was also thinking of adding a couple more bats too. regardless of some peoples opinion about having a noise box on wheels, next year I will add another 4000 watt RMS amp to the system.

 

thats why I wanted to know how to hook up 2 alts because I dont know if 1 can suport that much power.

 

A single high output alternator will do the job just fine, provided you have also made sure that the power wiring has been upgraded.

Things like increasing the ground cable that connects the engine block, chassis, frame, and battery. Most wiring systems do nothing to insure that the necessary power can efficently complete the loop from the negative post of the battery, through the system wiring followed by the electrical components (amplifiers) again through the power wiring and finally back to the positive post of the battery.

Amplifiers in the 4000 watt arena are going to have problems with anything less than 0ga power and ground cable. Especially if the electrical current has to fight it's way through a 6ga ground cable from the block to the battery.

My last Bronco had a sound system with a single 3000 watt amplifier that was running Lanzar 6x9's in the doors, Rockford Fosgate 5-1/4's in the rear side panels, and four 12" Lanzar LC series woofers in the rear. All of this equipment and only a stock 65 amp alternator and an Optima red top 800 cca battery, the wiring however was another story. 0ga throughout, from battery negative to the frame, chassis, and alternator mounting bracket and the same from the alternator charge post to the battery positive and finally to the amplifier input. My lights did not dim even when pushing the system to extremely high volumes, in fact everything electrical in the vehicle ran better.

My advice would be to install the high output alternator and address the wiring, that should just about cover things.

Later,
Mike

Click it! If you dare.

 

at the stereo install place in my town they had a catalog with some fancy alternators made specifically for running systems and extra stuff, comes in a fancy chrome color. might be like 300 if i remember. you definitely don't need two.

 

I am with Greystreak on this one (most others really) but Why do you need to hear your "music" from a block away? BIG sound does not impress BIG capability does. I am pretty sure my winch pulls harder than most stereos. And is much more usefull.

 

any one here ever hear of alma gates? she had a bronco with 11 alt's, they had to make performance mods just to turn all ofem lol. they used a single chain to turn them all. meangreen is the company that supplies alts to ambulances,cop cars and other vehicles that demande higher amperage. they sell 200 amp'ers for a reasonable price compared to the ones that are made for car stereo only. also like others have said, 0ga wire is a very good idea and also dual optima yellow tops are a good idea to. i used to be all into car audio. and a good rule of thumb is that the more power u have available the clearer and chrisper the sound is at normal listening volume.( total wattage and amperage available). course if u want loud u might also want to consider box designe. i had 2 15's rated at 1400w max and was only runnin them on 200 max apeice. i went to the local stereo shop one day and cranked it to 1/2 volume and his jaw dropped, he had an almost identical setup. just a different box. the box is the 2nd most important part of a good system.