how many amps can my car handle??

[mike]

hi, I have a 2001 jeep grand cherokee... i built a system in my car
about a year ago, and now i want to upgrade... right now im running a
1600 watt amp (powering 2 pioneer subs) and i want to add 3 more 600
watt amps... can this be done with no problem? what is a general rule
for this kind of thing? thanks
-Mike

[KU40]

the general rule is set by how large your alternator is. what size is
it? and what are the amps?

and for what do you want to add three more 600 watt amps?


--
KU40

[mike]

well, i dont know how large the alt. is, how do i find that out? and
one amp is for the door speakers, and the other 2 amps are for 8
speakers in the back...

KU40 wrote:
> the general rule is set by how large your alternator is. what size is
> it? and what are the amps?
>
> and for what do you want to add three more 600 watt amps?
>
>
> --
> KU40

[KU40]

8 speakers in the back? what are you putting back there? and make and
model numbers of amps help so we can find out current draw on them.

as for your alternator, look in the owner's manual or just do a search
in google or something.


--
KU40

[Kevin McMurtrie]

In article . com>,
"mike" > wrote:

> hi, I have a 2001 jeep grand cherokee... i built a system in my car
> about a year ago, and now i want to upgrade... right now im running a
> 1600 watt amp (powering 2 pioneer subs) and i want to add 3 more 600
> watt amps... can this be done with no problem? what is a general rule
> for this kind of thing? thanks
> -Mike

If you can't enough sound with 1600W, there's something seriously
screwed over with your system. Maybe you need more efficient speakers.
Some car systems make more heat than sound.

[bob wald]

lol..whats your size alt.? mines about 8'' x 6''...lol
pioneer subs are about the best subs ever made so far.i love all mine.
dont change your subs to whatever these guys tell you.

[mike]

ok, my alt. has 136 amps.... im adding 3 (or maby 2 now) Power Acoustik
OV4-600 amps, and i already have a Power Acoustik OV2-1600...

[Captain Howdy]

Replace the battery with an optima yellow top and you should be fine,
they charge alot faster then normal batteries and this will free up your
alternator. Those amps dont push **** for wattage anyways. Why do you want
to ad so many 4 channel amps?



In article om>, "mike"
> wrote:
>ok, my alt. has 136 amps.... im adding 3 (or maby 2 now) Power Acoustik
>OV4-600 amps, and i already have a Power Acoustik OV2-1600...
>

[MOSFET]

You should be OK adding those amps to your system. I have a wimpy 80 amp
alternator driving four amplifiers that produce 1200 watts RMS, over 2000
max with absolutely no difficulty. You can see my car at
http://www428.pair.com/mosfet/mtx.html A capacitor is a GREAT thing to have
with a system like yours. I have a total of 4 farads in my system, but I
would recommend AT LEAST 6-10 farads for yours (when it comes to caps, there
is no such thing as too much). Caps will even out your current flow and
keep your voltage in a healthy range. With my caps in, my voltage is always
rock solid, with my caps out of the system, my headlights dim, and my
voltage is all over the map. They REALLY DO HELP. But don't buy into this
1 farad per 1,000 watts BS. This was a very arbitrary rule-of-thumb that
David Navone and Richard Clark (of Autosound 2000) hastily came up with in
the early nineties that reflected more what they thought consumers could
AFFORD (keep in mind, back then a 1 farad cap cost AT LEAST $200), rather
than what they really NEEDED. I would quadruple this rule (4 farads for
every 1,000 watts).

Anyway, a 136 amp alternator will have NO PROBLEM with those amplifiers.

MOSFET

"mike" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> ok, my alt. has 136 amps.... im adding 3 (or maby 2 now) Power Acoustik
> OV4-600 amps, and i already have a Power Acoustik OV2-1600...
>

[KU40]

kinda figured those were max wattage figures, and looking them up I
found I wasn't wrong. the OV2-1600 actually does 740 rms and the 600's
do 70 x 4.

if you're planning on just wiring one speaker to each channel of the
600's you'll have about 560 watts between the two amps, and adding in
the other you have a total of 1300 RMS of class A/B power, which at
full tilt will probably draw around 160 amps. A little more than your
alternator would like, but A) those amps may be a little overrated, and
B) chances are you won't be playing it at full tilt for very long so you
should be able to withstand those short bursts.

upgrading the battery helps a little, as does upgrading alt. and
battery wiring and making sure the power wire is sufficient (I'd go at
least 2 guage).

I'd still like to know what speakers you plan on putting in the back,
as this sounds like a messy ordeal.


--
KU40

[MOSFET]

> upgrading the battery helps a little, as does upgrading alt. and
> battery wiring and making sure the power wire is sufficient (I'd go at
> least 2 guage).

Good advice. Also, as you are upgrading the power wire, make sure you
upgrade the ground wire as well. I find that attention to ground wires
under the hood are often overlooked. A test I use is to take a multimeter
while cranking my system and check voltage differentials between grounding
points (like the car chassis and alternator case) and the neg. battery post.
I found, for instance, that when my system was really cranking, I had a .09
volt difference between the chassis and the engine block. I also had
significant (well, what I considered significant) differences between the
chassis and the battery neg. post. By adding large gauge cable between
these points, I reduced these voltage differences which, in turn, means that
the voltage at my amps will be higher (there's two ways to increase voltage,
raise the positive or lower the negative potentials).

MISFIT

[MOSFET]

> MISFIT
I'm not trying to be funny, my finger slipped on the spell-checker.

[bob wald]

no misfit..you got it right .....HahahAHAHahaHa.