Anybody wanna post some detailed instructions on how to upgrade your Battery and Alternator power wires to help compensate for the loss of power due to a sound system?

I've been looking all around and I can't seem to find any detailed instructions on how to upgrade your "Magic 3" wires. (Battery positive and negative + alternator to battery)

I'm competent enough to do it myself I was just wondering how the rest of you have accomplished yours. I wanna do a nice, clean and most importantly "Proper" job so if any body has some detailed info to share it would be great.


Here's what I got......

Infinity Kappa 6x9's (2) and (2) 4x6 plates
Infinity Kappa Perfect 12" DVQ Subs (2)
Rockford Fosgate 4ga Dual Amp Kit
w/ power and ground dist. blocks
Monster Cable IMXLN 6 channel Rca Jacks
Crunch Black Maxx Amp 4x125@ 4ohms
2x500 Bridged @4ohms

Tweeters to be added later

 

i just got my wire or cable whatever you choose to use.

put the proper eyelit ends or rings on the ends, measure them to the right length (you want all wires as short as possible, but not if the wire is in a dangerous place)

make sure all your connections are good and tight

theres really not much to it but it often makes a huge difference

 

I'd love to do this as well... as I know I should!

What wires do you upgrade?

What gauge should I use?

 

alt to batt
batt to ground
block to ground

make sure all connections have no dirt or paint inbetween them and that terminals arent corroded


i would go with atleast 4 awg

 

Should I leave the stock ones on there as well, or pull them off and just replace them?

Where might these 3 wires be found in the stock locations... so I know I'm pulling the right ones! lol

 

replace the stock wires with larger ones


alt to batt should be a thick wire...if you dont have on directly going from alt to batt then you can add an extra one and leave your stock

batt to ground, just follow the big wire on the negative terminal to ground and upgrade it...same with block to ground

 

Ok, I see the battery to ground wire... it's a puny little corroded thing!

The post on the back of the alternator directly to the + battery terminal right?

Where might the block ground be? I didn't see it when I looked' but I didn't stay out there too long as it's below 0 with the windchill

 

ya the post on the alt should go directly to the battery, but i would check a manual before doing anything. Not sure about the block to ground, i actually havent upgraded my magic three yet on the z28 cause its not on the road

 

Ok, I finally had time to get under the hood and check out what kind of wiring is already there.

It seems like the two main battery cables are 4ga stock. Unless the insulation is ultra thick then it's possible they could be 8ga. They are very very close to the same size as my 4ga power wire for my amp.

Each one has a very small wire coming out with them. The positive terminals smaller wire comes out and goes to what appears to be a distribution center right next to the radiator. I didn't track down the negative one. The motor was very hot so I could only inspect the wires I could get to without getting burnt.

Now there seems to be multiple wires coming from the alternator. Two from the electrical plug on the top and I believe only one larger one from the back. This one appears to be 8ga.

They all go inside the large harness that travels right between the valve cover and the side of the intake. This is where I lost track of them since it was hot.

Of these wires which do I need to replace on the alternator? Do I replace them all? If so how do I replace the ones that go into the plug on the top? It doesn't seem to have a way to unscrew them and add larger ones. 4ga is a lot bigger than the puny little ones on there. The wire on the back is easy enough to replace (I hope) cause it just has a ring terminal. But I don't see where it goes (after it goes into the harness) and I don't see an 8ga wire coming out of the harness anywhere near the battery.

The terminal wires appear to be 4ga. Unless they have super thick casing. They are like micrometers smaller than my 4ga amp power wire. I think my amp wire just has a thick insulation and that's why it appears to be a hair larger.

Sorry this is so long I just wanna do this the right way. I've spent so much on this set up so far to cut corners now.


P.S. you also wrote "batt to ground, just follow the big wire on the negative terminal to ground and upgrade it...same with block to ground "

Batt to ground and block to ground? Are there two grounds for the battery? I see the one going directly from the battery to the block. I don't remember if there was a second. If so it was not as large as the one going to the block. But I think that was the only one.

Thanks for the Help! :hail:

 

You want to replace just the one with the ring terminal on the alternator.

The battery should ground right to the inner fender right next to it, usually 8ga I think.

 

the batt ground wire goes to the block and then it is grounded somewhere else so that the batt and block are grounded.

you want your ground wires as short as possible so i routed mine from the batt directly to the frame and made a new ground. Then directly from where it goes in the motor out to another new ground in the frame

 

Ok, I checked it all out while the motor was cold so I could really dig in. I noticed the little ground from the battery to the fender. That one's no problem.

Now if I wanted to keep all the factory wiring intact would just simply adding another ground wire and ALT to BATT wire accomplish the same task? Or do I need to remove the existing wires altogether?

Reason I'm asking is because when I hooked my amp up I bought a side post battery terminal adapter that gave me some threads to hook the power cable ring terminal up to. (it just popped right into the existing rubber boot, no rewiring required) Now if I bought another terminal adapter for the ground side couldn't I just add the larger wire to it? And vice versa for the alternator?

If it would accomplish the same task by just adding the "extra" wires it would save a boat load of time and effort and would also leave the stock wiring in it's original condition.

So can I leave the existing ones there and just add on or do I need to gut it and start new?

 

Yo what's up guys? Anybody have any info?

 

Ok. I'm gonna go ahead and answer my own damn question.
I talked to an aircraft mechanic who deals with extreme amounts of current and amperage issues. He also has an audio system of his own.
If you leave your factory wiring intact you CAN just add the bigger thicker wires. You can ADD a bigger wire directly from your alternator to your battery and bypass the distribution block next to the radiator as long as your factory wiring is still in tact. If the factory wiring is still intact then your vehicle will still receive all the necessary input it needs about your charging system. Same thing goes for your ground.
If you just add the wires on then you can easily remove them if you decide to remove your system for whatever reason. And you wont have to bother with rewiring anything to get the car to run.

 

Electricity wil just travel the path of least resistance, so just adding another wire makes sense.

Why would a person take them off even if he did remove the stereo system? The charging system would just be really efficient correct? Or would it overload the alt or something?

 

think of the big picture: the alternator outputs voltage across it's pos terminal and it's frame. the motor has a skimpy little strap at the firewall. The battery is also connected to the chassis through a skimpy little wire.

If you really want good connections, solder over the crimps and use some 'electrical connection grease' at the connections. be sure the metal is clean at the connections. You don't need gold connectors, waste of money, copper works fine as long as it doesn't corrode.

The same wire that you use for the amp will work, just remember...those magic three are your weakest link, 4awg for the grounds, 8 awg might work for the positive, but you might as well use the 4. shrinktube/electrical tape the ends and wire loom over the wires.


Please be sure that all wiring is done in accordance with the National Electrical Code

 

I know I'm kinda late on this... but here's is a good referance link, and it includes detailed pictures, so you can have an idea of what you're lookin' for!

Big 3 Upgrade

 

Would this also have positive effects on a car without a stereo, such as prolonged battery or alt life?

 

well doing this properly doesnt have any negative affects so i imagine their is no reason not to do it. I have read at leats one experience where a good fely more performance from his car in general by upgradeing the wiring under his hood , i think he said the wire to the main fuse box(not sure what car this wa son) he said he had better "response" from his car.

and by using bigger gauge wire you reduce possibliltis of roasting wires from too much current draw

 

Does anyone think that 0 gauge for the "Big 3" is overkill?

 

Nope. I would do it in at least 4. I did mine in 2 gauge because it's what I had at the time. Works fine for me.

 

mines all 1/0

not overkill if your running a lot of power, 4 gauge is fine for most systems. do have to watch it a little closer since it takes up more room, keeping it away from hot metal, spinning fans, and so on.

 

Back after 2 years and 2 days. I'm trying to 'barrow' a DLRO from work so we can see some real before and after measurements. I'm also working on an affordable way to measure chassis resistances accurately down to 0.0001 ohm.

 

1meanGTA, what size do you run from battery to alternator? Could someone post a picture of some 0 gauge cables, so I can judge size?

 

its all 1/0, battery to frame, battery to block, block to frame, alternator to battery, battery positive to rear, and negative to rear. (have the ground going to a distribution block in the hatch)

i'm running a ridiculous amount of power though (over 3000 watts) so i wanted to go a little overboard.

1/0 is about an inch in diameter.

 

Thanks for the info!