I'm just wondering what is the most power people have run off of a stock alternator w/o crazy light dimming?
Right now I'm running an amp that puts out about 300w, however, I just purchased another sub (rockford power t1 ) and I'm going to need to add another amp. I have a kenwood excelon that will be running ~400-500w and then my Eclipse 4 channel which will be running ~200-250w. Anyone pulling similar power with a stock alternator?? Thanks!

 

I will be pushing 320 on a sub, 100x2 for rears, 75x2 for fronts for a grand total of about 670. Guess I will find out if the lights dim once I finish installing the speakers. I will let you know within the next week or so.....
I have had no trouble so far running these amps, but they weren't pushing full loads since they were hooked to weaker speakers and I adjusted the gains/crossovers to accomodate better....
If the lights dim, you may want to look into upgrading your alternator. I have been told that its a much better investment than getting a capacitor, although you may have to go through some cost/benefit analysis with someone who knows the details.

 

Upgrading the ALT is definitely more efficent than just adding a cap into the mix. I would like to get an HO ALT in the future, but I'm hoping I can run the system w/o it for a little bit. If I run into a dimming problem, I'm probably just going to turn the gains down temporarily until I can upgrade.

 

I was running just a KX600.4 and my lights would dim like crazy, but I think my alt was bad prior to that. Now Im running the 600.4 and a 600.1 with a 1.5 farad cap and the lights dont dim due to the sounds, instead they dim on there own while idling w/ the system off. I think its time for a new alt. for me

 

^ Definitely sounds like your ALT isn't outputting what it should be at idle!!

 

i have two 500 watt lanzar opti drive amps and a 100 watt opti drive amp the old school blue one's for two kicker comp 15's,five way 6*9,4by6, 105 amp alternator,yellow top battery.

 

My Alpine MVR-450 amp shut my car off at a light one night when it hit some rap bass, that's at only 400watts rms. I'm getting a powermaster 140amp alternator very soon!

 

I would say check your output at idle, make sure you're running regular ratio not an underdrive pulley set, and check your connections. Our cars are getting so old most of our electrical systems are either thin wires, burnt wires, or dirty. If you haven't done so I would say upgrade your alternator to battery wire, battery to ground, and chassis to motor if you're a real diehard. I picked up a few tenths at idle by doing that. Even if they look like fine I would do it anyways if you plan on upgrading to a highout alternator. Easy upgrade for under 10 bucks.

Also I drain a wet and optima batteries down to 11.0 volts within acouple minutes with the car running with a 105 alternator with overdriven pulley. 2 JBL bp1200.1s thats around 1200 to 1300 RMS each.

 

im not worried about lights dimming lol, ill run whatever i feel like, worry about other people later....i know it pisses people off when headlights flicker...thats their own fault for looking at them

 

lol, then i guess you don't care about killing your stock alternator and damaging the rest of the car's electrical system (including all the money you spent on car audio equipment) by pushing it too hard? this isn't just a matter of how the car looks....

 

Does anybody know how many amps our stock alternator puts out or where to find that information?

 

Depends on the year and motor.

 

I believe the highest output for our cars was around 105 amps at least that's what my sepertine OEM alternator is SUPPOSE to rated for. That's at highway speeds too, so when you figure idle is around 800 RPMs and highway is 2000+. There's a big difference.

 

My stock alternator(91 camaro) put out 100amps. I purchased a 160amp alternator and it works great. I am pushing just over 1,000 RMS with 3 amps. I do notice very little dimming when I am idling but nobody else notices it unless I say something to them.

 

When I had my stuff in my old firebird, I popped a 100 amp breaker during an SPL drag contest. Usually those breakers need to draw quite a bit more than rated power to pop as quick as this one did, so I'd guess somewhere around 125 or more amps.

My alternator didn't like me much.

 

I do have the 105 amp alt. I idle around 950. Highway I'm usually pushing around 1.3-1.5rpm's. Usually stick around 75mph.